14 DAY TRIAL // Flight engineers Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson prepare for the August 5 spacewalk, as the two Russian flight engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Mikhail Kornienko cleaned up after Tuesday morning’s successful mission.
The next spacewalk will be carried out outside the United States Quest airlock. The two American astronauts, Wheelock and Caldwell Dyson have already reviewed standard procedures yesterday and prepared their tools. They need to install a power and data grapple fixture on the Zarya module, that will broaden the station robotic arm's reach and it will enhance the capabilities of a spacewalker during assembly. The cosmonauts also have to set up a power cable for the Permanent Multipurpose Module's future installation in November, during STS-133.
As for the other two ISS crew members, flight engineer Shannon Walker separated measurement units from the Cell Biology Experiment Facility inside the Kibo module’s Saibo rack, which is used for experimenting and storing biological samples. She also took part in Caldwell Dyson and Wheelock's procedure review and at a spacewalk conference with ground specialists.
Commander Alexander Skvortsov, along with his crew mates, focused on his daily exercise program. The ISS exercise equipment is not very varied but it has the essential: two treadmills, an exercise bike and a resistive device that helps prevent the long-term effects of microgravity.
NASA is providing a 2010 calendar with the International Space Station's program and the work that is being done, along with information about the crews that have lived there. The images are taken from the space station and it also presents the important and funny NASA moments since the extremely complex project of the ISS began in 1998.
During the first spacewalk on Tuesday morning, Yurchikhin and Kornienko wore their Russian Orlan spacesuits to reconfigure tools, the Pirs docking compartment and the Zvezda service module’s transfer compartment. They outfitted the Rassvet module’s Kurs automated rendezvous system, installed cables and replaced a video camera, all this in six hours and 42 minutes. It was the 147th spacewalk for the station's maintenance.