On 10 August 2001 at 4:10 PM CDT (21:10 GMT), Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off from Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center. Mission STS-105 was all set to carry out ISS Assembly flight 7 A1. The orbiter spent the next two days chasing ISS for rendezvous and docking. Final docking was on 12 August at 1:42 PM CDT (18:42 GMT). The Crew of STS-105, along with the fresh and ready ISS Expedition Three Crew, were welomed aboard by the homebound ISS Expedition Two Crew. The traditional Russian offer of bread and salt greeted the visitors on arrival.

Two EVAs (Extra Vehicular Activity or spacewalk) were conducted by Astronauts Daniel Barry and Patrick Forrester (pictured right). On the first spacewalk, the Early Ammonia Servicer (EAS pictured right) was installed, along with an external experiment package called MISSE. On the second EVA, cabling and handrails were placed along the outside of the Destiny Lab Module. Total spacewalk time was 11 hours 45 minutes.

The main Cargo of STS-105 was the Leonardo MPLM and its contents. Leonardo is one of three ESA Italian built Shuttle "moving vans". The module was intalled to a hatch on the Unity Node on 13 August, and returned to Discovery's payload bay 19 August. Its payload included over a dozen experiment racks, and another 12 racks and platforms carrying the wide range of supplies needed by crews aloft. Total weight in cargo was 6775 lbs. (3073 kg).

After saying their fond goodbyes, the Shuttle crew and their Expedition Two passengers sealed the hatches between the spacecraft. Undocking occurred on 20 August at 9:52 AM CDT (14:52 GMT). Discovery slipped away from ISSy and spent the next 28 hours getting ready to come home.

A safe daylight landing took place on 21 August 2001 at 1:23 PM CDT (18:23 GMT). Discovery touched down on Runway 15 at the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility. Total flight duration was 11 Days 21 hours 14 minutes. Eight of those days, Discovery was docked at ISSy.

My good friend Dr. Oren Swearingen DDS of Texas, sent me a video clip he recorded himself from "live" NASA Select TV during the flight of STS-105. It showed a most spendid example of the firing of one of Discovery's RCS (Reaction Control System) jets. This provides a very nice example of what one of these looks like.

The animated GIF below is for your reference as you read these many pages, and ponder whether some of the anomalous events were the direct result of one of these thruster firings. So, without further adieu, we present the animated GIF depicting this small event.

We'd like to sincerely thank Dr. Swearingen for this footage.

This is fascinating, eh? Should be helpful in analyzing other events from Shuttle flights.

By the way, please take note that the scene has that nasty mask of "snow" imposed upon it; as night-time downlink NASA TV ususally does.