CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A Russian commander and two American flight engineers took up residence on the International Space Station Saturday while Endeavour's visiting astronauts delivered a moving van packed with the new crew's gear.
Limbering up the shuttle's Canadian-built robot arm, mission specialist Linda Godwin snatched the cylindrical carrier from Endeavour's cargo bay and lifted it to an Earth-facing berthing port on the station's U.S. Unity module.
Incoming station flight engineer Carl Walz then sent computer commands to a series of motor-driven latches that snapped shut, securing the supply-filled freighter to the outpost.
"Good job, Carl," astronaut Charlie Camarda told Godwin from NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston.
The mounting of the Multipurpose Logistics Module set the stage for a scramble to unload 3.5 tons of food, clothing, supplies and equipment for Walz, fellow flight engineer Daniel Bursch and Russian commander Yuri Onufrienko.
Known as the Expedition Four crew, the new station tenants plan to live and work aboard the 17-story complex until mid-May, conducting science experiments and overseeing the delivery and installation of an outpost truss segment.
The trio is replacing outgoing station skipper Frank Culbertson and two Russian cosmonauts, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Turin, the three of whom are wrapping up a four-month station tour that began in August.Working side-by-side, the incoming and outgoing station crews swapped seat-liners in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft that serves as an emergency lifeboat at the outpost.
The custom-made couches are fit to form and must be exchanged before a new crew can take command of the complex.
| Mission Updates |
| For the very latest updates on Endeavour's mission to the space station, the first place to look is our Shuttle Missions page. |
Culbertson and Turin also began moving personal belongings out of their closet-sized "staterooms" in the station's Russian-made crew quarters. Dezhurov did likewise in the U.S. Destiny laboratory, where the cosmonaut had set up a makeshift sleep station.
Onufrienko and Walz plan to set up house in the station's crew quarters while Bursch will be staying in the Destiny lab.
The homebound Expedition Three crew will be sleeping aboard the shuttle until Endeavour makes its departure from the station late next week. That way there is little chance a mixed crew might end up on the station if an emergency forced Endeavour to pull out of the station in a hurry.
A formal change-of-command ceremony is scheduled to take place next Tuesday at 3:39 p.m. EST (2039 GMT).
The 10 astronauts and cosmonauts now on the linked shuttle-station complex will spend the next six days unpacking and then repacking the Italian moving van.
Some 1.8 tons of surplus gear, garbage and experiment samples are to be packed back in the freighter along with the luggage of Culbertson and his colleagues. The carrier is to be placed back in Endeavour's cargo bay next Thursday for the return trip to Earth.
Also coming home on the shuttle: An array of flags, police shields, posters and other items being flown as a tribute to those who lost their lives in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America.
The joined shuttle and station crews plan to stage a Sept. 11 commemorative event at 6:09 p.m. EST (2309 GMT) Sunday as the linked craft soar some 247 miles (395 kilometers) above the planet.
On tap Monday: A four-hour spacewalk aimed at wrapping thermal blankets around a balky motor drive on the station's massive American-made solar arrays, which are located at the top of the outpost and stretch 240 feet (73 meters) from tip to tip.
Godwin and fellow mission specialist Dan Tani, who is only the second Japanese-American to fly in space, are scheduled to start the excursion at 12:24 p.m. EST (1724 GMT) that day.
Endeavour and its four shuttle astronauts, along with Culbertson and his two Russian colleagues, remain scheduled to depart the station next Friday.
The shuttle's stay at the station, however, might be extended a day so Endeavour's astronauts can help repair an outpost treadmill that plays a key role in keeping tenants in shape.
Mission managers would like to get that work done while Endeavour still is at the station so that old treadmill parts can be returned to Earth on the shuttle for refurbishment.
As it stands, the shuttle astronauts and the homebound station crew remain scheduled to land here at Kennedy Space Center at 12:28 p.m. EST (1728 GMT) Dec. 16, capping a 128-day stay in space for Culberston and his crew.
A decision on a mission extension is expected Monday or Tuesday.
advertisement
