Ten years ago today — December 19, 1999 — the Space Shuttle Discovery launched from Kennedy Space Center on mission STS-103.
(STS-103 mission patch. NASA image.)
Astronauts Curtis L. Brown, Scott J. Kelly, Steven L. Smith, C. Michael Foale, and John M. Grunsfeld, plus Switzerland’s Claude Nicollier and Jean-Francois Clervoy of France, became the first Space Shuttle crew to spend Christmas in space during their mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. In fact, they released the HST from the cargo bay on Christmas day.
Also of note: Curtis Brown is one of several astronauts with ties to North Carolina, and is featured on several North Carolina Aerospace History pages that I’ve built for the North Carolina Aerospace Initiative. For instance, here’s the December aerospace history page, which features STS-103 — along with another famous flight….
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