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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
11:30 p.m. CDT Friday, April 16, 2010
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas
STS-131 Mission Control Center Status Report #25
One of the Expedition 23 crew members aboard the International Space Station snapped this photo of part of the space shuttle Discovery’s starboard wing, vertical stabilizer and orbital maneuvering system pods backdropped against the cloud-covered Pacific Coast of southern California and northern Baja California, Mexico. The Imperial Valley and Salton Sea can be seen at top center Credit: NASA
The crews of space shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station will part company Saturday morning wrapping up a mission that brought 7.6 tons of supplies and equipment to the station, including a new crew sleeping quarters, a new ammonia tank, a new gyroscope and four experiment racks.
The shuttle crew was awakened at 11:21 p.m. CDT to the strains of “Joy” performed by the Newsboys. The song was selected for Pilot James P. Dutton Jr., who will fly Discovery around the station so crew members can document the station’s exterior condition. A test pilot for the U.S. Air Force who has flown more than 30 aircraft, this is Dutton’s first spaceflight.
The crews will bid one another farewell and close the hatches at 4:56 a.m. The docking latches will open at 7:52 a.m. allowing Discovery to drift free. Dutton will then guide Discovery on a fly-around of the station at a distance of 400 feet, with final separation from the orbiting outpost at 9:35 a.m.
The first landing opportunity at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is at 7:48 a.m. on Monday.
Discovery’s crew is scheduled for sleep at 3:21 p.m. The next shuttle status report will be issued after the crew’s work day ends, 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
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