spacetoday.net: Shuttle cleared for April 5 launch

Posted: Sat, Mar 27, 2010, 8:03 AM ET (1203 GMT)

NASA managers gave their approval Friday to plans to launch the space shuttle Discovery on April 5. Discovery will launch at 6:21 am EDT (1021 GMT) Monday, April 5, on the 13-day STS-131 mission to the ISS, delivering supplies to the station. There had been earlier concerns that a problem with a leaky helium valve in one of the orbiter's OMS pods could delay the launch, but managers concluded that the valve is normally open most of the time in orbit and that other subsystems would prevent pressurization problems with the thruster system. The shuttle mission will be the first of the final four shuttle missions on the current manifest, with the final shuttle mission scheduled for launch in September.