New O2 System, Upgraded Soundproofing Among List Of
Amenities
NASA reports that new gear helped the astronauts on the
International Space Station kick off a new year as they prepared a
second oxygen-generating system, upgraded soundproofing in the
living quarters and unpacked supplies delivered just before
Christmas by the space shuttle.
After a New Year's Day holiday, Expedition 14 Commander Michael
Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Suni Williams spent most of the
week installing the US oxygen generation system activation kit in
the Destiny laboratory. The parts had been delivered on shuttle
mission STS-121 in July 2006.
The new generator will supplement the problematic Russian
Elektron oxygen system on the station. The additional oxygen
generating capacity will be important, as the standard station crew
size is expected to increase to six as the complex grows.
In their work with the new system lasr week, Lopez-Alegria and
Williams installed a hydrogen vent valve and power, data and fluid
hoses and cables. The system will be activated and tested later
this year.
Meanwhile, Expedition 14 Flight Engineer and cosmonaut Mikhail
Tyurin worked in the Russian segment of the station, where he
upgraded soundproofing of the ventilation system. Tyurin installed
new fans, sound-deadening vibration isolators and air ducts with
acoustic shields to reduce the noise they create.
Friday morning, Lopez-Alegria and Williams took time out from
their work to share their mission with a group of students in the
fifth through eighth grades from the Columbia Explorers Academy.
From the Adler Planetarium in Chicago the students asked the
astronauts about living in orbit and the goals of their
mission.
The crew also finished unpacking and stowing supplies delivered
last month on shuttle mission STS-116, and they marked milestones
in two laboratory experiments.
On Tuesday, Williams set up the hardware for the Test of
Reaction and Adaptation Capabilities, or TRAC investigation. It is
a NASA-sponsored experiment jointly managed by scientists from
Germany and Canada. Crew members' hand and eye coordination are
tested before, during and after missions. For the tests, subjects
use a joystick to control a cursor on a computer screen and respond
to audio and visual stimuli. The experiment gathers data about how,
and to what extent, the brain adapts to weightlessness.
Crew members completed the final operations of a biological
experiment on the impact of varying levels of light and gravity on
plant root growth. The final images of samples in the European
Modular Cultivation System were taken and downlinked, and the
samples were stowed in a freezer for eventual return to Earth.