July 03, 2008

Alum Gregory Chamitoff poses with crewmates aboard the International Space Station

STS-124 crew members pose for a portrait in the Kibo Japanese Pressurized Module of the International Space Station.

From the left (front row) are NASA astronauts Karen Nyberg, Garrett Reisman, both mission specialists; Mark Kelly, commander; Greg Chamitoff, Expedition 17 flight engineer; and Ken Ham, pilot. From the left (back row) are Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, NASA astronauts Ron Garan and Mike Fossum, all mission specialists. Credit: NASA

Astronaut Gregory Chamitoff, a 1984 electrical engineering alumnus, flew to the station as a mission specialist on STS-124 shuttle mission to deliver the Pressurized Module and robotic arm of the Japanese Experiment Module, known as "Kibo" (hope), to the International Space Station. He took Astronaut Garrett E. Reisman's place as an Expedition 17 flight engineer and will return to Earth on shuttle mission STS-126.

The STS-124 mission was the second of three flights that will launch components to complete the Kibo laboratory. The Expedition 17 crew members are currently spending their days aboard the International Space Station making spacewalk preparations.

According to NASA, for the second straight day, the three crew members awoke around 5:30 a.m. EDT, about 3½ hours later than normal, as they continue to adjust their schedules for a pair of spacewalks.

The first spacewalk is set for the afternoon of July 10 when Commander Sergei Volkov and Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko will inspect their Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft, checking the five locks that attach the return module to the propulsion module. They also will retrieve a suspect pyrotechnic bolt for inspection by engineers on the ground.

Volkov and Kononenko will conduct a second spacewalk on July 15. During that excursion, the two cosmonauts will install experiments and attach rendezvous equipment to the hull of the Zvezda service module. They gathered equipment and tools and reviewed procedures Wednesday to prepare for this spacewalk.

Flight Engineer Greg Chamitoff spent most of the day in the Kibo laboratory module, setting up and calibrating high data rate relay box equipment as the commissioning of the new module continues.

The crew members also completed their daily physical exercise routines to counteract the effects of long-term exposure to weightlessness in space.

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