STS 132 Launch

STS 132 Launch and ISS assembly flight ULF4 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission, where Space Shuttle Atlantis docked with the International Space Station on 16 May 2010. The STS-132 launch from the Kennedy Space Center occurred on 14 May 2010.

The main payload of the mission was the Russian Rassvet Mini-Research Module and an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD). Atlantis landed at the Kennedy Space Center on 26 May 2010.

The STS 132 Launch was initially scheduled to be the final flight of Atlantis, provided that the STS-335 / STS-135 Launch On Need rescue mission would not be needed. However, in February 2011, NASA declared that the final mission of Atlantis and of the Space Shuttle program, STS-135, would be flown regardless of the funding situation.

In addition to the scheduled cargo was Seventeen handcrafted beads made by nine different artists across North America were also on board Atlantis during the STS-132 mission. NASA teamed up with Beads of Courage, Inc., an approved public charity, to bring hope and inspiration to children coping with serious illnesses through the Beads in Space project. The Beads in Space project is the brainchild of Jamie Newton, an employee at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The 17 beads weigh eight ounces and were selected after a contest organized by Beads of Courage that attracted 54 beads.

Also on board Atlantis was a 4-inch long wood sample of Sir Isaac Newton’s apple tree. The piece from the original tree that supposedly inspired Newton’s theory of gravity, along with a picture of Newton, were taken into orbit by astronaut Piers Sellers. The wood is part of the collection of the Royal Society archives in London, and returned to them on the following the flight.

The mission was the 163rd NASA manned space flight and the 32nd flight of Atlantis, STS-132 was the 34th shuttle mission to the ISS and the 11th flight of Atlantis to the ISS on the 3rd shuttle flight in 2010.

• Launch: 2:20 p.m. EDT – May 14, 2010
• Landing: 8:48 a.m. EDT – May 26, 2010
• Orbiter: Atlantis
• Mission Number: STS-132 (132nd space shuttle flight)
• Launch Window: 10 minutes
• Launch Pad: 39A
• Mission Duration: 11 days, 18 hours, 29 minutes, 9 seconds
• Landing Site: KSC
• Inclination/Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles
• Primary Payload: 34th station flight (ULF4), Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC), Mini Research Module (MRM1)
• Crew: Ken Ham (Commander), Tony Antonelli (Pilot), Mission Specialists, Garrett Reisman, Michael Good, Piers Sellers and Steve Bowen

NASA Reference: STS 132