SPACEPHOTOS

(08/22/2001) -- On KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility runway 15 following mission STS-105, specially designed vehicles and a team of up to 150 trained personnel gather around Discovery for safing operations, checking for toxic or hazardous gases, and introducing purge air to cool the vehicle and humidified air conditioning to the payload bay and other cavities to remove any residual explosive or toxic fumes that may be present. Some personnel will assist the STS-105 and Expedition Two crews in disembarking from the orbiter via the Crew Transfer Vehicle (at right). KSC support personnel will prepare the orbiter for ground tow operations, installing switch guards and removing data packages from any onboard experiments. Main gear touchdown was at 2:22:58 p.m. EDT; wheel stop, at 2:24:06 p.m. EDT. The 11-day, 21-hour, 12-minute mission accomplished the goals set for the 11th flight to the International Space Station: swapout of the resident Station crew; delivery of equipment, supplies and scientific experiments; and installation of the Early Ammonia Servicer and heater cables for the S0 truss on the Station. Discovery traveled 4.3 million miles on its 30th flight into space, the 106th mission of the Space Shuttle program. Out of five missions in 2001, the landing was the first to occur in daylight at KSC