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Mission: STS-131
Orbiter: Discovery
Launch Pad: 39A
Launch Date: NET April 5, 2010, 06:21 EDT (10:21 UT)
Landing: April 20, 2010, Kennedy Space Center
Main gear touchdown: 09:08:35 EDT
Nose gear touchdown: 09:08:47 EDT
Wheels stop: 09:09:33 EDT
Orbital Altitude: 122 nautical miles (140 miles)
Orbital Insertion: 191 nautical miles (220 miles)
Orbital Inclination: 51.6 degrees
Crew:- Commander: Alan Poindexter; Pilot: James Dutton; Mission Specialists:- MS1 Richard Mastracchio, MS2 Dorothy M. Metcalf-Lindenburger, MS3 Clayton Anderson, MS4 Stephanie Wilson, MS5 Naoko Yamazaki (JAXA).
Primary Payload: Multi-Purpose Logistics Module: Leonardo.
Cape Canaveral weather forecast
8:30 p.m. CDT Monday, April 5, 2010
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas
STS-131 Mission Control Center Status Report #02
The light from the solid rocket boosters and main engines of space shuttle Discovery is blinding as the shuttle rushes to orbit from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Liftoff on the STS-131 mission was on time at 6:21 a.m. EDT. Credit: NASA/Kenny Allen
Space shuttle Discovery’s seven-member crew will spend their first full day in space today conducting normal scans of their spacecraft, preparing spacesuits for use later in the mission and readying the shuttle to dock to the International Space Station early on Wednesday.
The crew was awakened at 7:21 p.m. to the song “Find Us Faithful” performed by Steve Green. It was played for veteran Mission Specialist Clayton Anderson, who spent 152 days as a member of the station’s Expedition 15 crew in 2007.
The day will focus on using the robotic arm and the Orbiter Boom Sensor System extension to inspect Discovery’s thermal protection system tiles and reinforced carbon-carbon heat shielding on the shuttle’s wings and nose cap. Discovery’s Ku-Band communications system, used to transmit and receive high data rate communications such as television, is not operating. As a result, video of the inspection will be recorded aboard Discovery and transmitted to the ground after the shuttle docks with the station. Typically the inspection video is simultaneously transmitted live to the ground and recorded aboard the shuttle for later review.
Taking turns maneuvering the robotic arm from Discovery’s aft flight deck for the inspections will be Commander Alan G. Poindexter, Pilot James P. Dutton Jr. and Mission Specialists Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Naoko Yamazaki.
Dutton and Metcalf-Lindenburger will be at the controls of the shuttle robotic arm tonight to unberth the Orbiter Boom Sensor System from the starboard sill. The inspection uses cameras and lasers at the end of the boom to provide 3-D views of the orbiter. The data will be reviewed by experts on the ground to ensure the heat protection system is in good condition.
While the inspection takes place from Discovery’s flight deck, Mission Specialists Rick Mastracchio and Anderson will be on the shuttle’s middeck to prepare the spacesuits they will wear for their three planned spacewalks. The rest of the day will include a check of the rendezvous tools the crew will use during Wednesday’s approach to the station. Waiting aboard the station to welcome Discovery’s crew are Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov and Russian Flight Engineers Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko, Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and NASA Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Tracy Caldwell Dyson.
The next shuttle status report will be issued at the end of the crew’s work day, or earlier if warranted.
– courtesy of NASA
- 04/19/10: Space Shuttle Discovery lands at Kennedy Space Center.
STS-131 Commander Alan G. Poindexter guided Discovery to an 8:08 a.m. CDT landing at the Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida. Weather had caused postponement of the first day’s landing attempts, and a rain shower within 30 miles of the runway brought a wave-off of the first of today’s opportunities. Showers moved off to permit landing on the second. - NASA - 04/19/10: STS-131 crew spends an extra day in orbit.
Space shuttle Discovery’s crew is prepared to return home Tuesday, as mission managers closely monitor weather that could affect their entry and landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. - NASA - 04/19/10: Space Shuttle Discovery: today's landing waived off.
Space shuttle Discovery will spend another day in orbit after two landing opportunities at Kennedy Space Center in Florida were foiled by clouds and rain in the area. Forecasts call for Florida conditions to improve Tuesday and for generally good weather in California. - NASA - 04/18/10: STS-131 crew prepares for landing.
The astronauts onboard space shuttle Discovery are getting ready to conclude their successful mission to the International Space Station, weather permitting, with a planned landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida Monday at 7:48 a.m. CDT. - NASA - 04/18/10: Crew powers up Discovery’s flight control system; tests flaps and rudder.
This morning, Poindexter, Dutton and Metcalf-Lindenburger powered up Discovery’s flight control system and tested the flaps and rudder that will control the shuttle’s flight once it enters the Earth’s atmosphere. Next they test-fired the reaction control system jets that will control the shuttle’s orientation before it reaches the atmosphere. All seven crew members stowed items in Discovery’s cabin in preparation for re-entry and landing. - NASA
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