Flight control overview of STS-88, the first space station assembly flight

摘要

When the Space Shuttle Endeavour undocked from the Zarya/Unity configuration on STS-88 it marked the completion of the most challenging shuttle mission to date and the beginning of an enormous task of assembling the International Space Station. The flight offered an array of complex dynamics and control related challenges to mate the American module 'Unity' to the Russian module 'Zarya.' Capability demonstrated on the flight included closed-loop thruster control in the presence of low frequency structural dynamics and translational maneuvers with a loads-sensitive environment and thruster hardware constraints. The flight was a complete success from all aspects.