The space station's first six-person crew is adapting to a
more crowded habitat than they're used to.
The second half of the team — Russian cosmonaut Roman
Romanenko, Belgian astronaut Frank De Winne of ESA, and Canadian astronaut
Robert Thirsk — arrived May 29, boosting
the population of long-term residents at the International Space Station
(ISS) from its usual three to six.
"It's great having everybody here," NASA astronaut
Michael Barratt said during an in-space press conference today. Barratt has
been serving onboard the orbiting laboratory as a flight engineer for two
months already. "It's great having the extra bodies and the extra noise.
And for us, it's three new crewmates to share the adventure and share the
workload."
Romanenko, De Winne and Thirsk launched
May 27 aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome.
In addition to Barratt, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and
station commander Gennady Padalka, a Russian cosmonaut, were already onboard
before the newcomers arrived. Though the logistics of coordinating the larger
crew are a bit more complicated than before, the influx of people hasn't caused
too much disturbance, Barratt said.
"I don't think the routine has changed that much,"
he said. "There's a lot more of us, and we still tend to congregate in the
Russian service module for breakfast. There's just a lot more people to share
some stories."
More international
Not only is the station crew now larger than it's ever been
before — it's
more international. For the first time all five of the station's
international partner agencies are represented on orbit at once: NASA; the
Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos); the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency (JAXA); the European Space Agency (ESA); and the Canadian Space Agency
(CSA).
"We've had the international flags up for a while, and
having our new colleagues come gives them much more meaning," Barratt
said, referring to the flags of member nations that hang in the space station.
For Romanenko and Thirsk, this trip is a first visit to the
ISS.
"I think the greatest challenge will just be to get my
working efficiency up," Thirsk said Monday. "We've been here five
days now and I think we've learned a lot. I just hope I can get through my six
months here without making any serious mistakes."
The long-duration mission will be made slightly easier by
frequent calls and e-mails home to family, he said.
"We communicate every day," Thirsk said of his
wife and three children. "We have e-mail and an internet protocol phone.
Once a week we'll have a planned video conference as well."
Home improvements
The station can accommodate the larger population thanks to
a few home improvements made recently. Last week the space station's new urine
recycling system was officially activated, allowing astronauts to drink
purified water reclaimed from used water and bodily fluids. The device helps
provide enough potable water for all six crewmembers on the station without
requiring heavy loads of water to be ported up to space by shuttles and cargo
ships.
Despite the icky-sounding concept, the system has been
working out well, the astronauts say.
"The water's great," Barratt said. "It's
probably as good as or better than anything you'd buy out of a fancy bottle on
the ground. It's a very convenient system. Absolutely no complaints about the
water up here."
It will come in especially handy when the space station has
to accommodate even more people in a few weeks. Seven astronauts are scheduled
to lift off June 13 toward the station aboard the space shuttle Endeavour's
STS-127 mission. When they arrive at the ISS for a planned 16-day construction
mission, they will boost the total number of people onboard to 13.
"With 13 people up here it'll be a challenge,"
Barratt said. "It'll be busy, there will be a lot of coordination."
Nonetheless, Barratt said he didn't mind things getting
crowded, since he comes from a family of seven on Earth.
"I feel very much at home," he said. "I come
from a large family and I'm used to a lot of activity, business, and a lot of
laughter, and we certainly have that now."
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