Image above: Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer John Phillips conducts a spacewalk Aug. 18. Credit: NASA

Crew loads Progress and unpacks new gear

This week on the International Space Station, the Expedition 11 crew unpacked supplies, prepared for the arrival of a Progress resupply spacecraft and repaired a carbon dioxide removal system.

Commander Sergei Krikalev and Flight Engineer John Phillips continued unloading cargo bags that were delivered to the Station last month aboard Space Shuttle Discovery. They finished unpacking the bags that had been stowed in the Zarya module, and the contents have been entered into a computerized inventory system.

Krikalev and Phillips began stowing trash and unneeded items into a docked Progress spacecraft Friday. The craft will undock from the complex at 6:23 a.m. EDT Sept. 7, fire its engines to enter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up over the Pacific Ocean.

Another Progress spacecraft will arrive at the Station on Sept. 10, delivering more than 2.5 tons of food, fuel, oxygen, water and spare parts. It will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9:08 a.m. EDT on September 8th.

Krikalev repaired the Vozdukh carbon dioxide (CO2) removal system this week, replacing a faulty vacuum valve in the component. A U.S. system was used for CO2 removal while the Vozdukh was offline, and carbon dioxide levels onboard the Station remained well below the levels that would pose any danger.

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