This
story was updated at 6:14 p.m. EST.
Astronauts
aboard NASA's space shuttle Endeavour packed up their room-sized cargo pod
Wednesday and stowed it back in their orbital trunk as they prepare to leave
the International Space Station after Thanksgiving this week.
Shuttle
commander Chris Ferguson and his crew buttoned up their Leonardo cargo module
and unhook it from
an Earth-facing berth on the space station's Harmony node so it can make
the trip home nestled in Endeavour's payload bay.
"We're
making the final close outs before we undock in just a few short days,"
Ferguson said Tuesday in a televised interview.
The
astronauts delivered about 14,400 pounds (6,531 kg) of cargo, including a new
recycling system that converts astronaut urine and sweat back
into potable water for drinking, food preparation, bathing and oxygen
generation. After several days of glitches and a one-day extension to their
mission, the astronauts got the system up and running and took their final
recycled water samples today.
Altogether,
the spaceflyers are bringing home almost 2 gallons (7 liters) of fresh water
recycled from astronaut urine and condensed sweat. Packed aboard Endeavour,
meanwhile, are about 3,642 pounds (1,651 kg) of trash and unneeded equipment returning
to Earth from the space station.
"We're
having a wonderful time," Ferguson said. "We docked with the space station a
few days and since then, it's been all work and no play."
Endeavour
astronauts arrived at the space station last week to swap out one member of the
orbiting
laboratory's crew and perform the mother of all space renovations to
prepare the outpost for larger, six-person crews next year.
Their
mission: expand
the space station from a three-bedroom, one-bath, one-kitchen laboratory
into a five-bedroom research facility with two bathrooms, two kitchens, a gym
and a space food fridge.
"Hey, we
got cold water!" station skipper Michael Fincke radioed down to Mission Control
late Tuesday, adding that he was looking forward to chilled drinks from the
cooler once it was hooked up. "And they said it couldn't be done."
Until
Endeavour arrived with the new space cooler, station astronauts had only the
choice between hot or lukewarm water for refreshment throughout the outpost's
eight years of habitation.
Endeavour's
shuttle's spacewalking team also performed an unprecedented clean-and-grease
job during four different excursions to lubricate a massive 10-foot (3-meter)
wide gear, replace its damaged bearings and clean metal shavings from its inner
mechanism.
The
starboard side gear is one of two designed to rotate the station's solar wings
like a paddlewheel to track the sun, but had been damaged for more than a year.
In addition
to their packing work, Endeavour astronauts finalized plans for Thanksgiving
aboard the space station on Thursday. Because Endeavour's mission was extended
a day, all 10 astronauts of the joint shuttle-station crew will have time to
celebrate the U.S. holiday together before the orbiter leaves.
Pre-cooked
turkey, stuffing, candied yams and a cranberry dessert were initially on the
menu for Endeavour astronauts before they knew they'd have company for dinner.
"Since
then, we've sort have been sort of collecting now that we're going to be here
with the ISS crew," said Endeavour mission specialist Steve Bowen. "And now we
have enough food for everyone onboard, which is part of Thanksgiving anyway,
sharing what you have."
Endeavour
is due to undock from the space station on Friday and land on Sunday afternoon.
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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