STS-131

Alan G. Poindexter

• Birthday: 11/05/1961
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 02/07/2008
• Last Flight: 04/05/2010

Alan Goodwin “Dex” Poindexter was an American naval officer and a NASA astronaut. Poindexter was selected in the 1998 NASA Group (G17) and went into orbit aboard Space Shuttle missions STS-122, and STS-131.

James Dutton

• Birthday: 11/20/1968
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 04/05/2010
• Last Flight: 04/05/2010

James Patrick “Mash” Dutton, Jr. is a NASA astronaut pilot of the Class of 2004 (NASA Group 19), and a former test pilot in the US Air Force with the rank of Colonel.

Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger

• Birthday: 05/15/1975
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 04/05/2010
• Last Flight: 04/05/2010

Dorothy Marie “Dottie” Metcalf-Lindenburger is a former American astronaut. She married Jason Metcalf-Lindenburger, a seventh grade teacher at the time, in 2000, and they have 1 daughter together. She was a science teacher at Hudson’s Bay High School in Vancouver, Washington when she was selected in 2004 as an Educator Mission Specialist. She was the first Space Camp alumna to become an astronaut.

Naoko Yamazaki

• Birthday: 12/27/1970
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: Japanese
• First Flight: 04/05/2010
• Last Flight: 04/05/2010

Naoko Yamazaki is a former Japanese astronaut at JAXA, the second Japanese woman to qualify for the program. The first was Chiaki Mukai.

Clayton Anderson

• Birthday: 02/23/1959
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 06/08/2007
• Last Flight: 04/05/2010

Clayton Conrad Anderson is a retired NASA astronaut. Launched on STS-117, he replaced Sunita Williams on June 10, 2007 as a member of the ISS Expedition 15 crew.

Stephanie Wilson

• Birthday: 09/27/1966
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 07/04/2006
• Last Flight: 04/05/2010

Stephanie Diana Wilson is an American engineer and a NASA astronaut. She flew to space onboard three Space Shuttle missions, and is the second African American woman to go into space, after Mae Jemison. Her 42 days in space are the most of any African American astronaut, male or female.

Richard Mastracchio

• Birthday: 02/11/1960
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 09/08/2000
• Last Flight: 11/07/2013

Richard Alan “Rick” Mastracchio is an American engineer and former NASA astronaut. He has flown on three NASA Space Shuttle missions as a mission specialist in addition to serving as a Flight Engineer on the Soyuz TMA-11M (Expedition 38/Expedition 39) long duration mission aboard the International Space Station. He is currently the Senior Director of Operations for Commercial Resupply Services at Orbital ATK.

STS-131

• Type: Human Exploration
• Orbit: Low Earth Orbit
• Launch Cost: $450,000,000

STS-131 was an ISS assembly flight with the primary payload being a loaded Multi-Purpose Logistics Module – Leonardo. The mission began on April 5th 2010 at 1021:22 UTC launching Commander Alan Poindexter, Pilot James Dutton, Mission Specialist 1 Richard Mastracchio, Mission Specialist 2 Dorothy M. Metcalf-Lindenburger, Mission Specialist 3 Stephanie Wilson, Mission Specialist 4 Naoko Yamazaki & Mission Specialist 5 Clayton Anderson to orbit. They docked with the ISS 2 days after launch. The mission was the final Space Shuttle launch with a seven person crew and was the longest flight for Discovery. STS-131 also marked the first time 4 women have been in space at once. During the mission 3 spacewalks were conducted to replace an ammonia tank and to retrieve a seed experiment from outside the Japanese laboratory. The mission concluded after 15 days & 2 hours on April 20th 2010 at 1308:35 UTC after 2 waved off landing opportunities on the 19th at the Kennedy Space Center.

Launch Complex 39A

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Launch Complex 39A has witnessed the launch of 186 rockets, including 185 orbital launch attempts, while Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA, has been the site for 244 rocket launches.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Space Shuttle

The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS). Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011.

United Space Alliance

United Space Alliance (USA) is a spaceflight operations company. USA is a joint venture which was established in August 1995 as a Limited Liability Company (LLC), equally owned by Boeing and Lockheed Martin.