AS AMERICA mourned the death of the seven astronauts, attention also turned towards the three men still in orbit aboard the International Space Station. Are their lives now at risk as well? And what鈥檚 in store for the space station, following the indefinite grounding of the shuttle fleet?
NASA immediately informed the ISS crew members 鈥� astronauts Kenneth Bowersox and Donald Pettit, and cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin 鈥� about the disaster. 鈥淭hey mourned the loss of their friends and colleagues,鈥� says Bill Readdy, associate administrator of space flight at NASA鈥檚 Johnson Space Center in Houston. 鈥淲e assured them that job one was to get back to flying safely and to support them.鈥�
And supported they were. For while the space shuttle is the primary transport for astronauts to fly to the ISS and back to Earth, the current crew members, collectively known as Expedition 6, are by no means stranded without it. A Russian cargo ship, the Progress 10, was launched from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan just a day after Columbia鈥檚 failed re-entry, and as 快猫短视频 went to press it was scheduled to dock with the ISS on Tuesday. This was a routine flight carrying supplies, including fuel, oxygen and food.
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鈥淭he supplies on board that cargo ship will be sufficient, in conjunction with whatever is already on board, to supply the Expedition 6 crew members through the end of June,鈥� says NASA spokesman Pat Ryan in Houston. For their part, the ISS crew responded with true astronaut verve: 鈥淭hey committed themselves to staying up for however long we needed in order to get the job done,鈥� says Readdy.
NASA quickly concluded that with a little help from the Russians there was no immediate concern about the $60 billion space station and its crew. Soyuz and Progress rockets will be able to resupply the ISS for the foreseeable future, and there is always a Soyuz spacecraft docked to the space station, ready to bring the crew back in an emergency. 鈥淎t this point there is no reason to consider unmanning the station. We have sufficient supplies. We are able to communicate and perform functions as planned,鈥� said NASA鈥檚 shuttle programme director Ron Dittemore on Monday. 鈥淚 imagine the station could be kept in operation and occupied for quite a while,鈥� agrees Ryan.
Shuttles visiting the space station periodically boost its orbit to keep it from spiralling to Earth. But in this regard at least, NASA has been lucky. 鈥淭urns out we are in good shape with the altitude,鈥� says Michael Kostelnik, NASA鈥檚 deputy associate administrator of the ISS and shuttle. The station will not need another boost until next year, and if necessary a Soyuz spacecraft could fulfil this task.
The next crew, Expedition 7, was scheduled to reach the ISS next month aboard the shuttle Atlantis, but those plans are now on hold. As for the current crew: 鈥淭hey鈥檒l know that it鈥檚 time to come home when somebody comes to get them,鈥� says Ryan.