On October 11, 2000, Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off from Launch Pad 39A with seven astronauts aboard. NASA identifies STS-92 as the 100th flight of the Space Shuttle program and the second shuttle mission to deliver hardware to the International Space Station.
Discovery docked with the three-module station less than two days after launch. At the time, the ISS was still uninhabited and only weeks away from receiving Expedition 1, its first resident crew. STS-92’s job was to add hardware outside the station and prepare it for the next stages of construction.
Four spacewalks expanded the station
The crew installed two major components: the Zenith-1 truss, usually called Z1, and Pressurized Mating Adapter-3, or PMA-3. Koichi Wakata used Discovery’s robotic arm to move the Z1 truss from the shuttle’s payload bay to the top of the Unity connecting module.
Four astronauts then worked outside in pairs across four spacewalks. According to NASA’s mission history, those excursions totaled 21 hours and 19 minutes. The work included connecting power and communications equipment, installing PMA-3, preparing Z1 for future solar arrays and testing small rescue backpacks designed to help an untethered astronaut return to the spacecraft.
