NASA STS-102 Discovery Mission Patch

4" Embroidered Space Patch for the NASA Space Shuttle Flight of STS-102 Discovery 

STS-102 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle Discovery and launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. STS-102 flew in March 2001; its primary objectives were resupplying the ISS and rotating the Expedition 1 and Expedition 2 crews.

STS-102 was the eighth shuttle mission to visit the International Space Station and served as a crew rotation flight. Space Shuttle Discovery delivered the Expedition Two crew to the station and returned the Expedition One crew to Earth. The primary cargo for the mission was the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM), with six racks for the U.S.Destiny Laboratory Module which had been delivered and installed onto the station during STS-98. The STS-102 crew temporarily connected Leonardo to the International Space Station in order to unload its contents.

There were also two EVAs ("spacewalks") conducted to complete assembly operations. Mission Objectives for the first spacewalk was for astronauts Susan Helms and Jim Voss to move the shuttle docking port to make room for the MPLM and attach the Lab Cradle Assembly to the top of the lab. The assembly was to be used on STS-100 when the Canadarm2 Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) was attached to the station. On the second spacewalk, astronauts Andy Thomas and Paul Richards attached an External Stowage Platform and a coolant pump to the outside of the Destiny module.