STS-114

•STS-114 marked the return to flight of the Space Shuttle after the Columbia disaster.

•STS-114 was the second Shuttle flight with a female commander whose name was Eileen Collins.

•The STS-114 mission delivered supplies to the International Space Station. However, the major focus of the mission was testing and evaluating new Space Shuttle flight safety techniques, which included new inspection and repair techniques.

•Atmospheric reentry and landing was originally planned for 8 August 2005, at Cape Canaveral, but unsuitable weather postponed the landing until the next day, then moved it to Edwards Air Force Base in California, where Discovery touched down at 08:11 EDT.

•The crew conducted three spacewalks while at the station. The first demonstrated repair techniques on the Shuttle's Thermal Protection System. During the second, the spacewalkers replaced the failed gyroscope. On the third, they installed the External Stowage Platform and repaired the shuttle, the first time repairs had been carried out during a spacewalk on the exterior of a spacecraft in flight.

•On 1 August, it was announced that protruding gap fillers on the front underside of the shuttle would be inspected and dealt with during the third spacewalk of the mission. The spacewalk was conducted on the morning of 3 August. Robinson easily removed the two fillers with his fingers. Later on the same day, NASA officials said that they were looking closely at a thermal blanket located next to the commander's window on the port side of the orbiter. Published reports on 4 August 2005 said that wind tunnel testing had demonstrated that the orbiter was safe to re-enter with the billowed blanket.

•Launched on July 26 2005, and returned August 9 2005.

Crew: Eileen Collins, James M. Kelly, Soichi Noguchi, Stephen K. Robinson, Andrew S. W. Thomas, Wendy B. Lawrence, Charles J. Camarda

http://youtu.be/-yHHXdOStmI