STS-124

• Stephen G. Bowen was originally assigned to STS-124 but was moved to STS-126 to allow this mission to rotate an ISS crew member.[6] Bowen was scheduled to perform the EVAs on the flight along with Fossum. Garan took his place for the EVAs.

A crane moves Discovery toward the external tank and SRBs in high bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building for STS-124.

"I'm really fortunate to be given the crew members that I have on this mission. It's myself and six others. We do swap one of our crew members with the expedition crew member on board. So Greg goes up, Greg stays on station and Garrett comes home. But the crew that was assigned to me—I'm really fortunate to have some really talented people. Ken Ham, as a pilot, knows the orbiter better than anybody I've seen. This is his first flight. My lead EVA crew member is Mike Fossum who did three spacewalks on my previous flight, STS-121. We've flown together before. I have all the confidence in the world in his ability to execute these EVAs. Karen Nyberg, my MS1, sits on the flight deck for ascent and entry. She's also the lead for all the robotic arm operations. She'll be flying three robotic arms in space, incredibly motivated, well ahead of the game and I expect great things from her. Ron Garan is my flight engineer, a colonel in the Air Force. This is going to be his first time in space as well as is Karen's and Ken's and he's doing three spacewalks. So he's got a lot on his plate. He's been doing great during training and he's going to have the opportunity to prove himself during these three spacewalks. I kind of wish it was me getting to go outside. I can't do that, but we expect great things from Ron as well. And then I have Aki Hoshide, our Japanese crew member, who grew up in New Jersey kind of like me. That's an interesting thing about our flight—we have four people from New Jersey on the mission. I look at Aki as the payload commander. He is responsible for that Japanese laboratory and he has taken on that responsibility as completely as I could have hoped for. All through our training he's been very much focused on the Japanese lab, making sure it's ready to go, making sure we're completely trained on the systems and everything we have to do. I've given him a lot of responsibility and he's completely taken it on."[7]

• Gregory Chamitoff brought the first bagels into space: 3 bags (18 sesame seed Montreal-style bagels) with him.[8][9]

STS-124 launch close-up

STS-124 launch viewed from spoil islands.

The Space Shuttle Discovery launched from the Kennedy Space Center at 17:02 EDT local time. Debris from the fuel tank was minimal.[13]

"While we've all prepared for this event today, the discoveries from Kibo will definitely offer hope for tomorrow," said Discovery's commander Mark Kelly just before launch. "Now stand by for the greatest show on Earth."[14]

One of the trenches at launch pad 39A that channels flames away from the shuttle during lift-off was significantly damaged.[15] The subsequent mishap investigation found that the damage was the result of carbonation of epoxy and corrosion of steel anchors which held the refractory bricks in place. These had been exacerbated by the fact that hydrochloric acid is an exhaust by-product of the solid rocket boosters.[16] Repairs to the trench were completed before the STS-125 mission's then scheduled launch attempt on October 8, 2008.[17] In fact STS-125 finally launched in May 2009, and in the meantime STS-126 (November 2008) and STS-119 (March 2009) had both been successfully launched from pad 39A.

During the first full day in space, Ham and Nyberg completed a limited inspection of the shuttle's thermal protection system using the end effector camera of the shuttle's robotic arm. The crew also installed the centerline camera and extended the orbiter's docking system ring to prepare Discovery' for arrival at the space station.[18]

Discovery docked with the space station at 18:03 UTC and the hatches opened at 19:36 UTC. Greg Chamitoff officially joined the Expedition 17 crew, replacing Garrett Reisman.[19]

Ron Garan on the mission's second space walk, flight day 6.

Mike Fossum and Ron Garan completed a six-hour-forty-eight-minute spacewalk at 23:10 UTC. During the excursion, the pair retrieved the Orbiter Boom Sensor System, serviced and inspected components of a Solar Alpha Rotary Joint and prepared the JEM-PS component of the Kibō laboratory for installation. Karen Nyberg and Akihiko Hoshide, using the station's robotic arm, removed the JEM-PS from the shuttle's payload bay and latched it in place on the Harmony node, completing the task at 23:01 UTC.[20]

The Kibō module as seen from inside Space Shuttle Discovery

The hatch to the Kibō lab was opened at 21:05 UTC. The crew also repaired the malfunctioning ISS toilet.[21][22]

The crew of STS-124 inside the pressurized Kibō module.

Fossum and Garan completed the second STS-124 spacewalk. The 7-hour, 11-minute excursion ended at 22:15 UTC.[23] Prior to heading outside spacewalker Garan stated "Mike and I are getting ready to go out the door for our second spacewalk today. It's going to be a wonderful day."[24]

The crew moved the Kibō Logistics Module from Harmony to the Pressurized Module.[25]

Ron Garan works outside the Columbus lab

Hoshide and Nyberg moved two of the six joints on the Japanese Kibō lab's robotic arm for the first time, maneuvering them very slightly with a series of commands.[26] With the mission at its midpoint astronaut Karen Nyberg commented that "the week has gone way too fast."[27]

Astronaut Karen Nyberg on flight day 11.

Fossum and Garan conducted the third and final spacewalk, replacing an empty nitrogen tank and collecting a sample of debris from the solar array.[28]

Kibō's robot arm was extended to its full 33 feet, with all six joints tested. The astronauts also opened the hatch to the Kibō's storage unit.[29]

The shuttle closed the hatch connecting it to the space station at 19:49 UTC.[30]

"It's amazing what's going on up here," said Chamitoff. "This is just the beginning. Overall, the mission's been a great success," said Kelly from space. "I certainly have a great crew and they're well trained, but there's also a little luck involved."[31]

Discovery undocked from the International Space Station's Harmony Module, at 11:42 UTC. Discovery then conducted a fly-by of the ISS, so pictures could be taken. Saying goodbye to the ISS and its crew, commander Kelly said "We wish them the best with their expedition and we hope we left them a better, more capable space station than when we arrived. Sayonara."[32]

Afterwards the crew of Discovery conducted the late inspection of the shuttle's Thermal Protection System that was unable to be performed as usual on Flight Day 2, due to the size of the Kibō Pressurized Module.[33]

Flight day 13 was a rare off-duty day. The only major projects were stowage of the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) and an orbit adjustment burn.

During the day, pilot Kenneth Ham conducted an interview with Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic of ESPN, to be aired on their radio show, Mike and Mike in the Morning, the following morning on ESPN Radio and ESPN2.

The crew conducted routine testing of the steering jets and an examination of the flight control system. During these tests, a shiny object was noticed trailing the shuttle. This was identified as a thermal clip from the shuttle's rudder speed brake, and should pose no danger during landing.[34]

Space Shuttle Discovery lands

The crew worked through their lengthy list of deorbit preparations, which continued for most of the day. They closed the payload bay doors at 11:30 UTC, which took place without incident. All of Discovery's systems were nominal, and with the weather looking very good at KSC the deorbit burn took place on schedule at 14:10 UTC for landing on runway 15 at 15:15 UTC.[33]

At 12:00 UTC, the decision was made to use runway 15 rather than 33. This decision was made based on the sun glare that would be present on the Commander's window as he lined up Discovery with the runway.