The ISS Progress 23 cargo craft launched on schedule Monday, Oct. 23, at 9:41 a.m. EDT. Docking is planned for Thursday, Oct. 26 at 10:28 a.m. High-priority items include the delivery of Elektron parts, research payloads and Extravehicular Activity equipment. Last week, Commander Lopez-Alegria replaced equipment in the Carbon Dioxide Removal System, which is used to remove impurities from the station atmosphere.
Only one of its two systems has been operating due to particulate matter clogging an air valve. Also the NASA science officer, Lopez-Alegria collected samples for the Nutrition Experiment, the most comprehensive in-flight study conducted by NASA to date of human physiologic changes during long-duration spaceflight.
Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter began Analysis of a Novel Sensory Mechanism in Root Phototropism, or TROPI experiment. This study will increase the understanding of the different systems plants use to determine what direction their roots and shoots should grow, and which genes are responsible for successful plant growth.
Engineers continue analyzing the Control Moment Gyroscope (CMG) test data to determine troubleshooting plans for CMG-3 which was shut down earlier this month due to high vibrations
NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have named two astronauts and two cosmonauts to the next International Space Station crew, known as Expedition 15. Astronauts Clayton Anderson and Daniel Tani will travel to the station next year and work as flight engineers. Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Dr. Oleg Kotov will spend six months aboard the orbiting laboratory.
