Image above: Expedition 13 Flight Engineer Jeff Williams prepares to take photographs of the Earth from a window in the space station's Zvezda Service Module. Credit: NASA

New ISS crew conducts maintenance and unpacks supplies

International Space Station Commander Pavel Vinogradov RV3BS and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams KD5TVQ resumed work aboard their orbital home this week after a weekend of light duty.

The crew performed maintenance on equipment for pre-breathing pure oxygen during spacewalk preparations and resumed unpacking supplies from the Progress cargo craft that docked with the station on April 26.

Tuesday was another off-duty day for the crew to celebrate Victory Day, a Russian national holiday.

The engines of the Progress cargo craft were fired last Thursday, raising the station's altitude about 1.7 miles.

NASA astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria and Sunita Williams and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin have been named as the 14th crew of the International Space Station. Expedition 14 is scheduled to begin this fall.

Latest news stories..

• Get our news headlines for your website • Submit your news story