CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Shuttle Endeavour continued its chase of the International Space Station on Sunday, giving the seven-member crew a chance to get used to the weightless environment and prepare for the mission ahead.
Endeavour's docking with the orbiting outpost is set for 4:26 p.m. EST (2126 GMT) Monday.
As shuttle skipper Jim Wetherbee and pilot Paul Lockhart maneuvered the shuttle closer to the station, Endeavour mission specialists John Herrington and Michael Lopez-Alegria checked out their spacesuits and began inspecting the equipment they will use during three spacewalks that are set to begin on Tuesday.
Expedition Six crewmembers Ken Bowersox, Nikolai Budarin and Don Pettit assisted with the tasks that included a test of the shuttle's slightly-damaged robot arm, which worked just fine. The arm was bruised back at the Kennedy Space Center when a work platform accidentally hit it.
Cameras on the arm also were used to survey the contents of Endeavour's cargo bay, which is filled with the P-One (P1) truss segment the crew is to attach to the space station on Tuesday. Everything looked good.
Later on Sunday, the incoming long-duration station crew spoke with news media about their mission."I can't wait," commander Bowersox said. "I've seen two or three sunrises during the last couple days and I can't believe how many more I've got ahead of me. I think every day is going to be precious up here."
New station science officer Pettit, a rookie, indirectly answered questions about whether he succumbed to a bout of space motion sickness after arriving in orbit on Saturday.
"Right now I'm feeling very normal," Pettit said with a smile. "My cheeks are nice and pink."
Pettit was a relatively last-minute addition to the station crew. He had been training as a backup when prime crew astronaut Don Thomas was pulled from the flight earlier this year due to an undisclosed problem with Thomas' medical certification for flight.
Bowersox said he had not talked with Thomas in the days leading up to launch or since they arrived in orbit.
"It's still kind of painful and sore for Don," Bowersox said. "When he talks with us it becomes even more painful."
"Going up for a long duration flight was Don Thomas' dream and when he wasn't able to do it, it hurt him pretty bad. As the distance and time heals that wound, then I think it'll be a little bit easier for him to discuss how much fun we're having on orbit."
Noting that the Expedition Six crew patch was designed by Thomas, Bowersox said, "he's with us every minute in spirit and we think about him a lot. We can only wish him the best."
The Expedition Six crew will take up residence on the station after Endeavour docks and is scheduled to remain in orbit until next March. That means they'll be in space for the holidays -- a fact the crew takes in stride.
"I can't think of a whole lot better places to spend Christmas than up in Earth orbit looking down trying to find Santa Claus," Bowersox said.
As for Thanksgiving Day, holiday-themed food was delivered for the Expedition Six crew months ago but thanks to the launch delays, a fresher supply of turkey made it on board Endeavour before liftoff.
"No smuggling was required, NASA took care of us," Bowersox said. "I was just looking in my food locker, and I know there's already a turkey breast in there for me. I haven't looked in anybody else's but I imagine there's more on board."
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