Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Discovery (STS-103) launched 1999

Left to right; C. Michael Foale, Claude Nicollier, Scott J. Kelly, Curtis L. Brown, Jr., Jean-Francois Clervoy, John M. Grunsfeld and Steven L. Smith

Mission patch

Discovery blasted off December 19, 1999 on mission STS-103 to service the Hubble Space Telescope.  Her international crew consisted of Commander Curtis Brown, Pilot Scott Kelly, mission specialists John Grunsfeld, Jean-Francois Clervoy (ESA), Michael Foale, Steven Smith and Claude Nicollier (ESA)

Four EVAs were scheduled but scaled back to only three.  Smith and Grunsfeld each performed two, while Foale and Nicollier did one.  Each EVA lasted a little over 8 hours.

Discovery attained the highest altitude for a Space Shuttle flight, 378 miles!  It was the last solo flight for Discovery since the rest were to the International Space Station. It was the third time a crew has spent Christmas in space.

It was the fourth and final flight of Claude Nicollier, the first Swiss astronaut. It was Scott Kelly's inaugural flight.




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