Inspections, Science and Maintenance for Station Crew

(NASA) – The Expedition 22 crew members aboard the International Space Station were busy Thursday with inspections and a variety of experiments and scheduled maintenance activities.

Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi conducted hatch seal inspections on Pressurized Mating Adapter 3, which was relocated during the STS-130 mission. The leak checks pave the way for the crew members to reopen the newly relocated module for long-term stowage of items not needed immediately.

A rugged, isolated section of coast on Carnero Bay, about 60 miles south-southwest of Concepcion, Chile, is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 22 crew member on the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov worked in the Russian segment of the station maintaining its systems. He also worked with the PNEUMOCARD experiment. This experiment is an integrated study of the cardiovascular systems of crew members in various phases of long durations in space.

Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev packed items and made preparations for their departure later this month in the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft.

Williams also changed out filters in the Water Recovery System Filter Tank Assembly and gathered surface samples on equipment and structures for analysis, tagging up with experts on Earth as needed.

Throughout the day, crew members had time set aside to perform their daily physical exercise routines to counteract the effects of long-term exposure to weightlessness in space.