Three
astronauts aboard the International
Space Station (ISS) are taking a well-earned break one week after NASA's shuttle Discovery left their
orbital laboratory.
ISS
Expedition 13 commander Pavel
Vinogradov and flight engineers Jeffrey
Williams and Thomas
Reiter were set to rest easy - with only optional tasks on their plate -
this weekend as they prepare for an upcoming spacewalk. Discovery's STS-121
crew departed
the ISS on July 15 leaving Reiter, a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut,
aboard to join the Expedition 13 team.
NASA
spokesperson Rob Navias told SPACE.com that the Expedition 13 crew was
scheduled to relax after the busy joint operations earlier this month with
Discovery's astronaut crew. The three ISS astronauts performed initial checks
on a new freezer to store biological samples and a U.S.-built oxygen generator
before heading into their weekend, he added.
"We're very
glad that Thomas has finally arrived after a long, hard period of training,"
Williams told reporters in a recent interview. "It will add a different flavor
to life on board to have a third crewmember, especially with Thomas whom we
enjoy being with very much."
Space
station expeditions were reduced
to two-astronaut teams following the 2003 loss of NASA's Columbia
orbiter and its seven-astronaut crew, leaving only the Russian-built Soyuz
spacecraft available to ferry new teams to the ISS. Discovery
returned NASA's shuttle fleet to flight status in July 2005, but stood
down for almost one year as the space agency wrangled with external tank
debris issues.
Discovery's STS-121 mission completed NASA's cycle of two
test flights before resuming
ISS construction next month with the planned Aug. 28 launch of the STS-115
mission aboard Atlantis. Discovery landed
on July 17 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center after a 13-day
mission to the ISS.
"I'm
extremely happy to be on board," Reiter said recently. "It was a big wait, but
finally we're all together."
Reiter
joined the Expedition 13 astronauts midway through their six-month mission on
July 6, when Discovery and its STS-121 crew docked
at the ISS. He is a veteran of one other long-duration spaceflight - 1995's
EuroMir 95 mission to the Russian
Space Station Mir - in which he spent 179 days in orbit.
During the
eight days of docked operations Reiter watched over the transfer of tons of cargo
and equipment - most importantly his personal items, food and a custom-built
seat liner to cushion any Soyuz trip he might have to make while aboard - made
their way into the space station's cupboards, NASA officials said.
Navias said
Reiter and his fellow Expedition 13 crewmates had the option of moving cargo
out of Progress
22, a Russian-built unmanned supply ship that arrived at the ISS just over
one week before Discovery, or getting ahead on some of their pre-spacewalk
tasks.
Reiter and
Williams are set to don U.S.-built spacesuits on Aug. 3 for a six-hour
spacewalk set to begin at 9:55 a.m. EDT (1355 GMT).
"This is an
honor and privilege to fly for the European Space Agency as the first long-time
flight of a German astronaut [to ISS]," Reiter said. "I hope that more European
astronauts can join this in the future."
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