Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke and Flight Engineer Yury Lonchakov continued preparations Monday for their impending departure from the International Space Station. Among those activities were physical exercise and the transfer to their Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft of experiments and other items slated for return to Earth.
Fincke and Lonchakov are targeted to return to Earth on April 8. Joining them aboard their Soyuz spacecraft will be Charles Simonyi, a spaceflight participant who arrived at the station with Expedition 19 for a two-week stay.
Staying aboard the station are Expedition 19 Commander Gennady Padalka and flight engineers Koichi Wakata and Michael Barratt.
Padalka spent time on the Russian experiment IZGIB, a name which means "bend." The experiment's objective is to help update mathematical models of the station's gravitation environment.
Barratt worked with the Bodies In the Space Environment experiment, which studies how humans first adapt to microgravity and then re-adapt to normal gravity conditions upon return to Earth. This experiment involves comparisons of preflight, flight and postflight perceptions and mental imagery.
As part of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Education Payload Observation, Wakata set up the work area for Hiten, an observation in which crew members will be recorded performing ancient east Asian dances in microgravity.
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