ISS Status Report #54

The Expedition 12 crew prepared for its first spacewalk and kept the international space station ship-shape this week as they passed a milestone of five years of human presence aboard the complex. 

During the first half of this week, McArthur and Tokarev focused on the maintenance of hardware. Monday they disassembled and measured air flow in the Trace Contaminant Control System. The hardware keeps a clean, healthy atmosphere by filtering out contaminants in the air. Engineers noticed a reduction in the air flow, and after the crew examined its components, determined that replacement hardware may need to be delivered on a future supply ship. After reassembling the device, the system is running at a slightly reduced capacity, complemented by a fully operational and complementary system in the Russian segment.

McArthur and Tokarev also replaced a faulty pump in a thermal control loop and smoke detectors in the Zvezda Service Module and cleaned ventilation filters in the Zarya module.

FMI: www.nasa.gov/station