Did anyone notice the Discovery launch?

Image above: Seated are Commander Alan Poindexter (right) and Pilot James P. Dutton Jr. From the left (standing) are Mission Specialists Rick Mastracchio, Stephanie Wilson, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Naoko Yamazaki and Clayton Anderson. Image credit: NASA

Mission: STS-131Space Shuttle: Discovery Primary Payload: Leonardo multi-purpose logistics module Launch Date: April 5, 2010 Launch Time: 6:21 a.m. EDTLaunch Pad: 39A Landing: April 18, 2010Landing Time: 8:29 a.m. EDTLanding Site: Kennedy Space Center, Fla.Mission Duration: 13 daysInclination/Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

Commander Alan Poindexter will lead the STS-131 mission to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Discovery. Jim Dutton will serve as the pilot.

Mission Specialists are Rick Mastracchio, Clay Anderson, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson and Naoko Yamazaki of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Discovery will deliver a multi-purpose logistics module filled with science racks to be transferred to laboratories on the International Space Station. The mission will feature three spacewalks.

Mastracchio and Anderson will conduct three six-and-a-half-hour-long spacewalks on flight days 5, 7 and 9 to replace an ammonia tank assembly, retrieve a Japanese experiment from the station’s exterior and switch out a rate gyro assembly on the S0 element of the station’s truss. STS-131 is the 33rd shuttle mission to the station.

Have you notice how fast the public looses interest in space when everything goes smoothly? It is only those times when the wheels fall off that we are drawn back to the history that is being played out before our eyes.