ISS Crew Checks Out Spacesuits

Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter have conducted a system check of their spacesuits and checked out tools to be used during the Aug. 3 spacewalk. One of their key tasks was familiarization by Williams and Reiter with the pistol grip tool they will use while outside the station.

The Expedition 13 crew members continue to set up new equipment brought onboard the station after Discovery docked on July 6. New additions to the station include a laboratory freezer that stores biological and life science samples and a new oxygen generation system for the orbiting space outpost.

This week, they also fired the Russian Progress 21 spacecraft engines for 3 minutes, 5 seconds in the first of two reboost maneuvers designed to place the station at the proper altitude for rendezvous and docking with space shuttle Atlantis during the STS-115 mission.

They will conduct a second reboost in late August, just before the launch of Atlantis.

Copyright 2006 by Space Daily, Distributed United Press International