CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - As the sun sets at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, preparations are under way for STS-131 Commander Alan Poindexter and Pilot James P. Dutton Jr. to practice landing this Shuttle Training Aircraft, or STA. STS-131 will be Poindexter's second space shuttle flight and Dutton's first. The aircraft is a Gulfstream II jet, modified to handle like the space shuttle. The crew members of space shuttle Discovery's STS-131 mission are at Kennedy for training related to their launch dress rehearsal, the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - As the sun sets at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, preparations are under way for STS-131 Commander Alan Poindexter and Pilot James P. Dutton Jr. to practice landing this Shuttle Training Aircraft, or STA. STS-131 will be Poindexter's second space shuttle flight and Dutton's first. The aircraft is a Gulfstream II jet, modified to handle like the space shuttle. The crew members of space shuttle Discovery's STS-131 mission are at Kennedy for training related to their launch dress rehearsal, the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test. The seven-member crew will deliver the multi-purpose logistics module Leonardo, filled with resupply stowage platforms and racks, to the International Space Station aboard Discovery. Targeted for launch on April 5, STS-131 will be the 33rd shuttle mission to the station and the 131st shuttle mission overall.
Size: 3000px × 1996px
Photo credit: © NASA/piemags / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: .
