Each crew aboard the International Space Station
discovers more and more about what it takes to live and work
in space for long periods of time. This year, the fourth for
humans continuously staffing the Station since the arrival of
Expedition 1 on November 2, 2000, has proven to be an
exceptional example.
“Every challenge for the International Space Station crews,
flight control teams and management adds to the knowledge
base we need to develop longer spaceflight missions to places
like the moon and Mars,” said Bill Gerstenmaier,
International Space Station program manager. “The work we’re
doing on Station is directly connected to future exploration
missions.”
International cooperation grew even closer during Station
operations this year, particularly in the planning and
execution of spacewalks. In February, the Expedition 8 crew,
Commander Michael Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri,
conducted the first spacewalk from the Station by a two-
person crew, without a crewmember left inside. The spacewalk
demonstrated these types of spacewalks, using the procedures
developed by American and Russian flight controllers working
together, could be safe and successful.
Two spacewalks were planned for the next crew, Expedition 9
Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Michael Fincke.
Within days of their arrival, a breakdown of an external
Station component added a third spacewalk to their mission.
Then, problems were found in the U.S. spacesuits, and
international cooperation came through again. Teams worked
out procedures for the crew to wear Russian spacesuits to
work on the U.S. side of the complex. They worked closely to
combine tools and procedures, even switching between control
centers and languages, to complete the successful repair.
Astronauts living aboard the Station have been invaluable in
maintaining the facility. With no Space Shuttles to deliver
supplies since the Columbia accident in February 2003, repair
parts have been shipped via the smaller Russian Progress
resupply vehicle. Fincke demonstrated U.S. spacesuits could
be taken apart and repaired in space. Normally, a Shuttle
would have delivered whole new suits as replacements.
Fincke’s work, continued by Expedition 10 Commander Leroy
Chiao, will restore two U.S. spacesuits to operation.
Foale and Kaleri used a small set of tools to perform the
unprecedented repair of a stabilizing gyroscope in their
exercise treadmill. A new gyroscope would have been too large
to deliver aboard a Progress. “The crews have shown repairing
hardware in space with few supplies and equipment is
possible,” Gerstenmaier said. “Missions far from Earth will
benefit from their work,” he added.
Research on the Station this year was refocused to directly
support the Vision for Space Exploration, with human life
science experiments taking on highest priority. One such
experiment was the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in
Microgravity (ADUM). It was used to develop the remote
medical diagnostic and telemedicine capabilities needed by
crews on distant exploration missions. Another experiment,
called FOOT, evaluates the exercise forces necessary to
maintain muscle and bone health on long-duration missions. A
related experiment, called Biopsy, continues to study some of
the basic fundamental principles involved in muscle atrophy
that occurs during spaceflight.
Along with tackling technical tasks, ground support teams did
their best to make the astronauts feel at home in space.
Mission Control, Houston, kept Fincke in touch with his
family as his wife gave birth. Fincke was able to talk from
space to his wife using an Internet protocol telephone and
private family conferences via satellite.
Chiao cast the first vote in a presidential election from 230
miles above Earth. Through a special law passed in Texas in
1997, astronauts are able to vote electronically from space.
Chiao submitted his electronic ballet to his county clerk’s
office via email.
Another milestone in spaceflight was reached this year when
Foale accumulated more time in space than any other U.S.
astronaut. He logged 374 days, 11 hours and 19 minutes during
his Station and previous missions. The astronauts and
cosmonauts serve as test subjects, blazing a trail in
understanding what happens to the human body while living
without gravity for long periods.
Chiao and Expedition 10 Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov
will continue to maintain hardware and conduct scientific
research for the next six months. The Station has been under
construction for six years, since the arrival of the first
element, the Russian Zarya module, in 1998. Major assembly is
set to resume with the return of the Space Shuttle to flight
next year. For information about the International Space
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