Launch: Oct. 23, 2007
11:38 a.m. EDT
Landing: Nov. 7, 2007
1:01 p.m. EST
Orbiter: Discovery
Mission Number: STS-120 (120th space shuttle flight)
Launch Window: 10 minutes
Launch Pad: 39A
Mission Duration: 15 days, 2 hours, 23 minutes
Landing Site: KSC
Inclination/Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles
Primary Payload: 23rd station flight (10A), U.S. Node 2
STS-120 was the 23rd shuttle mission to the International Space Station, and launched an Italian-built U.S. multi-port module for the station.
Retired Air Force Col. Pamela A. Melroy commanded the STS-120 mission which took the Harmony Node 2 connecting module to the station. Melroy, a veteran shuttle pilot, was the second woman to command a shuttle. Marine Corps Col. George D. Zamka served as pilot. The flight's mission specialists were Scott E. Parazynski, Army Col. Douglas H. Wheelock, Stephanie D. Wilson and Paolo A. Nespoli, a European Space Agency astronaut from Italy. Zamka, Wheelock and Nespoli were making their first spaceflight.
Expedition 15/16 Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson returned to Earth from the space station aboard shuttle mission STS-120. That flight carried his replacement, Daniel Tani, to the station. Tani will return on shuttle mission STS-122.
