STS-98
Destiny Laboratory: A Permanent U.S. Science Facility in Orbit
STS-98 delivered and installed the Destiny U.S. Laboratory, giving the International Space Station a major pressurized research facility and a central element of the U.S. orbital segment.
Mission type
Crewed Space Shuttle assembly mission
Launch
February 7, 2001
Mission end / docking
February 20, 2001
Launch vehicle / spacecraft
Space Shuttle Atlantis
Objective
What this ISS mission set out to accomplish
Deliver and activate the Destiny laboratory so the station could support sustained U.S. microgravity research, command functions, computing, and experiment operations.
This record treats STS-98 as an assembly or station-support mission rather than as a satellite engineering page, keeping the mission objective separate from the hardware-level ISS engineering record.
Flight and rendezvous
How the mission reached and worked at the station
STS-98 launched on February 7, 2001 using Space Shuttle Atlantis from Kennedy Space Center, Launch Pad 39A.
Atlantis docked to the station and the crew combined robotic-arm operations with spacewalks to relocate a pressurized mating adapter, remove Destiny from the payload bay, attach the laboratory to Unity, and connect external services.
Hardware and assembly
What was delivered, installed, or reconfigured
Primary hardware or assembly focus: Destiny U.S. Laboratory Module.
Installation record: Destiny installed on February 10, 2001. This is the engineering connection between the mission story and the interactive International Space Station breakdown.
Outcome
What changed on the International Space Station
Destiny was successfully installed and became the core U.S. laboratory, supporting research racks, station computing, science operations, and later international laboratory expansion.
The documented result makes STS-98 part of the larger ISS assembly chain, where individual missions progressively added structure, power, laboratories, robotics, thermal control, logistics, and crew-support systems.
Continue exploring
Follow the connected story
Open the International Space Station engineering page
See the station modules, truss systems, solar arrays, robotics, and launch/install history in the interactive engineering experience.
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Compare this mission with other launches and ISS assembly flights.
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