December 5, 2016 - STS-108: a Mission of Remembrance

STS-108: a Mission of Remembrance Mission specialist astronauts Linda M. Godwin and Daniel M. Tani are seen installing thermal insulation on space station solar array gimbals during a spacewalk on the fifth day of the STS-108 mission, which launched the space shuttle Endeavour into orbit fifteen years ago this week. STS-108 was the twelfth shuttle mission to the ISS. In addition to its crew of seven and the typical cargo of supplies and experiments, Endeavour carried several flag mementos from the 9/11 attacks in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC, as well as 6,000 small U.S. flags that were later presented to families of victims and those who helped in the rescues. STS-108 lasted twelve days, traveling 7.7 million km (4.8 million mi) over 186 orbits before landing on December 17, 2001.

Image credit: NASA

Weekly Calendar

December 5-11, 2016

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

Monday 5

Mars 3° south of Moon

2001: STS-108 Endeavour launched
2014: Orion spacecraft launched on first uncrewed test flight

Tuesday 6

Neptune 0.7° south of Moon

1998: Unity and Zarya modules are connected to form International Space Station core
2015: Akatsuki probe begins orbiting Venus

Wednesday 7

First Qtr Moon 4:03 AM ET

1905: Gerard Kuiper born
1972: Apollo 17 launched
1995: Galileo probe enters Jupiter’s atmosphere; orbiter begins prime mission
1997: Galileo Europa Mission begins

Thursday 8

1964: Apollo A-002 launched
1990: Galileo makes first Earth flyby on way to Jupiter
1992: Galileo makes second Earth flyby on way to Jupiter
2010: SpaceX Dragon 1 launched; first private spacecraft recovered from orbit