Mission Control informed space shuttle Discovery Commander Alan Poindexter that mission managers are extending the flight by one day to enable a standard late inspection of the shuttle heat shield to occur while the shuttle is docked to the International Space Station. Landing now is targeted for 8:54 a.m. EDT Monday, April 19.
Since Discovery’s Ku-Band communications system is not functioning correctly, the space station’s Ku system will transmit the heat shield video and laser scan to Mission Control for imagery experts to analyze.
At 1:24 a.m. EDT, a smoke alarm sounded aboard the International Space Station’s Zvezda service module. Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov quickly assessed that it was a false alarm that occurred while he was cleaning air filters in the module.