Astronauts today accomplished a key goal in space shuttle Discovery's mission, installing two racks on the International Space Station that will boost its capacity for science research. "We'll have an opportunity to perform science that we haven't been able to perform before," said Heather Rarick, the mission's lead station flight director, before the work began.
"And now with six crew (members) on space station, we’ll have the time available for crew members to do it, so this is a big step for us. And now we're looking forward to getting great data from these racks so that we can use them in applications here in our everyday life as well as for the future of space travel."
The closet-sized racks are dedicated to the study of fluid physics and basic materials that could discover new materials or improve designs for fuel tanks and water systems, NASA says.
They won't be fully functioning for weeks, but provide the infrastructure for experiments that can be pursued now that the station has six full-time residents.
Before late May, when the crew size doubled from three, most of the astronauts' time was occupied by station maintenance and assembly.
In addition to the racks, crew members today began installing a European-built freezer that can hold biological samples a temperatures as low as minus 80 degrees Celsius.
And station flight engineer Mike Barratt focused on outfitting and activating a new bedroom temporarily being installed in the Japanese Kibo laboratory.
It's the third of four to be set up that offer more comfort and amenities - including better ventilation and space to set up personal items including a music player - than makeshift set-ups used previously.
Also today, station residents Bob Thirsk of Canada, Frank De Winne of Belgium and Nicole Stott - a Florida native and former Kennedy Space Center engineer - reviewed procedures for grappling and docking an unmanned Japanese cargo craft that is scheduled to arrive Sept. 16.
And Discovery astronauts Danny Olivas and Christer Fuglesang are preparing for a 6.5-hour spacewalk on Thursday, the second of three planned during Discovery's 13-day mission.
"We are busily working," Discovery mission specialist Jose Hernandez said in an interview with a California TV station today.
Coming up at 8:30 p.m., NASA managers plan to host a mission status briefing from Johnson Space Center in Houston. You can watch it live here - click on the NASA TV still image on this page to launch a viewer.
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