STS-132 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission, during which Space Shuttle Atlantis docked with the International Space Station on May 16, 2010. STS-132 was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 14, 2010. The primary payload was the Russian Rassvet Mini-Research Module, along with an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD). Atlantis landed at the Kennedy Space Center on May 26, 2010.
Oblique view of Atlantis docked with the ISS, with Rassvet visible in its payload bay
Sitting: Ken Ham (center), Garrett Reisman (left), Stephen Bowen (Right), Standing: Michael Good, Tony Antonelli, Piers SellersSpace Shuttle program← STS-131STS-133 →
MRM 1 in the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) at Kennedy Space Center.
MRM 1 in the Astrotech payload processing facility.
Assembly of the International Space Station
The process of assembling the International Space Station (ISS) has been under way since the 1990s. Zarya, the first ISS module, was launched by a Proton rocket on 20 November 1998. The STS-88 Space Shuttle mission followed two weeks after Zarya was launched, bringing Unity, the first of three node modules, and connecting it to Zarya. This bare 2-module core of the ISS remained uncrewed for the next one and a half years, until in July 2000 the Russian module Zvezda was launched by a Proton rocket, allowing a maximum crew of three astronauts or cosmonauts to be on the ISS permanently.
International Space Station mockup at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
Columbia lifting off on its final mission.
10 March 2001 – The Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module rests in Space Shuttle Discovery's payload bay during STS-102.
Construction of the International Space Station over New Zealand.