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.

Map of Kennedy Space Center

Cape Canaveral weather forecast

How to watch NASA TV

STS-131 – Navigation: 04/20/10: Space Shuttle Discovery lands at Kennedy Space Center. 04/20/10: STS-131: coverage of today’s landing of Space Shuttle Discovery. 04/19/10: STS-131 crew spends an extra day in orbit. 04/19/10: Space Shuttle Discovery: today’s landing waived off. 04/18/10: STS-131 crew prepares for landing. 04/18/10: Crew powers up Discovery’s flight control system; tests flaps and rudder. 04/17/10: STS-131 crew begins journey home. 04/17/10: STS-131: Space Shuttle Discovery undocks, flies around station. 04/17/10: STS-131, Expedition 23 crews prepare to close hatches. 04/16/10: STS-131 crew secures Leonardo, prepares for undocking. 04/16/10: STS-131 crew to inspect Discovery’s heat shield. 04/15/10: STS-131 crew to secure Leonardo in Discovery’s payload bay. 04/14/10: STS-131: no need for additional spacewalk. 04/14/10: STS-131: NASA troubleshoots jammed cooling system valve. 04/14/10: STS-131: crews finish loading Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo. 04/13/10: STS-131, Expedition 23 crews transfer equipment and experiments. 04/13/10: Mastracchio and Anderson complete final STS-131 spacewalk. 04/12/10: STS-131 final spacewalk; crews to berth depleted tank aboard Discovery. 04/12/10: STS-131: Mastracchio and Anderson to spend night in Quest airlock. 04/11/10: Crews prepare for final STS-131 spacewalk. 04/11/10: Mastracchio and Clayton Anderson install 1,700 lb ammonia tank on Space Station. 04/10/10: Anderson and Mastracchio to perform second STS-131 spacewalk. 04/10/10: STS-131, Expedition 23 crews prepare for Sunday’s spacewalk. 04/09/10: Extra day added to STS-131 mission to inspect heat shield. 04/09/10: Mastracchio and Anderson complete first STS-131 spacewalk. 04/08/10: Anderson and Mastracchio to perform first STS-131 spacewalk. 04/08/10: STS-131: Leonardo successfully relocated to Harmony. 04/07/10: STS-131 crew prepares to attach Leonardo to the Harmony module. 04/07:10: STS-131: Discovery’s Crew to wake at 7:21 CDT tonight. STS-131 joins Expedition 23 crew aboard the ISS after successful docking. STS-131: Space Shuttle Discovery to dock with station without radar. 04/06/10: STS-131 crew prepares for docking with International Space Station. 04/05/10: STS-131 crew to inspect Discovery’s thermal protection system. 04/05/10: STS-131: Discovery’s Ku-band antenna remains non-operational. STS-131: Space Shuttle Discovery begins pursuit of International Space Station. 04/05/10: Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on misssion STS-131 to the ISS. 04/03/10: Discovery is Go for launch; Rotating Service Structure to retract on Sunday. 04/01/10: STS-131: Space Shuttle Discovery is 80% Go for launch on Monday. 04/01/10: STS-131 crew arrives at Kennedy Space Center for launch. 03/30/10: STS-131: Discovery’s main propulsion system pressurised. 03/29/10: STS-131: Space Shuttle Discovery prepared for launch next Monday. 03/26/10: STS-131: Space Shuttle Discovery is Go for April 5 launch. 03/26/10: STS-131: Discovery’s Flight Readiness Review today. 03/25/10: STS-131: payload installed in Discovery, Flight Readiness Review tomorrow. 03/24/10: STS-131 – Discovery’s payload to be installed today. 03/23/10: STS-131: engineers analyse test data from Space Shuttle Discovery. 03/22/10: STS-131 launch preparations continue. 03/19/10: STS-131: Discovery’s payload arrives at launch pad. 03/18/10: STS-131: rotating service structure around Discovery to open today. 03/17/10: STS-131: Testing of Space Shuttle Discovery’s systems continues. 03/16/10: STS-131: Discovery’s payload to move to launch pad on Friday. 03/15/10: STS-131: test set for Discovery’s helium system regulators. 03/15/10: STS-131: engineers discuss problem with Discovery’s fuel tanks. 03/13/10: STS-131: payload delivery to Pad 39A delayed; launch target remains April 5. 03/11/10: STS-131: Discovery’s solid rocket boosters loaded with fuel. 03/11/10: STS-131: mission preparations continue. 03/08/10: Mastracchio and Anderson rehearse first STS-131 spacewalk. 03/05/10: STS-131 Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test complete; crew flies back to Houston. 03/04/10: STS-131: STS-131 crew practices emergency exit procedures at launch Pad 39A. 03/03/10: Discovery at launch pad; STS-131 crew continues training. 03/01/10: Weather Delays Rollout, STS-131 Crew Heads to Kennedy Space Center. 02/24/10: STS-131: Discovery is now attached to its external tank and boosters. 02/22/10: STS-131: Discovery rolls to Vehicle Assembly Building; rollout to launch pad on March 2. 02/11/10: STS-131: Space Shuttle Discovery to move to VAB on Feb 14. STS-131 Mission: Home. Space and Astronautics News: Home

10 p.m. CDT Monday, April 12, 2010
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas
STS-131 Mission Control Center Status Report #16

Clayton Anderson (left) and Rick Mastracchio, both STS-131 mission specialists, attired in their Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuits; along with astronauts Alan Poindexter (center background), commander; James P. Dutton Jr., pilot; and Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, mission specialist, pose for a photo in the Quest airlock of the International Space Station prior to the start of the mission’s third and final spacewalk. Credit: NASA

Spacewalkers Rick Mastracchio and Clayton Anderson will begin the third and final spacewalk of the mission, finishing the installation of a new ammonia tank for the International Space Station’s cooling systems and continuing transfers of equipment and supplies.

Mission Control played the song “Galileo” by the Indigo Girls as a wake-up for Mission Specialist Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger and the rest of the baker’s dozen crew — Commander Alan Poindexter, Pilot James P. Dutton Jr. and Mission Specialists Stephanie Wilson, Naoko Yamazaki, Mastracchio and Anderson — at 9:21 p.m. CDT.

Mastracchio and Anderson spent the night in the Quest airlock, preparing their bodies for the lower pressure of the spacesuits, to protect against decompression sickness.

Robotic arm operators Wilson, Dutton and Soichi Noguchi will activate Canadarm2, the station’s arm, and grapple the old ammonia tank that was removed earlier in the mission and stored on the station’s Mobile Base System. They’ll move the depleted tank into Discovery’s payload bay so that Mastracchio and Anderson can bolt it onto a logistics carrier for the ride home to Earth.

The 6.5-hour spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 2:11 a.m. CDT Tuesday, and has been replanned because of some difficulties bolting down the new ammonia tank on Sunday. Mastracchio will wear a suit with red stripes around the legs, and Anderson will wear an unmarked suit. Metcalf-Lindenburger will coordinate the spacewalk from inside the complex.

The first task will be to connect the fluid lines to the new ammonia tank. This was not attempted during the second spacewalk because there wouldn’t have been enough time to let any ammonia that might have leaked sublimate into the vacuum of space. They’ll then move on to secure the old tank in Discovery’s cargo bay.

Additional tasks will include retrieval of micrometeoroid shields from outside the airlock and an experiment platform from the end of the Columbus laboratory. The last planned task will be to try to tighten bolts on a radiator grapple fixture beam on the port-side radiator, which couldn’t be secured earlier. If the bolts can’t be tightened, the spacewalkers will be asked to return it to the airlock for further troubleshooting.

Transfer activities will resume inside the station. With about three-quarters of the science rack, equipment, food and supply moves complete, loadmaster Yamazaki and her team will work to get all the items into their final locations.

Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Noguchi assisted with transfers and worked with experiments. The newest members of Expedition 23, Flight Engineers Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko continued orienting themselves to their new home in space after docking just a few days before Discovery’s arrival and the start of the busy docked operations period.

The next status report will be issued after the spacewalk, or earlier if events warrant.

– 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

---

Space and Astronautics News is completely opposed to the use of any animals in science experiments, including in space missions.

Copyright © Space and Astronautics News 1999 – 2010 All Rights Reserved.

---