Astronauts Enter the Leonardo Module and Prepare for First Spacewalk

Mission Specialist Christer Fuglesang and Flight Engineer Frank DeWinne, both of the European Space Agency, became the first crew members to venture inside the newly installed Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module. The shuttle and station astronauts prepared the cargo module for several days of transfer work.

Leonardo is carrying 7.5 tons of supplies including: two research racks (Fluid Integrated Rack and Materials Science Research Rack), a new station crew quarters, the Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI-2), the Air Revitalization System Rack and the COLBERT treadmill.

STS-128 Mission Specialist Jose Hernandez participates in an interview with Univision while aboard the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA TV

Flight Engineer Nicole Stott and Mission Specialist Danny Olivas are spending the night inside the Quest airlock at a lower air pressure to force nitrogen out their bloodstream. This prevents astronauts from getting decompression sickness during a spacewalk. Stott and Olivas are set to begin the first STS-128 spacewalk Tuesday at 5:49 p.m. EDT.