2 space crews mark 1 week together in orbit

2 space crews mark 1 week together in orbit (AP)
In this Thursday, March 3, 2011 photo provided by NASA, astronauts Scott Kelly, left, Expedition 26 commander; Cady Coleman, center, Expedition 26 flight engineer; and Michael Barratt, STS-133 mission specialist, watch a monitor in the Unity node of the International Space Station while space shuttle Discovery remains docked with the station. (AP Photo/NASA)

(AP) -- The astronauts aboard the orbiting shuttle-station complex will share a few more maintenance chores before they part company.

On Saturday, the two crews will work on the air system at the . They also will make sure a Japanese cargo carrier is properly loaded with trash. It will be let loose at the end of this month and plunge through the . The vessel is full of packing foam from all the equipment that was delivered by Discovery.

The shuttle arrived last Saturday.

The hatches between the two craft will close Sunday afternoon. And the shuttle will undock first thing Monday.

It's the last voyage for Discovery. It will be retired following Wednesday's touchdown and put in a museum.

©2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Citation: 2 space crews mark 1 week together in orbit (2011, March 5) retrieved 28 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2011-03-space-crews-week-orbit.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

Shuttle, station astronauts relax before parting

0 shares

Feedback to editors