Science and Departure Preps for Station Crew

After a couple of light-duty days aboard the International Space Station, the Expedition 23 crew was busy Thursday with science experiments and preparations for the departure of three of its crew members.

Flight Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson spent time working with the Japanese Ferulate experiment. Ferulate studies how the microgravity environment aboard the station affects the cell wall structure of rice seedlings.

Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko worked with the Russian KASKAD (Cascade) experiment, which investigates cultivation processes of micro-organism, animal and human cells in microgravity. Flight Engineer Alexander Skvortsov assisted Kornienko, taking photographs of the experiment.

Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi gathered and packed items for return to Earth aboard the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft. The three crew members are scheduled to undock in the spacecraft June 1, landing on the steppes of Kazakhstan a few hours later. Skvortsov, Caldwell Dyson and Kornienko will stay aboard the station, with Skvortsov acting as crew commander.

To prepare for their departure and the station handover, all six crew members reviewed safety procedures and participated in a safety briefing with teams on the ground.

Space shuttle Atlantis descended to a smooth landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida Wednesday, concluding the successful STS-132 mission to the station.

The mission delivered the Russian-built Mini Research Module-1 to the station. Also known as Rassvet ("dawn" in Russian), the module provides additional storage space and a new docking port for Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft.