Station Crew Prepares Items for Transfer to Progress, Shuttle

(NASA) – The Expedition 22 crew members are preparing the International Space Station for two new vehicles. The ISS Progress 36 cargo vehicle is due to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Feb. 3 to resupply the station. Space shuttle Endeavour will launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 7 to begin the STS-130 mission.

After the Progress docks, the five station crew members will unload new supplies and gear then reload it with trash and other discarded items. Endeavour will deliver the Tranquility Node, the Cupola and spare items for the station’s Water Recovery System which has been down since fall of last year. Endeavour will also return various station gear and science experiments back to Earth.

The International Space Station was photographed from the Soyuz TMA-16 during its relocation from the Zvezda service module to the Poisk Mini-Research Module 2. Credit: NASA

The Russian Vozdukh, a carbon dioxide removal system, failed Thursday and was repaired Friday. The system was deactivated and a part replaced. The Vozdukh is now operating normally scrubbing carbon dioxide from the Russian segment of the orbiting laboratory.

Inside Japan’s Kibo laboratory, the Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly, which performs the same function as the Vozdukh, had an adsorbent bed replaced. The adsorbent bed is where the carbon dioxide accumulates after it is scrubbed from the atmosphere. If necessary, lithium hydroxide candles could be used to scrub carbon dioxide from the station’s atmosphere.