The International Space Station (ISS) crew is focusing this week on the new equipment and supplies that arrived last Saturday aboard a Russian cargo spacecraft.
Expedition 9 Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA ISS Science Officer Mike Fincke unloaded most of the two-and-a-half tons of cargo this week. They then shifted their attention to cataloguing and stowing the material using the Station’s computerized, bar code-based Inventory Management System. The ISS Progress (15) docked to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module at 1:01 a.m. EDT Saturday, bringing fuel, water, oxygen, air, spare parts and other supplies.
Other activities for the crew during the week included a reboost of the Station, moving the Station’s robotic arm into position for an upcoming spacewalk and continuing science experiments.
On Tuesday, Padalka and Fincke installed a new system in the Progress craft that allows the crew to command Progress thruster firings from the Zvezda module. The thruster control system was tested and then used in a reboost yesterday that raised the Station’s altitude by about three statute miles. The ISS is now in an orbit with a high point of 228.7 miles and a low point of 215.5 miles. Another Station reboost is scheduled next week to prepare for the October arrival of a Soyuz spacecraft that will bring a new crew to the outpost.
Yesterday, the crew spent about an hour moving the Station’s Canadarm2 into position for its cameras to view the upcoming spacewalk, scheduled for Sept. 3. During the spacewalk, the crew will use Russian Orlan spacesuits and the Russian airlock to install additional navigation equipment in preparation for next year’s maiden flight of the European Automated Transfer Vehicle supply spacecraft.