First Space Station Crew Struggles to Settle In

Nov. 3, 2000 -- For the first space station crew, moving into their home away from home hasn’t been all that easy.

First of all, they had to stay awake for 22 hours on the day of their arrival at the sprawling international space station that is orbiting some 200 miles above Earth.

No Utensils, Nowhere to Sleep

U.S. astronaut Bill Shepherd and cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev spent their first day on board the station Thursday negotiating a cluttered mess of boxes. Since the station now only has enough power to heat two of its modules, all equipment has been packed into the limited two-room space — and is often difficult to locate.

When dinnertime rolled around, they couldn’t find forks or knives or napkins to eat with and Shepherd couldn’t prepare his meal since his food-warming device wasn’t working. Then, when bedtime finally arrived, the crew didn’t have a place to sleep.

“The crew was asked yesterday where they were sleeping and they said they were looking for locations in the main aisle to attach their sleeping bags for the night,” Jeff Hanley, the lead flight director for the mission, said today in a NASA news conference. “The crew’s quarters were still packed with items.”

Hanley assured that the three men’s days would become a little easier in the next week. He compares their arrival at the station to the experience of a family moving into a new home. There will be a lot of unpacking and organizing to do, he explains, before the men begin to feel settled.

“[It’s like] all the boxes have been brought in by the movers and are sitting around and nothing’s been unpacked. So it’s obviously a busy time for the crew,” he says.

Busy Schedules

Despite the clutter, Shepherd and the two cosmonauts have managed to get essential tasks done. Shepherd got his food warmer working this morning. The crew set up the toilet so it is now flushing and operational and they assembled the ever-important air-scrubbing system. For now, the men are using disposable air-scrubbing canisters, but that supply is due to run out after 14 days. Hanley says they hope to have their permanent air-scrubbing system in operation soon.

The crew also located a problem with one of the space station’s main batteries and they have installed a central computer system that links up all the station’s computers with a single laptop. On Saturday, the crew is scheduled to set up an air-conditioning system for the station and will be testing their in flight computers with mission control in Moscow.

At one point, Shepherd, who is commander of the crew, signaled some of his frustration with their busy, somewhat chaotic schedule down to mission control in Houston.

“We worked really hard yesterday, and we could not keep up with the timeline. And we’re way behind today, too,” Shepherd said today. “You’ll just have to be patient with us.”

Spotty communication with mission control in Moscow and Houston has made matters even more trying. Hanley explains the communication problems are due to a large gap during the day when the station isn’t orbiting within range of a collection of Russian communication sites. That problem should ease, says Hanley, once the station’s communication video conference capability is fully working. The crew began setting up the system today.

Weekend Rest

Next week the Expedition crew members are scheduled to get their treadmill working, check on a computer data base system and run through emergency drills. But for the weekend, at least, they should have some well-earned down time.

“We plan to give them a little bit of a break on Saturday,” says Hanley. “And they’ll have Sunday to catch up and get used to their new home.”