International Space Station (ISS)

The STS-111 mission, the 14th Shuttle mission to visit the International Space Station (ISS), was launched on June 5, 2002 aboard the Space Shuttle Orbiter Endeavour. On board were the STS-111 and Expedition Five crew members. Astronauts Kerneth D. Cockrell, commander; Paul S. Lockhart, pilot, and mission specialists Franklin R. Chang-Diaz and Philippe Perrin were the STS-111 crew members. Expedition Five crew members included Cosmonaut Valeri G. Korzun, commander, Astronaut Peggy A. Whitson and Cosmonaut Sergei Y. Treschev, flight engineers. Three space walks enabled the STS-111 crew to accomplish mission objectives: The delivery and installation of the Mobile Remote Servicer Base System (MBS), an important part of the Station's Mobile Servicing System that allows the robotic arm to travel the length of the Station, which is necessary for future construction tasks; the replacement of a wrist roll joint on the Station's robotic arm; and the task of unloading supplies and science experiments from the Leonardo multipurpose Logistics Module, which made its third trip to the orbital outpost. In this photograph, the Space Shuttle Endeavour, back dropped by the blackness of space, is docked to the pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA-2) at the forward end of the Destiny Laboratory on the ISS. Endeavour's robotic arm is in full view as it is stretched out with the S0 (S-zero) Truss at its end.