(NASA) – Aboard the International Space Station Tuesday, the Expedition 19 crew prepared for its upcoming spacewalk and awaited the arrival of three additional crew members later this week. The space travelers also continued their regular science and maintenance activities.
Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Michael Barratt performed height adjustments on their Russian Orlan spacesuits in preparation for their first spacewalk, slated for June 5. In addition, they checked the suits for leaks and proper valve operation, as well as configuring and checking out the suits’ communication equipment.
Image above: The Soyuz 19 spacecraft that will carry three additional crew members to the International Space Station awaits its launch, slated for Wednesday. Credit: NASA TV
The Soyuz 19 spacecraft carrying Cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk and European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday at 6:34 a.m. EDT. The Soyuz is set to dock with the station at 8:36 a.m. Friday, inaugurating the long-awaited presence of a six-person crew. It also will mark the first time all five partner agencies are represented by crew members on the orbiting laboratory and will begin Expedition 20, still under the command of Expedition 19 Commander Gennady Padalka. Launch coverage on NASA Television begins at 5:45 a.m. Wednesday.
Padalka spent time working with the Russian SONOCARD experiment, which records a crew member’s physiological functions during sleep. SONOCARD uses this data to study the feasibility of obtaining real-time crew health data that could serve as a basis for evaluating and predicting the adaptive capability of the human body in long-duration space flight.
Along with Barratt, Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata performed maintenance on the station’s treadmill, an integral piece of the crew’s exercise equipment.
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