The crew of seven astronauts that will make the trip to the International Space Station in two weeks' time went aboard the US space shuttle Endeavour two days ago, on October 29^th, for their first practice run. The series of training sessions they have started is aimed at preparing them for the flight and for the 15 days they will spend in space. The goal of the mission is to adapt the ISS for a larger crew, upgrading the number of its beds from three to five and adding another toilet.

For now, the launch date is set for November 14, but whether this is accurate or not remains to be seen on Thursday, when NASA officials announce the date the space shuttle takes off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, based on their reviews on the preparation progress. The crew will spend 11 of the 15 days docked by the ISS. For three of its members, Robert S. (Shane) Kimbrough, Endeavour's pilot Eric A. Boe and flight engineer Stephen G. Bowen, it will be the first time ever to enter the spacecraft with the occasion of the dressing rehearsal.

 

Other members of the mission are astronauts Sandra H. Magnus (who will replace Station Flight Engineer and Science Officer Gregory E. Chamitoff, who has been aboard the ISS since this May), Christopher J. Ferguson, Donald R. Pettit, and lead spacewalker Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper. Besides providing more beds, a toilet and a wastewater recycling system for the ISS, the mission also attempts to service solar arrays that provide solar energy for the station.

 

In their statement on Wednesday, NASA officials also announced that, despite the opinion of its engineers, the new Ares I spacecraft that would replace the shuttle by 2015 registers a satisfactory progress, and that the reports of faults and errors in its design, while somewhat expected, were highly exaggerated. “We haven't done something of this magnitude in over three decades,” shared the deputy associate administrator for NASA's exploration program, Doug Cooke.