Two
astronauts set to take charge of the International Space Station (ISS) this
week said Monday that the orbital lab is in fine shape to host their six-month mission.
ISS Expedition
13 commander Pavel Vinogradov and flight engineer Jeffrey Williams - who arrived
at the station Saturday with Brazil's first astronaut Marcos
Pontes - are immersed in handover procedures to take control of the station
and begin their long-duration spaceflight.
"We're very
pleased with the condition of the vehicle," Williams said from space during a
video news conference. "Obviously it's a lot different than it was when I was
last here...it's a lot more roomy."
Williams
last visited the ISS in May 2000 during NASA's STS-101
shuttle flight, when the space station consisted of only the Zarya and
Unity modules. Russia's Zvezda service module and NASA's Destiny laboratory
have since expanded the station's living quarters to the size for a
three-bedroom home.
"The
station is way more beautiful than it may appear from the ground," Vinogradov
said. "When we approached the station and held our distance at about 200 meters,
it was a fantastic view. This incredible structure, this beautiful machine
flying over the Earth."
ISS crew
swap
Vinogradov
and Williams are relieving the space station's current Expedition
12 crew commanded by NASA astronaut Bill McArthur with Russian cosmonaut Valery
Tokarev as flight engineer. The astronauts have served aboard the ISS since October
2005.
"Bill's got
all kinds of great advice," Williams said of his NASA colleague. "I don't think
you really can appreciate the magnitude of the importance of those kinds of
tips for working in this environment until you get here and just find out how difficult
even some simple things can be."
In addition
to performing handing over control of the ISS to the Expedition 13 crew,
McArthur will participate in a spacewalk preparation test with Williams today
by "camping out" inside the station's U.S.-built Quest
airlock. The procedure, in which the airlock atmospheric pressure will be
lowered from the typical 14.7 psi to the 10.2 psi, is aimed at testing a
potential time-saving technique to prepare astronauts for future spacewalks.
"It's going
to be pretty simple," McArthur said. "After dinner, we're going to close the
hatch, depress the airlock and visit for a little bit. Jeff and I are old Army
buddies."
Space science
for Brazil
Meanwhile, Pontes
- a lieutenant colonel in Brazil's Air Force and his nation's first spacefarer -
has completed many of the experiments that have been planned for his eight-day
stay aboard the ISS.
"I was able
to accomplish about 60 percent of the experiments I was supposed to complete by
the end of the mission," Pontes said. "They are going very well."
Pontes said
he dreamed of flying during his first night aboard the station, only to awake
and find he truly was floating in the station's microgravity environment.
"I'm sure I'm
going to miss this place next week," Pontes said.
Despite
being a "marvelous experience" for him personally, Pontes said his mission has
a higher importance in his native Brazil.
"I imagine
for the entire country it is a big event," Pontes said, adding that his flight
happened to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Brazilian aviator
Alberto Santos Dumont's first heavier-than-air flight. "We were expecting this for
a long time...this is a very significant moment for my country."
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