Approval for the launch of the space shuttle Discovery tomorrow * a record of four women in space at the same time

The launch is scheduled for Monday at 13:21 Israel time

The countdown continues and there are no special problems. This is what senior officials at the Kennedy Space Center say during a briefing two days before the launch of the space shuttle Discovery for mission STS-131. The launch is planned for Monday local time 06:21 am - 13:21 pm Israel time. The Discovery spacecraft will stay in space for 13 days and will bring spare parts to the space station.

According to Mike Moses, the space shuttle's launch integration manager at the Kennedy Space Center, says that while some small glitches were discovered, they will not interfere with launch preparations. The launch manager, Pete Nikolenko, added: "The countdown to the launch of mission STS-131 continues and everything seems to be in good shape. The crew is doing what needs to be done best. The only thing that could interfere is fog in the area."

The shuttle's weather officer, Cathy Winters, reported that the forecast for Monday promises good things, with only about a 20% chance of conditions causing the launch to be delayed. She also mentioned the fog.

After Tracy Caldwell's launch on Friday, in a Soyuz spacecraft, three more women will join her on the Discovery shuttle that will take off tomorrow, thereby breaking the record of four women simultaneously in orbit around the Earth.

Among the astronauts who will take off tomorrow on mission STS-131 is also a former teacher from Vancouver in the state of Washington (near the Canadian city that bears that name), a chemist and a former electrician. Two of the women are also aeronautical engineers.

Dorothy McAlf-Lindenberg, a 34-year-old educator, is also the mother of a three-year-old girl. Along with her, another astronaut will take off in the shuttle, which is her first space flight - the Japanese Naoko Yamazaki. Together with them, the number of women who have been in space after Valentina Tereshkova, who was launched in 1963, will reach only 54. Together with them, Stephanie Wilson, 43, will take off, which will be her third space flight. Wilson became the second black female astronaut in space in 2006. Yamazaki will be the second Japanese woman in space after Dr. Chiaki Mokai in 1994.