STS-131

Alan G. Poindexter

• Birthday: 11/05/1961
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: United States of America
• 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 19...

James Dutton

• Birthday: 11/20/1968
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: United States of America
• 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 ...

Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger

• Birthday: 05/15/1975
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: United States of America
• 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,...

Naoko Yamazaki

• Birthday: 12/27/1970
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: Japan
• 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 Ch...

Clayton Anderson

• Birthday: 02/23/1959
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: United States of America
• 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 m...

Stephanie Wilson

• Birthday: 09/27/1966
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: United States of America
• 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, ...

Richard Mastracchio

• Birthday: 02/11/1960
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: United States of America
• 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...

Mission

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.

Location

Launch Complex 39A

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Find the best place to watch the launch from Florida

Launch Complex 39A has witnessed the launch of 199 rockets, including 198 orbital launch attempts. While Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA, has been the site for 257 rocket launches.

The John F. Kennedy Space Center, located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of NASA's ten field centers. Since 1968, KSC has been NASA's primary launch center of American spaceflight, research, and technology. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC. Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS).

Rocket

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.

Learn more about the Space Shuttle

Agency

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.