Station Boosted for Rendezvous With Discovery

Station Boosted for Rendezvous With Discovery

As the launch date of the Space Shuttle's Return to Flight fast approaches,
the crew of Expedition 11 continues to conduct experiments and prepare
hardware for return to Earth, while controllers on the ground performed one
final reboost to increase the Station's altitude for its upcoming rendezvous
with Space Shuttle Discovery.

Image to right: Expedition 11 Flight Engineer and NASA ISS Science Officer
John Phillips sorts out various hardware in the Unity Node of the
International Space Station. Credit: NASA

After enjoying a three-day weekend of light duty, Commander Sergei Krikalev
and Flight Engineer John Phillips kicked off the workweek with a variety of
scientific experiments designed to study the effects of long-duration
spaceflight. These experiments include an ongoing study of renal stone
formation and NEUROCOG, which examines the body's sense of balance in
weightlessness through the use of a virtual reality helmet.

On Wednesday at 10:58 EDT, the engines of a Progress spacecraft docked to
the Station were commanded to burn for 7 minutes and 20 seconds, boosting
the altitude of the Station nearly 4 miles. This second and final reboost
puts the Station into position for rendezvous opportunities beginning on the
third flight day during most of Discovery's July 13-31 launch window.

To prepare for the Shuttle's Return to Flight, Krikalev and Phillips
continue to pack items to be returned to Earth on the Raffaello
Multi-Purpose Logistics Module aboard Discovery. The crew also reviewed the
timeline of activities scheduled during the docking and began conditioning
the batteries that will be used in the spacesuits for the STS-114 mission's
three spacewalks.

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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info