This
story was updated at 6:06 p.m. EST.
A crack team
of astronaut plumbers got down to business aboard the International Space
Station on Wednesday to hook up a new system that recycles urine into drinking
water.
The new
gear is part of a bounty of life
support equipment delivered to the space station this week aboard NASA's
shuttle Endeavour to prime the orbital research outpost to double its current
three-astronaut population next year.
"We're
ready to continue making extreme home improvements," Endeavour pilot Eric Boe
told Mission Control this morning.
Endeavour launched
toward the station last Friday and docked two days later. Since then,
astronauts have swapped out one member of the station's crew, performed the
first of four complicated spacewalks and amazed Mission Control by the speed at
which they unpacked a new kitchen, bathroom, exercise equipment and the water
recycling system.
Two
closet-like sleeping quarters were up next to transform the station from a
three-bedroom, one-bath home into a five-bedroom, two-bath research outpost
with two galleys, a gym and the luxury of a space food fridge.
"We've been
having a hard time keeping up with them," said lead space station flight
director Ginger Kerrick late Tuesday. "It's been great-going inside."
Today,
astronauts are expected to hook up two refrigerator-sized racks of equipment
that, when combined, make up the space station's $250 million water recovery
system.
They'll
also prepare for the mission's second spacewalk on Thursday - the 10th
anniversary of the space station. Mission controllers have been working to
replan the upcoming spacewalks after a spacewalker
lost a bag filled with grease guns and other specialized tools during the
first spacewalk on Tuesday.
Reduce,
reuse, recycle
The
station's water
recovery equipment is part of NASA's attempt at a functional closed loop
environmental system in space. If it works as designed, it should cut the need
to deliver about 15,000 pounds (6,803 kg) of water to the station per year,
mission managers have said.
It collects
astronaut urine, wastewater and sweat condensed from the station's atmosphere
and recycles it through a seven-filter process to recover and purify about 93
percent of the initial water. That water can then be used for drinking, food
preparation, bathing or oxygen generation via electrolysis. NASA's partner
Oxygen Generation System is already aboard the space station.
Endeavour
mission specialist Don Pettit, who lived aboard the station for 5 1/2 months on
a previous flight, has called the water recycling system a souped-up
coffeemaker because it "takes today's coffee and turns it into tomorrow's
coffee."
"This is
the coffee machine," he told the space station commander Michael Fincke during
a Monday tour.
"Ah,
yes," Fincke said jokingly. "Coffee goes in, coffee comes out."
But not
just yet.
Kerrick
said that once plumbing connections are made and a myriad of small parts are
installed, shuttle and space station astronauts are expected to test the
system's water processing works only.
"Hopefully
by tomorrow afternoon we'll be able to initialize the water processor assembly
and see how it's working," Kerrick said Tuesday.
Piping
actual urine, donated from the space station's three-astronaut Expedition 18
crew before Endeavour launched Nov. 14, into the system will wait until
Thursday. It takes about two days to get the water recovery system up and
running.
Barring any
unexpected glitches, the first samples of water recycled from astronaut urine
are not expected until early next week. But even then, more testing - about three
months' worth - will be required before astronauts can put the recycled water
to the taste test.
"We are not
partaking of the samples," Kerrick said. "We are taking the samples and
bringing them home for analysis, and performing onboard analysis."
Kerrick
said the 10 astronauts aboard the station are so far ahead of their cargo
transfer schedule, they will likely be able to activate and take samples from a
new portable water dispenser - also delivered by Endeavour - early next week
without requiring the space shuttle extend its planned 15-day mission by an
extra day.
"We're
looking to give them a free pass," Kerrick said.
Endeavour initially
launched to the station with 105 hours of cargo transfer work for its crew and
only 98 hours available to do it. But the fast-working astronauts have made up
that needed time plus more to spare, mission managers said.
Healthy
shuttle
Late
Tuesday, mission managers also cleared
Endeavour's heat shield of any concerns related to damage from launch
debris. Analysts reviewed images and data from two different standard heat
shield inspections by Endeavour and station astronauts before giving the
shuttle a clean bill of health.
The news, while expected, received a glowing review from
Endeavour skipper Chris Ferguson:
"That is absolutely fantastic news," Ferguson told NASA's shuttle
Mission Control in Houston late Tuesday. "I know it weighs on all of us a little bit until the
final word comes but that is just very welcome news. I think we'll all rest a
little bit easier tonight."
Endeavour
astronauts will still perform the now standard late inspection of Endeavour's
heat shield to hunt for new damage caused after the previous two surveys. NASA
has kept close watch on shuttle heat shield health since wing damage led to the
loss of the shuttle Columbia and its astronaut crew in 2003.
NASA is
providing live coverage of Endeavour's STS-126 mission on NASA TV. Click here for SPACE.com's
mission coverage and NASA TV feed.
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