Discovery and Crew Readied for Mission

At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians at Launch Pad 39A will work today and throughout the weekend to finish loading space shuttle Discovery's hypergolic propellants.

Meanwhile, the STS-131 astronauts continue their training at their home base in Houston. Today, they'll get some flying time in T-38 training jets.

Discovery's launch on the next mission to the International Space Station is targeted for April 5.

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.

Mission Information