Mon, Sep 15, 2003
ISS Crew Offloading Three Tons Of Progress Supplies
The unloading of nearly
three tons of new supplies from a Progress cargo vehicle began in
earnest this week aboard the International Space Station. Commander
Yuri Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu spent time each
day unpacking, cataloging and stowing the equipment.
The ISS Progress 12 (12P) vehicle brought food, fuel and
equipment to the Station Aug. 30,US time. This week, the thrusters
on 12P were successfully tested and can be used to increase the
Station's altitude when necessary. Also, nitrogen from the cargo
vehicle's gas tanks was used to add pressure to the atmosphere
inside the Station, while oxygen repressurization from 12P will
occur later.
Among the new supplies were two canisters for the Resistive
Exercise Device weightlifting machine, which Lu installed Friday.
Coincidentally, Lu had trouble adjusting the resistance on one of
the previous canisters Wednesday. He removed that set and will work
to repair the problematic canister next week so that the new ones
that arrived on Progress can be reserved for the next crew to live
aboard the Station.
Friday, flight controllers in Mission Control Houston worked on
the communication link between the Space Station and control
centers in Houston (TX), Moscow and Huntsville (AL). The
crewmembers noticed they were barely able to hear voice calls from
the capcoms, or spacecraft communicators, from each of the centers.
The problem was narrowed down to equipment in Houston that relays
the audio to the Station from all the control centers.
Engineers will continue to troubleshoot the issue with the
hardware. In the meantime, the audio link to the Station has been
restored to normal levels by temporarily bypassing that specific
piece of hardware.
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