Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev are spending their first few days alone on the station following last Monday's safe return of their predecessors.
McArthur and Tokarev, veterans of shorter space shuttle flights, began familiarizing themselves with the nuances of a longer on orbit life.
While becoming acquainted with their new microgravity home and laboratory, they did some routine maintenance, exercised and conducted experiments. They reviewed emergency evacuation procedures, swapped a battery in the Zarya module and rearranged stowage items in the Unity connecting node.
During their six month mission, they expect to perform at least two spacewalks; the first in early November.
They will move their Soyuz spacecraft from the Russian Pirs docking port, so it can be used for the spacewalks. In December, the crew expects to oversee the arrival of a new supply ship, the 20th Progress vehicle. This week McArthur set up a camera for a session of the Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students experiment.
Using the Web, students can control a special digital camera mounted on the station to photograph coastlines, mountain ranges and other geographic areas of interest. Thousands of students from 119 schools around the world are participating in the 20th session of this NASA education program.
Copyright 2005 by Space Daily, Distributed United Press International
Related stories:
IMAX Camera Returns to Space to Chronicle Hubble Space Telescope
IMAX Corporation and Warner Bros. Pictures announced Monday that, in cooperation with NASA, the IMAX 3D camera is scheduled to return to space in 2008 aboard the space shuttle during STS-125 for production of a new film. Set for release in early 2010, IMAX will chronicle the life story of the Hubble Space Telescope.
NASA to launch shuttle mission for Hubble telescope (Update)
Shuttle astronauts will make one final house call to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope as part of a mission to extend and improve the observatory's capabilities through 2013. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin announced plans for a fifth servicing mission to Hubble Tuesday during a meeting with agency employees at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Goddard is the agency center responsible for managing Hubble.
SuitSat Experiment Ended Successfully
The SuitSat-1 experiment, called RadioSkaf - or Radio Sputnik in Russian - has been completed successfully by the International Space Station crew, Sergei Samburov, the project's deputy director, told the Russian Interfax-AVN news agency Sunday. "The last transmission from the RadioSkaf artificial satellite was received on February 18," Samburov said.
Expedition 12 Jets SuitSat-1, Completes Second Spacewalk
The crew of the International Space Station (ISS), American astronaut William MacArthur and Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev, made a space walk lasting nearly six hours. The spacewalk ended Friday at 11:27 p.m. EST.
Astronaut Conducts Protein Crystal Experiment on Space Station
Expedition 12 Commander and NASA Science Officer Bill McArthur activated the Protein Crystal Growth Monitoring by Digital Holographic Microscope for the International Space Station, or PromISS-4 experiment on Jan. 19. It is scheduled to run in the Microgravity Science Glovebox for 15 days.
Expedition 12 Prepare For Their Second Spacewalk
Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur began last week (Sunday) by running a half-marathon on the station treadmill, supporting friends and colleagues running in the Houston Marathon. As he ran 220 miles above the Earth on board the station, the runners circled Houston.
Running Marathon in Space
Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur began his week Sunday by running a half-marathon on the station treadmill, supporting friends and colleagues running in the Houston Marathon. As he ran 220 miles above the Earth on board the station, the runners circled Houston.
ISS crew to talk with high school students
NASA will celebrate International Education Week by arranging for International Space Station crewmembers to speak with Virginia high school students.