The Expedition 36 crew of the orbiting International Space Station unloaded science experiments and other items from a recently arrived European Space Agency cargo ship Wednesday while continuing preparations for a spacewalk slated to begin in less than a week. Flight Engineers Chris Cassidy, Karen Nyberg and Luca Parmitano spent much of their day unloading some of the 7.3 tons of cargo delivered to station aboard the “Albert Einstein” Automated Transfer Vehicle-4 (ATV-4). The European space freighter docked to the rear of the station’s Zvezda service module Saturday following its launch from Kourou, French Guiana back on June 5. One of the items unpacked from the ATV-4 Wednesday was an experiment known as the Fundamental and Applied Studies of Emulsion Stability, or FASES. Parmitano installed the experiment into the station’s Fluid Science Laboratory to begin a study of the behavior of emulsions – a combination of two liquids that do not mix well – in a weightless environment. After recharging the batteries for the U.S. spacesuits, Cassidy joined Nyberg for a live link-up with students gathered at the Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson. Commander Pavel Vinogradov began his day installing a docking mechanism in the Pirs docking compartment to prepare that port for the July departure of the ISS Progress 50 cargo craft and the launch and arrival of ISS Progress 52. Flight Engineers Alexander Misurkin and Fyodor Yurchikhin focused their efforts on spacewalk preparations as they checked the communication systems of their Orlan spacesuits and installed U.S. helmet cameras and lights. The two cosmonauts also studied airlock procedures for their excursion scheduled to begin Monday at 9:35 a.m. EDT. nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition36/e36_061913.html
Posted on: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:36:08 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015