The crew of the eleventh mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is
taking stock of what is now their orbital home for the next six months.
ISS Expedition 11 commander Sergei Krikalev and flight engineer John Phillips arrived at the space station early Sunday and almost immediately began preparations to take control of the orbital facility.
"My first
impression, as compared to four years ago, is that there's a lot more stuff and
more lab equipment here," said Phillips, who visited the ISS in 2001 during
NASA's STS-100 mission, via video link during a press briefing Monday. "Plus
there's also been an accumulation of spare parts, as well as trash, that hasn't
been able to come back."
NASA
grounded its space shuttle fleet after the loss of the Columbia orbiter and seven astronauts during the STS-107 mission's reentry
in 2003. Since then, space station astronauts have relied on Russian spacecraft
for crew rotations and automated cargo shipments, though neither the manned
Soyuz nor the unmanned Progress vehicle have the capacity offered by the
shuttle.
"We need
another shuttle and many more Soyuz's to visit the station," Krikalev said.
Meanwhile,
visiting Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori, who flew
to the ISS with the Expedition 11 crew and represents the European Space
Agency, has already set up half of the 22 experiments he will conduct over the
next eight days.
Vittori
told reporters that he had not yet dipped into the stash of Italian food he
brought to the ISS.
"But I did
find some lasagna in the American package," he added.
Vittori
and the Expedition 11 crew entered the space station at 12:45 a.m. EDT (0445
GMT) on April 17 after docking their Soyuz TMA-6 vehicle at the Russian-built Pirs docking compartment just over two hours earlier. The
three men launched
into space on April 14 at 8:46 p.m. EDT (0046 April 15 GMT), though it was
early morning at their Baikonur Cosmodrome
launch site.
Preparing for home
Krikalev
and Phillips are relieving the space station's current masters, Expedition 10
commander Leroy Chiao and flight engineer Salizhan Sharipov, who are
scheduled to return home with Vittori on April 24.
Chiao and
Sharipov boarded
the ISS in October 2004 and have spent the last six months maintaining the
station, conducting experiments and perpetuating a human presence in space.
"I think
one of the big moments for me was the second EVA,"
said Chiao, an accomplished spacewalker, during the
press briefing. "Basically it was the last EVA of my career, my flying career,
so it was poignant for me to look out into the black emptiness of space and bid open space
farewell."
Sharipov
said he was pleased that the Expedition 10 mission has been accomplished and
that he and Chiao are turning the station over to
their successors in good condition.
A change of
command ceremony between the Expedition 10 and Expedition 11 crews is scheduled
for April 22.
Countdown until shuttle
The work
doesn't stop for Krikalev and Phillips once the
Expedition 10 crew and Vittori depart the station.
The two men
expect to see NASA's first ISS-bound space shuttle flight in more than years
launch toward the station in the next month or so. That mission, STS-114 aboard
Discovery, is NASA's first test flight to prove new safety tools and techniques
for shuttle flight.
"We've got
a lot of preparation to do," Phillips said, adding that there are a number of
trash items, equipment and other parts earmarked for an Earth return. "That
involves packing all of these objects.
The shuttle
Discovery and its STS-114 crew, commanded by veteran astronaut Eileen Collins,
are currently scheduled to launch sometime between May 15 and June 3.
But until
then, the Expedition 11 crew will prepare for Discovery's visit while
familiarizing themselves with their new home.
"So far,
for me, the hardest thing is just finding stuff," said Phillips, adding that he
is eager to learn supply locations without having to check the station's
database. "After one day, it's just keeping track of my stuff."
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