Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 9 Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA Flight Engineer and Science Officer Mike Fincke resumed scientific investigations, routine maintenance and preparations for the arrival of a new cargo ship, after a successful spacewalk on Tuesday.
Padalka and Fincke replaced experiments on the outside of the Zvezda Service Module and installed navigation aids for next year’s arrival of a European cargo craft.
Wednesday, the crew cleaned and stowed their spacesuits and spacewalking tools, recharged batteries, and filled water tanks for the suits’ cooling units. They also conducted debriefing sessions with Russian spacewalk specialists. Also on Wednesday, ground controllers in Houston repressurized the Station with nitrogen from the High Pressure Gas Tanks on the Quest Airlock.
Earlier today, the crew started assembling a cover that will protect a new flex hose on the window of the Destiny Laboratory to ensure it will not inadvertently be damaged by crew activity in the research module.
The crew wrapped up its week with Fincke conducting more experiments with advanced ultrasound equipment. He also updated software for the Station Acceleration Measurement System, which collects information on the effect of crew activity on delicate microgravity experiments housed on board the complex.
At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, final preparations are under way for next Wednesday’s launch of a new Russian Progress cargo ship. It will transport almost three tons of food, fuel, water and supplies for Padalka and Fincke, as well as clothing and supplies for the Expedition 10 crew, Commander Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander Salizhan Sharipov. Chiao and Sharipov are scheduled to launch to the Station Oct. 9 to replace Padalka and Fincke.
The Progress craft, the fifteenth to visit the Station, is scheduled to lift off at 1:03 a.m. EDT Wednesday for a three-day trip to the Station. Docking is scheduled at 1:02 a.m. EDT Aug. 14. NASA Television will provide live coverage and commentary of the docking beginning at midnight Aug. 13.
Information about crew activities on the Space Station, future launch dates and Station sighting opportunities from Earth, is available on the Internet at:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/
Details about Station science operations are available on an Internet site administered by the Payload Operations Center at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., at:
http://scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov/