STS-131 Fact Sheet

By Cliff Lethbridge

STS-131 – Discovery

131st Space Shuttle Mission

38th Flight of Discovery

Crew:

Alan Poindexter, Commander

James Dutton, Pilot

Richard Mastracchio, Mission Specialist

Dorothy M. Metcalf-Lindenberger, Mission Specialist

Stephanie Wilson, Mission Specialist

Naoko Yamazaki, Mission Specialist

Clayton Anderson, Mission Specialist

Orbiter Preparations:

Rollover to Vehicle Assembly Building – February 22, 2010

Rollout to Launch Pad 39A – March 2, 2010

Launch:

April 5, 2010 – 6:21:22 a.m. EDT. Launch occurred as scheduled with no delays.

Landing:

April 20, 2010 – 9:08:35 a.m. EDT at Runway 33, Kennedy Space Center. Landing occurred during the 238th orbit. Mission duration was 15 days, 2 hours, 47 minutes, 11 seconds. Kennedy Space Center landing opportunities on April 19, 2010 were waived due to bad weather.

Mission Summary:

The primary payload was the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM), designed to allow supplies and equipment to be loaded and off-loaded from the International Space Station (ISS). Discovery’s docking to ISS occurred on April 7, 2010. Undocking occurred on April 17, 2010.

There were three spacewalks during the mission. The first spacewalk was conducted on April 9, 2010 and lasted 6 hours, 27 minutes. Astronauts Mastracchio and Anderson temporarily stowed a new ammonia tank from Discovery’s payload bay to the exterior of ISS. They retrieved a seed experiment from outside the ISS Japanese module, installed a grapple bar to the new ammonia tank and replaced a failed navigation gyroscope.

The second spacewalk was conducted by astronauts Mastracchio and Anderson on April 11, 2010 and lasted 7 hours, 26 minutes. An empty ammonia tank was removed and temporarily stowed on an equipment cart. The new ammonia tank was then installed. The third spacewalk was conducted on April 13, 2010 and lasted 6 hours, 24 minutes. The empty ammonia tank was installed inside Discovery’s payload bay for a return to Earth. Astronauts Mastracchio and Anderson then removed a grapple bar from the old ammonia tank and installed it to the new tank. They also made preparations for spacewalks to be conducted during upcoming mission STS-132.

 

SELECTED NASA PHOTOS FROM STS-131