Image above: Flight Engineer Clay Anderson, KD5PLA, poses for a photo near the Earth observation window in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

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Space ham sets up new space station network LAN

The Expedition 15 crew aboard the International Space Station Thursday continued setting up a new local area network (LAN) and gathering trash for disposal in a Progress cargo craft.

Flight Engineer Clay Anderson KD5PLA, completed a check of the station's emergency lighting system and installed handrail fasteners in the Unity node early Thursday.

After lunch, Anderson returned to work on the Integrated Station LAN (ISL) network system. He installed network cables, connected the router and worked on the External Wireless Instrumentation System.

The ISL provides network connections between the Destiny lab, the Unity node, the Quest airlock and the service module. It eliminates drag-through cables in hatches, will be up to ten times faster than the current LAN and has provisions for future expansion.

Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, RN3FI, and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov continue to stow unneeded hardware and trash in the docked ISS Progress 25 cargo craft. The Progress will undock from the station on September 18 and burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.