The Flickr Sts131 Image Generatr

Description: Contrails are seen as workers leave the Launch Control Center after the launch of the space shuttle Discovery and the start of the STS-131 mission at NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. on Monday April 5, 2010. Discovery is carrying 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 station's truss structure.

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Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Image Number: 201004050003HQ
Date: April 5, 2010

This week in 2010, space shuttle Discovery, mission STS-131, launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on the 33rd shuttle mission to the International Space Station. Discovery delivered a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module filled with science racks that were transferred to laboratories on the station. The modules were built by the Italian Space Agency and managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. Today, the Payload Operations Integration Center at Marshall serves as "science central" for the space station, working 24/7, 365 days a year in support of the orbiting laboratory's science experiments. After 20 years of continuous human presence, the space station remains the sole space-based proving ground and stepping stone toward achieving the goals of the Artemis program. The NASA History Program is responsible for generating, disseminating and preserving NASA's remarkable history and providing a comprehensive understanding of the institutional, cultural, social, political, economic, technological and scientific aspects of NASA's activities in aeronautics and space. For more pictures like this one and to connect to NASA's history, visit the Marshall History Program's webpage.

Image credit: NASA

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View of Naoko Yamazaki on the AFT Flight Deck of Shuttle Discovery during STS-131.

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Credit: NASA
Image Number: s131e011472
Date: April 18, 2010

Out of this world public domain images from NASA. All original images and many more can be found from the NASA Image Library

Higher resolutions with no attribution required can be downloaded: www.rawpixel.com/board/418580/nasa

Out of this world public domain images from NASA. All original images and many more can be found from the NASA Image Library

Higher resolutions with no attribution required can be downloaded: www.rawpixel.com/board/418580/nasa

In this image from 2009, NASA astronaut Stephanie Wilson is attired in a training version of her shuttle launch and entry suit, as she participates in a training session in the Space Vehicle Mock-up Facility at the Johnson Space Center in preparation for the STS-131 mission.

Wilson, a veteran of three spaceflights, graduated from Harvard University with a degree in engineering and a master's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Before being selected for the Astronaut Program, she worked for Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin). Wilson worked hard and planned carefully in her quest to become an astronaut. She was selected for the program in 2006. But before she could join, she had to learn how to swim. Suffice it to say, she did. Since then, Wilson has served as the Space Station Integration Branch Chief from 2010 to 2012, and as a member of the 2009, 2013 and 2017 Astronaut Selection Boards. As a member of the Astronaut Office, she currently supports the International Space Station Program as a member of the Mission Support Crew branch.

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@ NASA (United States Air Force )
Space Shuttle "Discovery" Rockwell International - OV-103

@ History of Orbiter Vehicle Designation:
• 29.JAN.1979 : Contract award to Rockwell International's Space Transportation Systems Division in Downey CA USA
& the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built
• 27.AUG.1979 : Start fabrication - Palmdale CA
• 16.OCT.1983 : Rollout from Palmdale
• 09.NOV.1983 : Delivery to Kennedy Space Center ( KSC ) FL & "Discovery" became the third operational orbiter to enter service preceded by "Columbia" and "Challenger"
• 30.AUG.1984 : First Flight ( STS-41-D )
• 08.NOV.1984 : Mission STS-51-A ( 7 days )
• 24.JAN.1985 : Mission STS-51-C ( 3 days )
• 12.APR.1985 : Mission STS-51-D ( 6 days )
• 17.JUN.1985 : Mission STS-51-G ( 7 days ) first Saudi Arabian Man in space
• 27.AUG.1985 : Mission STS-51-I ( 7 days )
• 29.SEP.1988 : Mission STS-26 ( 4 days ) Return to flight after Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
• 13.MAR.1989 : Mission STS-29 ( 4 days )
• 22.NOV.1989 : Mission STS-33 ( 5 days )
• 24.APR.1990 : Mission STS-31 ( 5 days ) Launch of Hubble Space Telescope
• 06.OCT.1990 : Mission STS-41 ( 4 days ) Launch of Ulysses
• 12.APR.1991 : Mission STS-39 ( 8 days ) Launched DOD Air Force Program
• 12.SEP.1991 : Mission STS-48 ( 5 days )
• 22.JAN.1992 : Mission STS-42 ( 8 days )
• 02.DEC.1992 : Mission STS-53 ( 7 days )
• 08.APR.1993 : Mission STS-56 ( 9 days )
• 12.SEP.1993 : Mission STS-51 ( 9 days )
• 03.FEB.1994 : Mission STS-60 ( 8 days ) First Shuttle-Mir mission
• 09.SEP.1994 : Mission STS-64 ( 10 days )
• 03.FEB.1995 : Mission STS-63 ( 8 days ) Rendezvous with Mir space station
• 13.JUL.1995 : Mission STS-70 ( 8 days )
• 11.FEB.1997 : Mission STS-82 ( 9 days ) Servicing Hubble Space Telescope
• 07.AUG.1997 : MissionSTS-85 ( 11 days )
• 02.JUN.1998 : Mission STS-91 ( 9 days )
• 29.OCT.1998 : Mission STS-95 ( 8 days ) second flight of John Glenn and first Spaniard in space
• 27.MAY.1999 : Mission STS-96 ( 9 days ) Resupply mission for the International Space Station
• 19.DEC.1999 : Mission STS-103 ( 7 days )
• 11.OCT.2000 : Mission STS-92 ( 12 days ) 100th Shuttle mission
• 08.MAR.2001 : Mission STS-102 ( 12 days )
• 10.AUG.2001 : Mission STS-105 ( 11 days )
• 26.JUL.2005 : Mission STS-114 ( 13 days ) Return To Flight mission since Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
• 04.JUL.2006 : Mission STS-121 ( 12 days ) International Space Station ( ISS ) supplies delivery
• 09.DEC.2006 : Mission STS-116 ( 12 days ) Last flight to launch on pad 39-B
• 23.OCT.2007 : Mission STS-120 ( 15 days )
• 31.MAY.2008 : Mission STS-124 ( 13 days )
• 15.MAR.2009 : Mission STS-119 ( 12 days )
• 28.AUG.2009 : Mission STS-128 ( 13 days )
• 05.APR.2010 : Mission STS-131 ( 15 days )
• 24.FEB.2011 : Final Mission STS-133 ( 12 days ) The latest launched at 4:53 pm EST
• 09.MAR.2011 : "Discovery" was decommissioned
≠ Retired after 39 missions with Crew members : 252
≠ Time spent in space : 1 year (365 days) 22 hours 39 minutes 33 seconds
≠ Distance travelled : 148,221,675 miles or 238,539,663 km
≠ Satellites deployed : 31 ( including Hubble Space Telescope )
• 17.APR.2012 : On display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Musuem in Chantilly VA USA