STS-131 Launch from Firing Room 4

STS131-S-058 (5 April 2010) --- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden congratulates the team in NASA Kennedy Space Center's Launch Control Center after space shuttle Discovery's launch on the STS-131 mission. Seen in the left background is Steve Payne, shuttle test director. Discovery lifted off at 6:21 a.m. (EDT) on April 5, 2010. The seven-member STS-131 crew will deliver the multi-purpose logistics module Leonardo, filled with supplies, a new crew sleeping quarters and science racks that will be transferred to the International Space Station's laboratories. The crew also will switch out a gyroscope on the station’s truss structure, install a spare ammonia storage tank and retrieve a Japanese experiment from the station’s exterior. STS-131 is the 33rd shuttle mission to the station and the 131st shuttle mission overall.