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In Earth Orbit – October 17, 2007 – “Location, location, location.”
There’s a saying the real estate industry that the three most important things in buying and selling a home is “location, location, location.” But it’s also how Clay Anderson, a flight engineer on the International Space Station, described the best feature of his current home aboard the orbiting laboratory.
“We have a three bedroom up here, and it’s wonderful,” Anderson said during a news conference televised live on NASA-TV Monday morning. But he said it’s going to be even better with the planned additions that will eventually double the ISS living space. Expedition 16 marks the beginning of the most complex phase of station assembly since humans first occupied the outpost seven years ago.
Peggy Whitson, the first female commander of the station, arrived at the station Friday morning, as well as Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko and Malaysian space tourist Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor. Both Expedition 15 and 16 crews will work until Oct. 21 when Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov and Shukor depart for Earth.
Shakur said he plans to share his experiences with children after he returns to Earth. But the thing that has made the biggest impact, so far, was the first time he viewed Earth from space. “My heart stopped beating and my eyes stopped blinking,” he said.
The crew will perform three spacewalks during Expedition 16 to prepare the station for the activation of the Harmony node. The spacewalks also will prepare for the relocations of Harmony and a docking port.
Moving station components and doing difficult electrical maintenance will make the work exciting and challenging, Whitson said. “But we’re excited to get started.”
Anderson said every mission has its difficulties. “Our timeline is pretty stacked. But the way we work together, we will knock it out.”
Whitson said it was a special honor to be the first female station commander. But she is certain she won’t be the last. “Absolutely, I think I will be followed,” she said, predicting that it could take two to three years before a second woman is named commander.
However, another female astronaut, space shuttle Discovery Commander Pam Melroy, will reach another milestone in late October when she and her crew arrive at the station. It will mark the first time two women have led space missions at the same time.
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Flight Engineer Clay Anderson and Commander Peggy Whitson take a break from handover activities to talk to the press Monday. Whitson is the first woman to command a space station crew. Credit: NASA TV
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