Shuttle Crew Takes Presidential Call, Moves Cargo

President George W. Bush speaks with crew members of the Space Shuttle Discovery during a telephone call from the Oval Office of the White House Tuesday, July 11, 2006. White House photo by Eric Draper. CREDIT:

HOUSTON -Nine astronauts toiling to shift more than two tons of cargo between the Discovery shuttle and International Space Station more than 210 miles (337 kilometers) above Earth are ahead of schedule, and even had time for a telephone call with the U.S. President, NASA officials said.

President George W. Bush spoke with the astronauts during a private ground-to-orbit telephone call this morning.

President Bush told Discovery's crew that he watched closely as STS-121 spacewalkers Piers Sellers and Michael Fossum worked outside their spacecraft, and invited the astronauts and their families to the White House once they return to Earth, White House spokesperson David Almacy told SPACE.com. President Bush also touched on the fact that Fossum is a graduate of Texas A & M University, Almacy added.

"He said that the astronauts represent the best of service and exploration and thanked them for what they're doing," said spokeswoman Dana Perino, according to the Associated Press.

The call came as the STS-121 crew buckled down for a day of hauling obsolete equipment, tools and other unnecessary items into Discovery's Leonardo cargo module for the return trip to Earth.

Working together, the combined crews of Discovery and the space station's Expedition 13 mission have completed about 80 percent of their cargo transfer duties and are ramping up for the last of three spacewalks this week, said Tony Ceccacci, lead shuttle flight director for the mission.

"The crew is working really hard on that," Ceccacci said during a mission update here at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC).

Discovery will return about 5,421 pounds (2,458 kilograms) of material to Earth, more than 4,000 pounds (1,814 kilograms) of which will be stowed in Leonardo during the descent, NASA has said.

Among the first things to be unpacked were 82 containers of food and about 187 pounds (85 kilograms) of other provisions for the European Space Agency's (ESA) astronaut Thomas Reiter, who joined station commander Pavel Vinogradov and flight engineer Jeffrey Williams as a member of the ISS Expedition 13 crew.

"His stuff was some of the first they unloaded," Ceccacci told SPACE.com, adding that because the shuttle crew is ahead of schedule, they can rest a bit easier during their flight. "I think what it means is that they don't have to worry and rush through things."

Final spacewalk on tap

While their crewmates shift cargo, STS-121 astronauts Piers Sellers and Michael Fossum readied their U.S.-built spacesuits for one last spacewalk outside Discovery.

The spacewalkers will spend about 6.5 hours working inside Discovery's payload bay to test an experimental black, heat-resistant non-oxide adhesive (NOAX) material for use in repairing small cracks in the carbon composite panels that line the shuttle's wings and nose.

"NOAX is about the consistency of peanut butter," Ceccacci said.

The material will be spackled onto a set of test articles in Discovery's payload bay at precise times to gauge its reactions to different temperatures in orbit, Ceccacci said.

Sellers and Fossum will also test out a new infrared camera by recording about 20 seconds of video of the carbon composite panels along Discovery's wing edge. The test, NASA officials hope, will verify whether the camera can be used as an additional tool during shuttle heat shield inspections.

Wednesday's spacewalk begins at 7:13 a.m. EDT (1113 GMT) and will be broadcast live on NASA TV. You are invited to follow the crew's progress using SPACE.com's feed of NASA TV, which is available by clicking here.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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