CAPE
CANAVERAL, Fla. - While seven
astronauts prepare to ride NASA's Discovery shuttle toward the International
Space Station (ISS) this week, the orbital laboratory's two-man crew is
gearing up for the spacecraft's arrival.
ISS Expedition
13 commander Pavel Vinogradov and flight
engineer Jeffrey
Williams said Tuesday that they welcome Discovery's planned July 3 docking,
not the least of which because it will bring their first human visitors - and a
new crewmember - to the station after three months of orbital work. NASA plans
to launch Discovery on its STS-121
mission on July 1at 3:49 p.m. EDT (1949 GMT).
"It's a
huge event," Williams told reporters here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
via video link of the upcoming launch. "It's probably the capstone event of our
six months on orbit."
The STS-121
shuttle mission is NASA's second orbiter test flight since the 2003 Columbia accident, which
led to the loss of one spacecraft and seven astronauts as they reentered the
Earth's atmosphere. While the space agency has launched
one shuttle mission to the ISS since that tragedy - the STS-114 return to flight mission
aboard Discovery - the size of space station crews have remained at their reduced,
two-astronaut levels.
But
Williams said the STS-121 spaceflight will change all that when it brings
European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas
Reiter to the ISS. Reiter, who hails from Germany, is expected to serve alongside the
Expedition 13 crew for three months, and then join the Expedition
14 crew when it arrives at the station in September.
"Obviously,
we'll have more crew time to dedicate to science and research, which is a great
addition to our capability," Williams said. "It puts us back on tack to
completing the assembly of the space station and bringing it to full
utilization."
Vinogradov
and Williams are also prepared to host the STS-121 crew, which is commanded by
veteran shuttle commander Steven
Lindsey, for an extended stay should Discovery suffer critical damage
during launch and be unfit for the return trip. The plan, known as Contingency
Shuttle Crew Support (CSCS) or safe haven, calls for shuttle crews to stay
aboard the ISS until a rescue flight could be launched aboard a NASA orbiter or
Russian Soyuz vehicle.
"That would
definitely be a difficult stage for us, however, our system will be able to
support the entire crew," Vinogradov said. "We have
enough food, we won't have any doubts that we can't
continue working here."
Busy
days ahead
Discovery's
planned July 3 docking at the ISS will mark the second spacecraft to visit the
orbital research laboratory in one week. On June 26, an unmanned Russian cargo ship moored
itself to the station's Pirs docking compartment
to deliver 2.5 tons of new supplies and equipment.
The STS-121
crew is also carrying a full load of cargo for the ISS crew, which will have to
be unpacked and stowed while Discovery is docked at the ISS.
"It is a
little bit difficult for us to perform the work, we will have to work hard, but
it will be a pleasure to deal with this challenge," Vinogradov
said. "It's always nice to accept crews of a vehicle, especially considering
that our colleagues and friends are coming up."
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