NASA- Homecoming

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:59:04 -0500

The crew of space shuttle Discovery went to sleep at 3:21 p.m. EDT. Crew wakeup is at 11:21 p.m. Weather permitting, Discovery is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center's shuttle landing facility Tuesday at 7:34 a.m., 40 minutes after sunrise. The second landing opportunity at Kennedy is at 9:08 a.m.

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 08:03:51 -0500

Mission Control Entry Flight Director Bryan Lunney has given Discovery's seven astronauts a "no go" to perform the deorbit burn and decided to wave off the 10:23 a.m. EDT landing opportunity because of continued low cloud coverage at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility.

The first Kennedy landing opportunity Tuesday is on orbit 237 with a deorbit burn at 6:28 a.m. and landing at 7:34 a.m. Edwards Air Force Base also is expected to be called up for Tuesday landing opportunities.

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 23:46:36 -0500

The crew’s wakeup call at 12:21 a.m. EDT was “The Star Spangled Banner,” played for Commander Alan G. Poindexter, who is wrapping up his second spaceflight. A U.S. Navy captain, Poindexter served as a pilot on STS-122 in February 2008. Forecasts for a landing at Kennedy Space Center are not promising, calling for high overcast and two layers of scattered clouds, as well as a chance of showers in the area. If needed, on Tuesday there are landing opportunities at Kennedy and the backup runway at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Weather permitting, the first landing opportunity in Florida is scheduled for today at 8:48 a.m.

Those guys stay busy. I hope the union looks after the space truckers.

STATUS REPORT : STS-131-26

STS-131 MCC Status Report #26

Space shuttle Discovery undocked from the International Space Station at 7:52 a.m. CDT, ending a stay of 10 days, 5 hours and 8 minutes. The visit included three spacewalks and delivery of more than seven tons of equipment and supplies.

After undocking, Pilot James P. Dutton Jr. flew Discovery in a circle around the station at a distance of about 500 feet. Crew members shot photographs and video to document the station’s condition.

Commander Alan G. Poindexter, Dutton and Mission Specialists Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Rick Mastracchio, Stephanie Wilson, Clayton Anderson and Japanese astronaut Naoko Yamazaki are scheduled to land their spacecraft at Kennedy Space Center at 7:51 a.m. Monday.

Hatches were closed at 5:30 a.m. Crew members had spent 10 days, 1 hour and 19 minutes in joint operations. Poindexter and station Commander Oleg Kotov said farewells on behalf of their crews.

Major parts of all three spacewalks by Mastracchio and Anderson involved installation of a 1,700-pound ammonia tank assembly on the station’s exterior to replace a depleted predecessor. They also replaced a rate gyro assembly, retrieved a Japanese experiment and two debris shields.

Discovery brought into orbit the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo and attached it to the station where its cargo of equipment, supplies and scientific racks was unloaded. It subsequently was refilled with unneeded equipment and trash from the station for return to Earth.

The flight accomplished firsts. It marked the first time four women had flown in space together and the first time two Japanese astronauts, Yamazaki and station Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi, had flown in space at the same time.

Discovery had spent an extra day at the station so late inspection of the shuttle’s heat shield could be done there. That inspection typically is done after undocking. But Discovery’s high-data-rate Ku-band antenna was not working, so the inspection plan was changed to allow images from it to be downlinked for analysis on the ground using the station Ku.

Analysts on the ground have reviewed the data from that inspection and determined Discovery’s heat shield is in good shape to support the orbiter’s entry in to the Earth’s atmosphere Monday.

On the station, Expedition 23 Kotov and Flight Engineers Alexander Skvortsov, Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Mikhail Kornienko, Noguchi and T.J. Creamer watched Discovery‘s fly-around and subsequent departure from the area.

The next shuttle status report will be issued after the shuttle crew’s 11:21 p.m. wakeup call, or earlier if events warrant.

(but I don't think I'm bored enough to include that one)

Sat, 17 Apr 2010 23:35:19 -0500

The crew of space shuttle Discovery was awakened at 12:21 a.m. EDT by Louis Armstrong singing What a Wonderful World; played for Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson, who completed her third trip to the station on Discovery today. Wilson flew on Discovery for STS-121 in July 2006 and STS-120 in October 2007.

The STS-131 crew will prepare for landing by checking out Discovery's flight control systems and performing a hot-fire test of its reaction control system. Landing is scheduled for Monday at 8:51 a.m. at Kennedy Space Center.