STS-103

STS-103 was the 96th launch of the Space Shuttle and the 27th launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery. This mission focused on servicing the Hubble Space Telescope, making it stronger and better for future discoveries. The shuttle took off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on December 19, 1999, and landed back on December 27, 1999. Because of some technical problems and bad weather, the launch was delayed by 13 days, making it the only mission to fly after Christmas in the 1990s. This important mission helped keep the Hubble Space Telescope working well for scientists around the world.

Crew

Space walks

The crew of STS-103 completed three space walks to fix and update the Hubble Space Telescope.

Astonauts Smith and Grunsfeld did the first space walk, which began on December 22, 1999, and lasted 8 hours and 15 minutes. Next, Foale and Nicollier did a space walk that started on December 23 and lasted 8 hours and 10 minutes. Finally, Smith and Grunsfeld did another space walk on December 24 that lasted 8 hours and 8 minutes.

Crew seat assignments

Seat	Launch	Landing	Seats 1–4 are on the flight deck. Seats 5–7 are on the mid-deck.
1	Brown
2	Kelly
3	Grunsfeld	Foale
4	Clervoy
5	Foale	Grunsfeld
6	Smith
7	Nicollier

Mission highlights

The main goal of STS-103 was to service the Hubble Space Telescope. The crew planned to do four spacewalks to fix and refresh the telescope.

Because three of the telescope's six gyroscopes had stopped working, NASA decided to send up a repair mission earlier than planned. Gyroscopes help the telescope point precisely. The crew replaced all six gyroscopes, a fine guidance sensor, and the telescope's computer. The new computer was much faster and had more memory than the old one. They also installed a new transmitter, a spare digital recorder, and new insulation to help control the telescope's temperature.

The mission carried hundreds of thousands of student signatures into space as part of a special program. This was the last time the Space Shuttle Discovery flew alone; later missions were to the International Space Station. One of the astronauts brought a Planet Mars Flag on board.

Wake-up calls

NASA started a tradition of playing music for astronauts during the Gemini program. This was first done to wake up the crew of Apollo 15. Each piece of music is chosen especially, often by the astronauts' families. The songs usually have a special meaning for someone on the crew or relate to what they are doing each day.