ISS Crew Gets Goodies From Home

An unmanned Progress rocket launched from the Russian Cosmodrome at Baikonur, Kazakstan, docked Thursday with the International Space Station, bringing food, water, air and something else for the two astronauts now on board.

If you'll remember, Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and US astronaut Michael Finke (on his fist space voyage) only had a couple of months to make final preparations for the journey. They didn't have time to gather up the personal effects that make life in a big tin can more enjoyable. So the M-49 Progress ship, which carried 2.76 tons of material to the ISS, brought along a few presents from the crew's families.

Just what those presents are, we don't know at this point. But we do know that, among the items sent to Michael Finke were the parts of his Russian-made spacesuit that didn't make it on board the Soyuz with him when he and Padalka launched last month. After the crew was unable to get the water system in Finke's suit to work properly, NASA this week ruled that US-built suits are unusable on the ISS. There are now five Russian suits aboard the ISS.

Right down to their underwear, both men were wearing clothing that had been tailored to fit the original mission crew. The Progress shipment included said underwear, along with other items of clothing, some books and DVDs.

Padalka and Finke plan a spacewalk next month, hoping to fix an erzats power control and circuit breaker box that serves the station's ailing gyroscopes. When that box failed last month, it forced the crew to shut down one of the four gyros that stabilize the station. Now, only two of the four gyros on board are working -- the bare minimum to keep things on an even keel.

FMI: www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/station