During 1999, NASA successfully completed three space shuttle missions, three less than in the preceding year. Launch of the first mission, STS-96, occurred in May, followed by STS-93in July and STS-103 in December, bringing the total number of shuttles launched since program inception to 96. For the human space flight program, the year was particularly significant in that the first of the three shuttle missions involved the first human visit and supply flight to the ISS.

STS-96. First crew visit in history to the International Space Station ISS. After an exact on-time liftoff on 5/27 (6:50am EDT) at the opening of a 9-minute launch window, Discovery docked flawlessly to the Unity/Zarya complex on 5/29 (12:24am) and was solidly mated at 12:39 over the Russia-Kazakhstan border. The crew, Commander Kent V. Rominger, Pilot Rick D. Husband, and Mission Specialists Tamara E. Jernigan, Ellen Ochoa, Daniel T. Barry, Julie Payette, and Valery Tokarev, represented three ISS partners, US, Canada (Payette), and Russia (Tokarev), and included three women (Jernigan, Ochoa, Payette). After undocking from the ISS on 6/3 (6:39am) and releasing the student satellite STARSHINE on 6/5 (3:10am), Discovery returned to KSC on 6/6 with a flawless landing (at 2:03am) after a 4 million mile (6.4 million km) trip in only the 11th night landing of the Shuttle program.

STS-93. Launch of the $1.5 billion Advanced X-Ray Astronomy Facility (AXAF), now called Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the third in NASA's series of "Great Observatories" on Columbia, on 7/23 (12:31am EDT), after two earlier launch attempts, scrubbed due to hazardous hydrogen concentration measured (erroneously) in the engine compartment (on 7/20) and unfavorable weather (on 7/22). Crewed by Eileen M. Collins, Jeffrey S. Ashby, Catherine G. Coleman, Steven A. Hawley and Michel Tognini, the shuttle's ascent to orbit proceeded nominally, despite a short-induced dropout of the main control computers on two Shuttle main engines, and a small hydrogen leak in one of the engine exhaust nozzles. The flight crew, under NASA's first woman commander (Collins) included a French mission specialist (Tognini). The observatory was successfully deployed by Coleman 7h 16m after launch and subsequently boosted itself to a final orbit of 86,992 by 6034 miles (139,188 by 9655 km), with a period of 63h 28m. Secondary objectives included firing of Columbia's jet thrusters at various times during the flight to help an Air Force satellite gather data on the characteristics of jet plumes in space. Also, Hawley and Tognini operated the SWUIS (Southwest Ultraviolet Imaging System) from a side hatch window, collecting data on ultraviolet light originating from a variety of planetary bodies. Ashby, Hawley and Tognini assessed an exercise system planned for the ISS, the TVIS (Treadmill Vibration Isolation and Stabilization) system, and the crew performed a number of additional experiments before returning to Earth on 7/27, landing at KSC at 11:20pm.

STS-103. Discovery lifted off on 12/19 (7:50pm EST) after several launch delays, to preform the third maintenance/repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), with Curtis L. Brown as Commander, Scott J. Kelly as Pilot, and Mission Specialists Steven L. Smith, Jean-Francois Clervoy (ESA), John M. Grunsfeld, Michael Foale, and Claude Nicollier (ESA). The mission, originally planned for mid-2000, became necessary when the HST had to be put in "safe" (dormant) mode on 11/13/99 with only two of its six gyroscopes still functioning. HST capture occurred on 12/21 (7:34 pm), followed by berthing in the Shuttle cargo bay at 8:43pm. On 12/22, Smith and Grunsfeld, in a spacewalk of 8h15m, the second longest EVA in Shuttle history (after STS-49 in 1992, of 8h29m), installed six new gyros and six voltage/temperature improvement kits. During a second EVA, on 12/23, lasting 8h10m, Foale and Nicollier replaced the HST's main computer and 500 lbs. (227 kg) Fine Guidance Sensor. On 12/24, Smith and Grunsfeld spent 8h08m on a third EVA, replacing a radio transmitter and installing a new digital recorder as well as new insulation on two HST equipment bay doors. When the fully restored telescope was released into space on 12/25 (6:03pm), astronauts had conducted a total of 13 EVAs on the Hubble since its launch, amounting to 93h13m. Discovery returned to Earth on 12/27, landing at 7:01pm EST, the 20th landing at KSC in a row and the 13th night landing in Shuttle history.

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