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Discovery's Payload Arrives at the Launch Pad
At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the canister carrying the payload for space shuttle Discovery's STS-131 mission to the International Space Station made its way to Launch Pad 39A in the predawn darkness this morning, arriving at 2:51 a.m. EDT. The canister will be installed in the pad's payload changeout room, and its contents, including the multi-purpose logistics module Leonardo, is set to be transferred to Discovery's cargo bay on March 24.
During the upcoming weekend, crews at the launch pad will perform additional tests on Discovery's right reaction control system helium regulators. Engineers will evaluate the data and discuss options Tuesday morning.
At NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, STS-131 astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Clayton Anderson will rehearse techniques for the mission's third spacewalk in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab's huge tank.
Commander Alan Poindexter is set to lead the STS-131 mission to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Discovery. Joining Poindexter will be Pilot Jim Dutton and Mission Specialists Rick Mastracchio, Clay Anderson, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson and Naoko Yamazaki of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Discovery will carry a multi-purpose logistics module filled with science racks for the laboratories aboard the station. The mission has three planned spacewalks, with work to include replacing an ammonia tank assembly, retrieving a Japanese experiment from the station’s exterior, and switching out a rate gyro assembly on the S0 segment of the station’s truss structure.
STS-131 will be the 33rd shuttle mission to the station.
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