Progress brings supplies for the Expedition One crew

Over the next two weeks, the three-member station crew will unload the Progress, which is docked to the Zarya Control Module’s nadir port, or downward facing docking port. You can follow their progress daily on NASA's human spaceflight pages.

The Expedition-1 crew, made up of astronauts Bill Shepherd (USA), and Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev (Russia), took up residence on 2 November in the ISS, their home for the next four months. They spent their first week activating the critical life-support systems aboard the ISS. These are a carbon dioxide removal system, an air conditioner, the Elektron oxygen generation system and support communications with flight controllers in Russia and the United States of America. All systems are reported to be performing normally. In view of an increase in solar flare activity at the end of their second week their next job was to set up a radiation detection monitor in the Zvevda living quarters as a precautionary measure.

ESA and the ISS

A new ESA video on the International Space Station (ISS) just released includes the footage of the first astronauts to live aboard the space station and explains why 14 countries decided to pool their resources to build a manned outpost in Space.

ESA, representing 10 European countries, is one of five partners in the ISS. The others are the United States, Russia, Japan and Canada.

Giant wings for the ISS

Meanwhile on the ground, preparations continue at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the launch of STS-97, carrying the next Space Station element. The STS-97 crew will deliver the P6 Truss, which contains the Space Station's giant solar arrays, destined to be the longest structure in space to date. The launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour is set for Thursday 30 November 2000.