KENNEDY SPACE CENTER   
SHUTTLE & PAYLOAD PROCESSING STATUS REPORT  
Friday, March 1, 2002 (7:30 a.m.)



MISSION: STS-109 - HST Servicing Mission 3B

VEHICLE: Columbia/OV-102
KSC LAUNCH DATE: March 1, 2002 at 6:22:02.080 a.m.
TARGET KSC LANDING DATE:  March 12, 2002 at 4:35 a.m.
MISSION DURATION: 11 days 
CREW: Altman, Carey, Grunsfeld, Currie, Newman, Linnehan, Massimino 
ORBITAL INSERTION ALTITUDE and INCLINATION: 308 nautical miles/28.5 degrees

Following a flawless final countdown, Shuttle Columbia lifted off at
6:22:02.080 a.m. EST today on the STS-109 mission to service the Hubble
Space Telescope.  Columbia, returning to space after an extensive 2 1/2 year
modification period, arced through a scattered cloud layer minutes before
dawn on the start of an 11-day mission that includes five spacewalks after
Hubble is retrieved in the orbiter payload bay.  Quick-look data indicate
the Shuttle engines performed normally during the eight minutes of powered
flight.

In the Solid Rocket Booster recovery area some 140 miles east of Cape
Canaveral, retrieval ships Liberty Star and Freedom Star are on station,
assessing the status of the two spent booster casings in three to four foot
seas.  The ships are scheduled to return to their berths at Cape Canaveral
tomorrow morning.

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