STS-127
Endeavour as seen from ISS before docking. Payload including JEF and ICC-VLD visible in the shuttle bay
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| Mission type | ISS assembly |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA |
| COSPAR ID | 2009-038A |
| SATCAT no. | 35633 |
| Mission duration | 15 days, 16 hours, 44 minutes, 58 seconds |
| Distance travelled | 10,537,748 kilometres (6,547,853 mi) |
| Orbits completed | 248 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Space Shuttle Endeavour |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 7 |
| Members |
Mark L. Polansky Douglas G. Hurley Christopher J. Cassidy Julie Payette Thomas H. Marshburn David Wolf |
| Launching | Timothy Kopra |
| Landing | Koichi Wakata |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 15 July 2009, 22:03 UTC |
| Launch site | Kennedy LC-39A |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | 31 July 2009, 14:48 UTC |
| Landing site | Kennedy SLF Runway 15 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Perigee | 344 kilometres (214 mi) |
| Apogee | 351 kilometres (218 mi) |
| Inclination | 51.6 degrees |
| Period | 91.48 minutes |
| Epoch | 18 July 2009 |
| Docking with ISS | |
| Docking port |
PMA-2 (Harmony forward) |
| Docking date | 17 July 2009, 17:47 UTC |
| Undocking date | 28 July 2009, 17:26 UTC |
| Time docked | 10 days, 23 hours, 41 minutes |
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 From left to right: Wolf, Cassidy, Hurley, Payette, Polansky, Marshburn, and Kopra |
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STS-127 (ISS assembly flight 2J/A) was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS). It was the twenty-third flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour. The primary purpose of the STS-127 mission was to deliver and install the final two components of the Japanese Experiment Module: the Exposed Facility (JEM EF), and the Exposed Section of the Experiment Logistics Module (ELM-ES). When Endeavour docked with the ISS on this mission in July 2009, it set a record for the most humans in space at the same time in the same vehicle, the first time thirteen people have been at the station at the same time. It also tied the record of thirteen people in space at any one time.
The first launch attempt, on 13 June 2009, was scrubbed due to a gaseous hydrogen leak observed during tanking. The Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP) on the external fuel tank experienced a potentially hazardous hydrogen gas leak similar to the fault that delayed the Space Shuttle Discovery mission STS-119 in March 2009. Since a launch date of 18 June 2009 would have conflicted with the launch of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)/Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), NASA managers discussed the scheduling conflict with both the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter project and the Air Force Eastern Range, which provides tracking support for rockets launched from Florida. A decision was made to allow the shuttle to attempt a second launch on 17 June 2009, allowing LRO to launch on 18 June 2009.
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