Station Crew Prepares Station for Shuttle Arrival

(NASA) – The Expedition 20 crew aboard the International Space Station continued to make preparations Wednesday for the arrival of space shuttle Endeavour next week.

Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata performed some final activation procedures on the Kibo laboratory’s robotic arm. The robotic arm will play an important role in the upcoming STS-127 mission. Space shuttle Endeavour is slated to launch Saturday from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., to deliver the final elements of the Kibo laboratory and bring Wakata home. STS-127 Mission Specialist Timothy Kopra will remain aboard the station to replace him.

Flight Engineer Bob Thirsk talks with students from the University of Calgary. Credit: NASA TV

Wakata also took water samples from the Water Recovery System (WRS) and tested them using the Total Organic Carbon Analyzer. The WRS recycles wastewater into drinkable water. The tests showed that the water is safe and healthy to drink.

A periodic emergency depressurization drill was successfully conducted by all members of the station crew. In the unlikely event of the depressurization of the station’s environment, the crew members would escape to the docked Soyuz vehicles.

Flight Engineer Mike Barratt worked through the third of four days of planned activities to adjust the manual flow control valves for the internal thermal control systems in the U.S. segment of the station. In related work, Flight Engineer Frank De Winne finished refilling coolant in the thermal control systems in the Columbus laboratory.

Flight Engineer Bob Thirsk talked with students from the University of Calgary. He was granted an honorary degree by the university while in space.