ISS Status Report #18, 1 p.m. CDT – Friday, April 14,
2006
The 13th crew of the International
Space Station is wrapping up its first week flying solo in its new
orbiting home. The crew's work has included station maintenance,
medical and other experiments and standard daily exercise.
Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer and
NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams said farewell to their
predecessors last Saturday. The Expedition 12 crew and a visiting
Brazilian astronaut undocked that afternoon and landed in
Kazakhstan at 7:48 p.m. EDT.
Vinogradov and Williams had light duty Sunday and Monday, a
break after completing eight days of extensive handover activities
with their counterparts.
Maintenance work included a three-and-a-half hour scheduled
replacement of station toilet components on Tuesday. Both crew
members also took time to talk with two Russian news organizations
and participants at a Russian school children's aerospace
festival.
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the crew
from the Kremlin. Putin's call came on the 45th anniversary of the
first human spaceflight by Yuri Gagarin, a landmark event
commemorated by the Russian holiday Cosmonautics Day. That date,
April 12, was also the 25th anniversary of the first NASA space
shuttle launch in 1981.
Putin told the crew it was a pleasure to see representatives of
the United States and Russia working together on the same
spacecraft. During the light-hearted exchange, Vinogradov invited
Putin to visit the space station.
The crew continued loading the station's Progress cargo craft
with trash and conducted physical evaluations and experiments
Thursday. Vinogradov and Williams practiced an emergency evacuation
drill Friday. Throughout the week, they had time to familiarize
themselves with their new home.
Vinogradov and Williams will remain in orbit for six months.
During that time, they plan to welcome two space shuttles and
perform two spacewalks. Shuttle Discovery's STS-121 mission,
targeting a launch no earlier than July 1, will bring European
Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter aboard the station.
Reiter will increase the station crew size to three for the
first time since May 2003 when the crew size was reduced to
conserve station supplies following the Columbia accident.
Back on Earth for almost a week, Expedition 12 Commander Bill
McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev remain in Star City,
Russia, near Moscow. They continue to undergo debriefing and
rehabilitation after 190 days in space. With them is Marcos Pontes,
Brazil's first astronaut, who launched with Expedition 13. He
returned to Earth with the Expedition 12 crew after spending about
eight days on the station conducting experiments.
Tentative plans call for McArthur to return to Houston later
this month.