Orbiter: Columbia
Mission: STS-109
Date: March 12, 2002

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- Columbia and her crew are ready for the deorbit burn, and the weather at Kennedy Space Center looks favorable. The crew of Shuttle Columbia receives the "go" for an ontime deorbit burn from Mission Control in Houston. The goal of STS-109 was to service the HST, replacing Solar Array 2 with Solar Array 3, replacing the Power Control Unit, removing the Faint Object Camera and installing the ACS, installing the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) Cooling System, and installing New Outer Blanket Layer insulation.