and later in Node 3, and an Air Revitalization System (ARS) that will temporarily be placed in Kibo and later in Node 3. Leonardo Specifications Length: Diameter: Payload Mass (launch): Payload Mass (return): Empty Weight: Lightweight Multi-Purpose Carrier (LMC) The shuttle carried a Lightweight Multi-Purpose Experiment Support Structure Carrier (LMC) with Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA). The new ammonia tank will replace an empty tank during an EVA. TriDAR The shuttle flew the first test flight of the TriDAR, a 3D dual-sensing laser camera, intended for potential use as an autonomous rendezvous and docking sensor. The TriDAR successfully tracked the ISS position and orientation from the shuttle during docking operations. Other science packages It also contained three racks dedicated to science, FIR (Fluids Integrated Rack) and the first Materials Science Research Rack (MSRR-1) to be placed in Destiny and MELFI-2 (Minus Eighty Laboratory Freezer for ISS) to be placed in Kibo. The FIR enabled detailed study of how liquids behave in microgravity, a crucial detail for many chemical reactions. One experiment, for instance, examined how mixtures known as colloids behave without being stirred by sedimentation and convection. Another using the Light Microscopy Module (LMM) will examine how an ideal heat pipe works without the distortions of gravity. Mission experiments The STS-128 mission (as did STS-125 and STS-127) took part in crew seat vibration tests that will help engineers on the ground understand how astronauts experience launch. They will then use the information to help design the crew seats that will be used in future NASA spacecraft. STS-128 repeated the Boundary Layer Transition (BLT) Detailed Test Objective (DTO) experiment that was done by the same shuttle during STS-119. In this experiment, one of the thermal protection systems was raised to create a boundary layer transition in which the air flow becomes turbulent beyond a certain speed. During STS-119 the tile was raised above the others, tripping the flow at Mach 15 during reentry. In the modification being done, the tile has been raised to trip at Mach 18 producing more heat. Discovery undertook the testing of a catalytic coating which was meant to be used by the Orion (spacecraft). Two TPS tiles located in the protuberance downstream from the BLT tile had been fully coated with the catalytic material in order to understand the entry heating performance. The tiles were instrumented to collect a wide variety of data. Mission milestones The mission