STS-131 Experiment Express PRESS KIT/April 2010
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration SPACE SHUTTLE MISSION STS-131 Experiment Express PRESS KIT/April 2010 www.nasa.gov CONTENTS Section Page STS-131/19A MISSION OVERVIEW ........................................................................................ 1 STS-131 TIMELINE OVERVIEW ............................................................................................... 11 MISSION PROFILE ................................................................................................................... 15 MISSION OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................ 17 MISSION PERSONNEL ............................................................................................................. 19 STS-131 CREW ....................................................................................................................... 21 PAYLOAD OVERVIEW .............................................................................................................. 31 LEONARDO MULTI-PURPOSE LOGISTICS MODULE (MPLM) FLIGHT MODULE 1 (FM1) ........................... 33 THE LIGHTWEIGHT MULTI-PURPOSE EXPERIMENT SUPPORT STRUCTURE CARRIER (LMC) ................ 44 RENDEZVOUS & DOCKING ....................................................................................................... 45 UNDOCKING, SEPARATION, AND DEPARTURE ...................................................................................... 46 SPACEWALKS ......................................................................................................................... 49 EXPERIMENTS ......................................................................................................................... 57 DETAILED TEST OBJECTIVES AND DETAILED SUPPLEMENTARY OBJECTIVES ....................................... 57 SHORT-DURATION U.S. INTEGRATED RESEARCH TO BE COMPLETED DURING STS-131/19A ............... 62 EDUCATION ACTIVITIES ......................................................................................................... 73 SHUTTLE REFERENCE DATA .................................................................................................... 75 LAUNCH AND LANDING ........................................................................................................... 93 LAUNCH ............................................................................................................................................... 93 ABORT-TO-ORBIT (ATO) ...................................................................................................................... 93 TRANSATLANTIC ABORT LANDING (TAL) ............................................................................................. 93 RETURN-TO-LAUNCH-SITE (RTLS) ....................................................................................................... 93 ABORT ONCE AROUND (AOA) ............................................................................................................... 93 LANDING ............................................................................................................................................. 93 APRIL 2010 CONTENTS i Section Page ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................... 95 MEDIA ASSISTANCE ............................................................................................................... 109 PUBLIC AFFAIRS CONTACTS .................................................................................................. 111 ii CONTENTS APRIL 2010 STS-131/19A MISSION OVERVIEW Backdropped by a blue and white part of Earth, the International Space Station is featured in this image photographed by an STS-130 crew member on space shuttle Endeavour. As the last round-trip for the Leonardo experiments, unneeded hardware and trash to Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, Discovery’s the ground – all other cargo transfer vehicles 13-day mission will provide the International burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere. And Space Station with not only some 8 tons of although Leonardo will return to the station science equipment and cargo, but also one last once more on the last space shuttle mission opportunity to send a large load of cargo back later this year, this is scheduled to be its last to the ground. round trip – Leonardo will remain permanently at the station after STS-133. So while it will Leonardo serves as basically a moving van for deliver one more batch of goods, the cargo the space station, allowing the shuttle to, first of returning on STS-131 will be the last that it all, deliver shipments of equipment and brings home. supplies larger than any other vehicle could accommodate, and, second, to return science APRIL 2010 MISSION OVERVIEW 1 And although there are only four shuttle Discovery, commanded by spaceflight veteran missions left before the space shuttle fleet is Alan G. Poindexter, is scheduled to lift off from retired, the program is still making some space Kennedy Space Center at 6:21 a.m. EDT on “firsts” possible. With three female crew Monday, April 5, and arrive at the orbiting members arriving on board Discovery and one complex early on Wednesday, April 7. already at the station, the STS-131 mission will mark the first time that four women have been While docked to the station, Discovery’s crew in space at one time. And as there is one will conduct three spacewalks and spend Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut about 100 combined hours moving cargo in on each crew, the mission is also the first time and out of Leonardo and the shuttle’s middeck. for two JAXA astronauts to be in space at the same time. NASA astronaut Alan G. Poindexter, STS-131 commander, attired in a training version of his shuttle launch and entry suit, occupies the commander’s station on the flight deck of the Full Fuselage Trainer in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. 2 MISSION OVERVIEW APRIL 2010 Poindexter, 48, a U.S. Navy captain, served as of the Quest airlock at the station. Docking pilot on STS-122 in 2008. He will be joined on preparations will occupy the remainder of the the mission by pilot James P. Dutton Jr., 41, a crew’s workday. U.S. Air Force colonel, who will be making his first trip to space. Mission specialists are On the third day of the flight, Discovery will Rick Mastracchio, 50, who flew on STS-106 be flown by Poindexter and Dutton on its and STS-118 in 2000 and 2007, respectively; approach for docking to the station. After a Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, 34, a former series of jet firings to fine-tune Discovery’s path teacher who became an astronaut in 2004; to the complex, the shuttle will arrive at a Stephanie Wilson, 43, who flew on STS-121 point about 600 feet directly below the station and STS-120 in 2006 and 2007, respectively; about an hour before docking. At that time, Naoko Yamazaki, 39, a Japan Aerospace Poindexter will execute the rendezvous pitch Exploration Agency astronaut; and maneuver, a one-degree-per-second rotational Clayton Anderson, 51, who spent 152 days on “backflip” to enable station crew members to the space station as a member of the snap hundreds of detailed photos of the Expedition 15 crew in 2007, traveling to the shuttle’s heat shield and other areas of potential station on STS-117 and returning to Earth on interest – another data point for imagery STS-120. analysts to pore over in determining the health of the shuttle’s thermal protection system. The day after launch, Poindexter, Dutton, Metcalf-Lindenburger, Wilson and Yamazaki Once the rotation is completed, Poindexter will will take turns from Discovery’s aft flight deck fly Discovery in front of the station before maneuvering its robotic arm in the traditional slowly closing in for a linkup to the forward day-long scan of the reinforced carbon-carbon docking port on the Harmony module. Less on the leading edges of the shuttle’s wings and than two hours later, hatches will be opened its nose cap. This initial inspection, using a between the two spacecraft and a combined 50-foot-long robotic arm extension equipped crew of 13 will begin nine days of work. with sensors and lasers, called the Orbiter Discovery’s crew will be working with Boom Sensor System, will provide imagery Expedition 23 commander, Russian cosmonaut experts on the ground a close-up look at the Oleg Kotov and flight engineers T.J. Creamer orbiter’s heat shield following the dynamic and Tracy Caldwell Dyson, both of NASA; liftoff. A follow-up inspection will take place Soichi Noguchi, a Japan Aerospace after Discovery undocks from the station. Agency astronaut; and cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko. While the inspection takes place, Mastracchio Anderson and Kotov were Expedition 15 crew and Anderson will prepare the spacesuits they members together, and Mastracchio visited will wear for their three spacewalks out during that time as part of the STS-118 mission. APRIL 2010 MISSION OVERVIEW 3 NASA astronaut James P. Dutton Jr., STS-131 pilot, occupies the pilot’s station during a training session in the shuttle mission simulator in the Jake Garn Simulation and Training Facility at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. After a station safety briefing, Wilson and prepare Leonardo’s hatch for opening near the Yamazaki will operate the station’s robotic arm end of the day. to remove the OBSS from Discovery’s cargo bay and hand it off to the shuttle robotic arm being That night, spacewalkers