March 8, 2001 Korolev, Moscow region

US Space Shuttle Discovery was launched at 14:42:08, Moscow Time, from a launch facility at Kennedy Space Center to the International Space Station (ISS). According to ISS assembly sequence this flight is designated as 5A.1, while in NASA classification this Space Shuttle mission is referred to as STS-102.
The orbiter carries a crew of seven: Russian cosmonaut Yury Usachev, NASA astronauts James Wetherbee (Commander), James Kelley (Pilot), Andrew Thomas, Paul Richards, James Voss, Susan Helms (Mission Specialists).
The objective of the mission is to bring to ISS the Expedition Two crew (ISS-2) consisting of Yury Usachev (Commander) James Voss (Flight Engineer 1), Susan Helms (Flight Engineer 2) and to return to Earth the Expedition One crew (ISS-1), who have been working on-board the space station since November 2 of the last year. This crew consist of Russian flight engineers Sergei Krikalev, Yury Gidzenko and US astronaut William Shepherd (Commander).
In addition to this, Discovery will deliver to the Space Station some equipment for outfitting US orbital segment, as well as equipment stowed in the Italian logistics module Leonardo making its first trip to ISS, such as individual seat liners for ISS-2 crew, personal radiation monitoring devices, water, air and food supplies for the space station crew.
The docking of the Space Shuttle Orbiter with the International Space Station is scheduled for March 10, 2001 at 8:35 Moscow Time.
ISS vehicle weighing about 111,7 tons is currently composed of Soyuz TM-31 manned spacecraft, Russian Service Module Zvezda, Functional and Cargo Module (FGB) Zarya, US module Unity, US module Destiny and unmanned logistics vehicle Progress M-44. The on-board systems of the vehicle operate normally.
ISS-1 crew conducts work on-board the space station in accordance with the ISS mission plan. The last few days saw the completion of unloading Progress M-44 vehicle, performance of the first major Russian-German scientific experiment "Plasma Crystal", medical research and physical exercise, replacement of dust collectors in the Service Module "Zvezda", preparations for space station docking with Discovery Orbiter.
Based on the data from LOCT (Lead Operations Control Team), ISS is flying in an orbit with the following parameters: inclination 51.6°, maximum and minimum altitudes, respectively, 395.1 and 372.3 km. The orbital period of the space station is 92.0 min.