Mission Background
NASA managers decided to move the STS-115 launch date forward to 27 August to obtain better lighting conditions to photograph the external tank. This occurred before with STS-31 and STS-82. The launch window was co-ordinated with the Soyuz TMA-9 launch in mid-September, which delivered a new ISS crew and fresh supplies to the station. The Soyuz spacecraft operationally did not dock to the station while the space shuttle was there.
The mission marks:
- 147th NASA manned space flight.
- 116th space shuttle flight since STS-1.
- 27th flight of Atlantis.
- 91st post-Challenger mission.
- 3rd post-Columbia mission.
- 1st post-Columbia mission of Atlantis.
Read more about this topic: STS-115
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