14 DAY TRIAL // The three astronauts currently making up Expedition 23 to the International Space Station (ISS) are at this point caught on in preparations for the arrival of the upcoming STS-130 assembly mission. Flown by the shuttle Discovery, the flight will last for a little less than two weeks. Roughly around the same time, at the beginning of next month, a Soyuz spacecraft will take off from the steppes of Kazakhstan, heading up with three new crew members for the current Expedition, Space Fellowship reports.
In addition to handling the usual science and maintenance duties, the crew aboard the orbital facility is also currently packing a host of scientific experiments and other payloads, for a safe return back to Earth aboard the space shuttle, and are also reviewing time lines for the two docking procedures. Flight engineers Soichi Noguchi and T.J. Creamer, led by ISS Commander Oleg Kotov, are also exercising various maneuvers that would come in handy as the two other spacecrafts dock to their respective berths on the orbital facility.
Discovery is scheduled to begin its penultimate flight at 6:21 am EDT (1021 GMT) April 5. Once on the ISS, it will deliver new supplies and equipment, as well as the last Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM), Leonardo. Three extra-vehicular activities (EVA) will be performed during this mission, in which astronauts will use the Station's robotic arm (SSRMS) to maneuver a new ammonia tank assembly (ATA) into its position on the ISS. At the same time, they will collect the old tank, and place it into their shuttle's cargo bay, for a safe trip back home.
“It's a great time to be in Florida. We've been training really hard and are just so proud of the folks down here getting [Discovery ready] for flight,” said upon arrival at KSC Alan Poindexter, the NASA astronaut that will be acting as Commander for the STS-131 flight. The mission is the third ever to carry three female astronauts, mission specialists Dorothy M. Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson, and Naoko Yamazaki, of the Japanese space agency JAXA. The rest of the crew is made up of mission specialists Clayton Anderson and Richard Mastracchio, alongside Discovery's pilot, James Dutton.