Williams Downloads Video Tour Of Station For Successor
Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer
Oleg Kotov prepared last week for two spacewalks while Flight
Engineer Suni Williams prepared for her return to Earth. In
preparation for her successor's arrival, Williams downlinked a
10-minute video tour for Clayton Anderson, who will travel to the
station on the upcoming space shuttle flight.
Mission managers gave a "go" for a May 30 Russian spacewalk to
install orbital debris protection panels on the Zvezda service
module and a GPS antenna cable associated with Automated Transfer
Vehicle navigation systems. This will be the 18th Russian spacewalk
in support of station assembly and maintenance. The spacewalk is
scheduled to begin at 1:20 pm CDT and last approximately six
hours.
First-time spacewalkers Yurchikhin and Kotov checked out the
spacesuits and the Pirs airlock, prepared their tools, and closed
the hatch to the Progress resupply vehicle docked to Pirs.
Williams, who will help coordinate the spacewalk from inside the
station, also prepared US tools that will be used.
During the spacewalk, the cosmonauts will retrieve a package,
known as the "Christmas tree," which contains three bundles of
debris panels. They were temporarily stowed on Pressurized Mating
Adapter 3 during the STS-116 mission last December. After
transferring the panels to Zvezda, Yurchikhin and Kotov will
install the panels from one bundle. The others will be installed
during their June 6 Russian spacewalk. Mission managers this week
conducted a preliminary review of that spacewalk.
Williams this week installed updated software on the station's
laptop computers, replaced the elastic "flex packs" in two
Resistive Exercise Device canisters used to simulate weightlifting
in the absence of gravity, and worked out on a stationary bicycle
while medical experts on the ground measured her oxygen intake as
part of a periodic fitness evaluation.
The
crew members also prepared for the arrival of space shuttle
Atlantis, targeted to launch on June 8. Yurchikhin and Kotov
reviewed a recent digital photography practice session with shuttle
imagery specialists, and Williams assembled a spacewalk tool to be
used by shuttle astronauts who will retract the P6 starboard solar
array. Along with filming the station video, Suni Williams also
spoke with Clayton Anderson to help him prepare for his
mission.
It will begin officially when his specially-fitted Soyuz seat
liner is transferred from Atlantis to the station during the
STS-117 mission.
On Wednesday, Russian flight controllers executed an orbit
adjustment burn, increasing the station's speed about one mile an
hour and putting it in the proper orbit for Atlantis' arrival.
The Expedition 15 crew also participated in interviews with WBZ
Radio, CBS Radio, ABC News and MSNBC.