Time To Tidy Up

The International Space Station Expedition 11 crew was back to work last week, conducting experiments, and more importantly, preparing for company. It's more than just a quick visit and a brief chat, they've got to make some room in case the visitors need to stay.

Assuming the Shuttle launches on schedule Wednesday, the seven member crew should be docking with the ISS on the 16th.  Commander Sergei Krikalev and NASA Science Officer John Phillips spent much of their time last week gathering and packing items on board to be returned in the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) during Discovery's visit to the Station.

The MPLM will weigh 18,166 pounds when it is launched aboard Discovery and 19,745 pounds when it returns, after supplies for the Station have been unloaded and unneeded gear loaded. The crew also made room for additional stowage in the Quest Airlock to be available during the docked operations.

Three spacewalks are scheduled during the mission using U.S. spacesuits. To maximize the efficiency of the batteries, Phillips conducted a series of charging and discharging cycles of the spacesuit batteries this week.

The Space Station was raised nearly 4 miles on Tuesday to better position the complex for the Space Shuttle rendezvous. Engines on the docked Progress vehicle were fired for just over seven minutes, increasing the amount of days the Shuttle can launch and rendezvous on the third day of the mission.

Station television cameras captured video as it passed over then Tropical Storm Dennis on Wednesday. The cameras captured views of the storm as the Station passed over the Caribbean, south of Haiti. Throughout the week, the crew had numerous other Earth observation and photo opportunities including sightings of Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya, the Nile River Delta in Egypt, and Hong Kong.

Krikalev repressurized the Station atmosphere using oxygen from the newly arrived Progress vehicle. He also transferred water from tanks on the Progress to tanks in the Service Module.

Phillips and Krikalev conducted the second of three sessions with the Renal Stone experiment. The experiment investigates whether potassium citrate can be used as a countermeasure to minimize the risk of kidney stone formation in space.

The preparations do have a serious nature. If the shuttle is damaged during launch, and unable to return, the ISS will be used as a space lifeboat. The next shuttle crew would then have the worrisome task of going on a rescue mission.

FMI: www.nasa.gov/station