New Trio Adapts to Station, Rest of Crew Resumes Maintenance and Science

The International Space Station’s newest residents are orienting themselves to life on orbit. Flight Engineers Scott Kelly, Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka are familiarizing themselves with station systems as they settle in for a nearly six-month stay. They will begin Expedition 26 in November and return to Earth in March 2011.

Expedition 25 Commander Doug Wheelock is at work on the Sabatier, part of the orbiting laboratory’s life support system. The Sabatier converts the crew’s exhaled carbon dioxide into water for use on the station and methane which is vented overboard. The commander also inspected the advanced resistive exercise device and checked on experiment gear. Wheelock spent some time Wednesday answering questions from Soldiers Magazine and Soldiers Radio and TV.

Commander Doug Wheelock unpacks gear for the Sabatier life support system inside the U.S. Destiny laboratory. Credit: NASA TV

Flight Engineer Shannon Walker replaced a hose and a filter inside the Waste and Hygiene Compartment. She also checked science equipment in the Microgravity Science Glovebox and stowed hardware. Walker along with Flight Engineer Fyodor Yurchikhin also practiced photography techniques for space shuttle Discovery’s back-flip when it arrives in November with the STS-133 crew.

The new station trio is also participating in station duties as they configured tools to be used during the two spacewalks planned for STS-133. They also checked Russian station systems and audited the station’s inventory.