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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
8:15 a.m. CDT Sunday, April 11, 2010
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas
STS-131 Mission Control Center Status Report #13
Rick Mastracchio (left) and Clayton Anderson, both STS-131 mission specialists, participate in the mission’s second session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. During the seven-hour, 26-minute spacewalk, Mastracchio and Anderson unhooked and removed the depleted ammonia tank and installed a 1,700-pound ammonia tank on the station’s Starboard 1 truss, completing the second of a three-spacewalk coolant tank replacement process. Credit: NASA
Discovery Mission Specialists Rick Mastracchio and Clayton Anderson installed a 1,700-pound ammonia tank on the International Space Station, completing the second of a three-spacewalk coolant tank replacement process.
The 7-hour, 26-minute spacewalk, began at 12:30 a.m. CDT, about 45 minutes ahead of schedule. The first task was to unhook and remove the depleted ammonia tank from the station’s starboard truss.
Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson and Pilot James P. Dutton Jr. used the station’s Canadarm2 to move the empty tank to one of the mobile equipment carts on the tracks of the truss. There the spacewalkers temporarily stowed it until the third spacewalk Tuesday when it will be moved to Discovery’s payload bay for return home. The spent tank will be refurbished for delivery back to the station as a spare on the STS-134 mission.
The arm next retrieved the new tank from its temporary parking spot on the Quest airlock where it had been left during the first spacewalk Friday. After a bit of trouble with one of the four bolts, the new tank was secured in place and the electrical connections were mated. Because of the balky bolt delay, connection of the tank’s fluid lines was postponed until the Tuesday spacewalk.
With help from Mission Specialist Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, the in-cabin choreographer, Mastracchio and Anderson also installed two radiator grapple fixture stowage beams on the P1 Truss. Scheduled retrieval of debris shields also was postponed.
The stowage beams will stow handles that could be used if replacement of a radiator became necessary.
Today’s was the 142nd spacewalk for station construction and maintenance. It was the fifth for each astronaut bringing Mastracchio’s total spacewalking time to 32 hours, 6 minutes and Anderson’s to 32 hours and 4 minutes.
Tuesday’s spacewalk, also by Mastracchio and Anderson, is the last planned for Discovery’s mission to the station. It is to begin at 2:11 a.m. and last about 6½ hours. In addition to relocating the old tank to Discovery’s payload bay for return home, the final spacewalk includes retrieval of a light-weight adapter plate assembly from the Columbus module and securing it in the cargo bay, replacing a camera light on the Destiny laboratory, installing two more radiator grapple fixture stowage beams and installing a camera on Dextre, the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator.
The next status report will be issued after crew wakeup tonight at 8:51 p.m.
– 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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