NASA has asked ISS Expedition 10 crew members Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW, and Salizhan Sharipov to push themselves away from the galley table a bit sooner than they have been. According to the Associated Press, NASA managers want the crew members to cut 300 calories from their typical daily 3000 calorie intake to keep food supplies aboard the spacecraft from running dangerously low before a Russian Progress supply rocket arrives Christmas Day.
“The spacecraft will bring 2.5 tons of food, fuel, clothing and other supplies to the complex,” NASA said this week. “Almost 70 food containers have been added to the craft’s manifest to replenish onboard supplies.” The supply rocket also will bear Christmas gifts and other personal items for Chiao and Sharipov.
Now some two months into their six-month mission, the crew completed audits of onboard food and computer hardware earlier this month as mission managers were finalizing the manifest for the cargo craft. Surprised to learn that the crew already was digging into its food reserves, NASA managers worried that if anything were to go awry with the Progress spacecraft, the crew could be forced to abandon ship–an unprecedented move, but one for which NASA and Russian Space Agency officials are said to be preparing for, just in case.
NASA said its early-December audit confirmed “fewer rations available to the crew than previously thought,” but that Chiao and Sharipov have sufficient food to last “one or two weeks beyond the arrival of the Progress.” NASA said nutritionists on the ground have been working with the crew to make sure onboard food supplies “can be safely rationed.”
Russian Progress rockets have been the sole resupply vehicles for the ISS since NASA grounded its shuttle fleet following the February 1, 2003, Columbia tragedy.