#sts-72

"CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- This orbiter tribute of space shuttle Endeavour, or OV-105, hangs in Firing Room 4 of the Launch Control Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It features Endeavour soaring into orbit above the sailing vessel HMS Endeavour for which it was named. The Cupola, delivered to the International Space Station by Endeavour on STS-130, frames various images that represent the processing and execution of the Space Shuttle Program. Clockwise from top, are the first-ever use of a drag chute during the STS-49 landing, rollout to a launch pad, a ferry flight return to Kennedy, rolling into an orbiter processing facility, docking to the International Space Station, and lifting operations before being mated to an external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters in the Vehicle Assembly Building. The background image was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and signifies the first shuttle servicing mission, which was performed by Endeavour's STS-61 crew. Crew-designed patches from Endeavour’s maiden voyage through its final mission are shown ascending toward the stars. Five orbiter tributes are on display in the firing room, representing Atlantis, Challenger, Columbia, Endeavour and Discovery."

Date: July 29, 2010

Our Spaceflight Heritage: SPARTAN flies high with STS-72

The crew of STS-72, from left-to-right, Winston Scott, Koichi Wakata (JAXA), Dan Barry, Brian Duffy, Brent Jett, and Leroy Chiao. Photo Credit: NASA

On Jan. 11, 1996, Space Shuttle Endeavour lifted off from NASA’s Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on STS-72, a mission, among other things, that was sent aloft to retrieve a Japanese satellite and return it to Earth. (more…)