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News of Jan
6, 2007
Sunita Williams – A Busy Week in Space
By Arun Kumar
Washington, Jan 6
 After
a New Year's Day holiday, Indian American astronaut Sunita Williams
and her two companions at the International Space Station spent
another busy week preparing a second oxygen-generating system and
upgrading soundproofing in their living quarters.
With new gear delivered just before Christmas by space shuttle
Discovery that brought Williams to the station, she and Commander
Michael Lopez-Alegria installed in the Destiny laboratory the oxygen
generation system delivered on the earlier shuttle mission in July
2006.
The new generator will supplement the Russian Elektron oxygen system
on the station. The additional oxygen generating capacity will be
important as the standard station crew size increases to six as the
complex grows, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) said.
In their work with the new system, Williams and Lopez-Alegria
installed a hydrogen vent valve and power, data and fluid hoses and
cables. The system will be activated and tested later this year.
Also this week, the crew marked milestones in two laboratory
experiments with Williams setting up the hardware for the Test of
Reaction and Adaptation Capabilities, or TRAC investigation,
Tuesday.
It is a NASA-sponsored experiment jointly managed by scientists from
Germany and Canada. Crew's hand and eye coordination are tested
before, during and after missions. For the tests, subjects use a
joystick to control a cursor on a computer screen and respond to
audio and visual stimuli. The experiment gathers data about how, and
to what extent, the brain adapts to weightlessness.
Crew members also completed the final operations of a biological
experiment on the impact of varying levels of light and gravity on
plant root growth. The final images of samples in the European
Modular Cultivation System were taken and downlinked, and the
samples were stowed in a freezer for eventual return to Earth.
Friday morning, Lopez-Alegria and Williams took time out from their
work to share their mission with a group of students in the fifth
through eighth grades from the Columbia Explorers Academy. From the
Adler Planetarium in Chicago the students asked the astronauts about
living in orbit and the goals of their mission.
Meanwhile, flight engineer and cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin worked in
the Russian segment of the station, where he upgraded soundproofing
of the ventilation system. Tyurin installed new fans,
sound-deadening vibration isolators and air ducts with acoustic
shields to reduce the noise they create.
IANS
News of Jan
6, 2007
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