After enjoying a three-day weekend aboard the orbiting International Space Station, the Expedition 24 crew kicked off the work week Tuesday with the transfer of the atmosphere revitalization racks and preparations for the docking of the ISS Progress 39 cargo craft.
The new Progress, loaded with 1,918 pounds of propellant, 110 pounds of oxygen and air, 375 pounds of water and 2,645 pounds of spare parts, logistical items and experiment hardware, is set to launch at 7:11 a.m. EDT Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The unpiloted Russian vehicle will dock automatically to the aft port of the station's Zvezda service module Friday at 8:37 a.m. via the Kurs automated rendezvous system.
The resupply vehicle that previously occupied Zvezda's aft port until Aug. 31, ISS Progress 38, was deorbited and sent to a fiery demise in the Earth's atmosphere Monday after a week of thruster tests conducted by Russian flight controllers.
To prepare for the arrival of Progress 39, Commander Alexander Skvortsov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko conducted a training session Tuesday with TORU, the Russian telerobotically operated rendezvous system. The crew can use TORU to monitor the docking of a Progress spacecraft with the station or take control of the process if difficulties arise.
Flight Engineers Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson spent much of their workday transferring atmosphere revitalization racks to their permanent locations, with one rack going back to the Destiny laboratory and the other moving into the Tranquility module.
Flight Engineer Shannon Walker set up another sample for the Smoke Aerosol Measurement Experiment. Results from this study may help engineers design better smoke detectors for future spacecraft. Walker also conducted maintenance on the water recovery system and performed an analysis of a water sample using the Total Organic Carbon Analyzer.
In the Russian segment of the orbital complex, Flight Engineer Fyodor Yurchikhin worked with an experiment that investigates ultraviolet phenomena occurring in the Earth's upper atmosphere due to the effects of jet engine exhaust or the re-entry of spacecraft.
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