WoW Blog (Woman of the Week)

On Monday, NASA's shuttle Discovery lifted-off from Kennedy Space Center on a 13-day flight to the International Space Station (ISS). This mission (STS-131) is the second of five planned shuttle missions for 2010.

The crew is led by Commander Alan Poindexter and includes Pilot Jim Dutton; Mission Specialists Rick Mastracchio, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson, and Clay Anderson; and Japanese aerospace exploration astronaut Naoko Yamazaki.

Astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson is already aboard the ISS with a Russian space team, which brings the number of women on the mission to four, and sets the record for the most women in space at once.

Mission Details

STS-131 is currently carrying 8 tons of cargo, including equipment, science experiments, and supplies. The mission includes three planned space walks to install a fresh ammonia tank assembly for the lab's coolant system and return a lightweight adapter plate assembly located on the station's exterior. STS-31 also includes several on-board payloads, the most since STS-107 with the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003.

Redefining "Women's Roles"

Dorothy "Dottie" Metcalf-Lindenburger is making her first space flight on this mission, a dream she has been perusing since she attended Space Camp in the ninth grade. She has been with NASA since 2004, when she started as an Astronaut Candidate. The former schoolteacher is acting as an Educator Mission Specialist on STS-131.

Stephanie Wilson is currently on her third space mission. Her first was aboard STS-121, when she became the second African American woman in space. Wilson's second mission was the first time she delivered a connection module to the ISS. She is currently the lead robotics officer for STS-131, in charge of the primary payload.

Naoko Yamazaki is the second woman from Japan to go into orbit. After receiving her Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering, she was selected by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in 1999 and has been an astronaut since 2001. This is her first time in space, where she will act as load master for the mission.

Tracy Caldwell Dyson traveled to the ISS last Friday with two cosmonauts aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. She is a former chemist and electrician recruited by NASA's first teacher-in-space program. Dyson has worked closely with the Russian space program throughout her career, and was a Russian Crusader in 1998. This is her second time in space.

The crews of the Space Shuttle Discovery and the Soyuz spacecraft are scheduled to combine on Wednesday, when the Discovery is estimated to reach the ISS.

Resources

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/apr/HQ_10-076_sts131_launch.html

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/most-women-in-space-100405.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-131

http://www.pamil-visions.net/four-women-in-space/213740/

http://www.kuriositas.com/2010/04/four-women-in-space-at-same-time.html

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-shuttle-launch6-2010apr06,0,6749281.story

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/space-station-crew-docking-100404.html

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hi4brZ_Ku39E2yc3p8T5PPuQd2AQD9ES58D00