|
|
Change Your Life! |
Atlantis crew cracks open newest section |
|||
|
News
|
||||
September 13, 2000
SPACE CENTER (AP) - Atlantis' crew drifted into the newest section of the international space station early Tuesday and began hauling equipment into the module, which will be home for the station's first permanent residents. The Russian service module called Zvezda, which finally made it to space in July after more than two years of delays, made its orbital debut at 0550 GMT when Atlantis commander Terrence Wilcutt and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko cracked the hatch open and floated in. "We see a good view of the inside of the service module and a lot of people are smiling down here," Mission Control radioed up. "Same here. It's absolutely beautiful," Wilcutt called back from inside the 43-foot segment. But just like walking into a new house, the excitement quickly gave way to the business of moving. First up, the crew of five astronauts and two cosmonauts had to begin offloading 1,300 pounds (585 kilograms) of gear from an unmanned Russian Progress supply ship previously docked to one end of Zvezda. The station's first permanent residents are due to arrive in November: one American and two Russians who are to spend four months aboard the station. There's one big difference between moving so much equipment on Earth and moving it while orbiting 233 miles ( 375 kilometers) up: no gravity. And that's good news for the crew, since an additional 4,800 pounds (2,160 kilograms) of supplies will also have to be brought into Zvezda from Atlantis. The service module was launched without most of its eventual contents because it was so heavy to begin with. The cache includes an oxygen generator, carbon-dioxide removal system, color TV monitor, ham radio, exercise machine, batteries, wrenches, sockets, flashlights and the all-too-crucial toilet. The crew was to begin installing the batteries on Tuesday night. After opening the first hatch late Monday, it took a few hours for the seven men to make their way through the 140-foot (42-meter) complex. The pressure had to be equalized from one compartment to another before the doors could be opened. Space station managers were excited by the fast, smooth entry, which required communication among several flight control centers in Houston and Russia. It bodes well for future operations aboard the international endeavor, space station flight director Mark Ferring said. "We were like one big control center around the world," Ferring said. It was balmy inside the station - roughly 80 degrees, but with low humidity. Wilcutt and his crew seemed comfortable as they set up air ducts, took air samples and consulted their checklists. The astronauts had no complaints about the noise inside the station, which has been a problem with the Russian control module Zarya. They wore white breathing masks and black goggles as a safety precaution. NASA feared that some potentially irritating particles had risen into the air inside Zvezda after it left Earth's gravity, which was a problem when Zarya was first opened in orbit in 1998. The concern was unfounded, and the crew slipped their protective gear off shortly after stepping inside. The crew members will have to work fast at the unloading and stowing, as they have just five days inside the complex. It would have been only four days, but NASA managers decided Tuesday to stretch the mission from 11 days to 12. The new landing date is Sept. 20. The astronauts continued their speedy performance, going through their Tuesday morning tasks about an hour ahead of schedule. --- On the Net: NASA: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/index-m.html
|
