Launch: Feb. 7, 2008
2:45 p.m. EST
Landing: Feb. 20, 2008
9:07 a.m. EST
Orbiter: Atlantis
Mission Number: STS-122 (121st space shuttle flight)
Launch Window: 10 minutes
Launch Pad: 39A
Mission Duration: 13 days
Landing Site: KSC
Inclination/Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles
Primary Payload: 24th station flight (1E), Columbus Laboratory
A veteran space flier, Navy Cmdr. Stephen N. Frick, commanded the STS-122 shuttle mission to deliver the European Space Agency's Columbus Laboratory to the International Space Station. Navy Cmdr. Alan G. Poindexter served as pilot. Mission specialists included Air Force Col. Rex J. Walheim, Stanley G. Love, Leland D. Melvin and European Space Agency astronaut Hans Schlegel. Poindexter, Love and Melvin made their first spaceflight on this mission.
Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Daniel Tani, who flew to the space station on the STS-120 mission, returned home with the STS-122 crew. STS-122 delivered European Space Agency astronaut Léopold Eyharts to the complex.
STS-122 was the 24th shuttle mission to the International Space Station.