Christmas Comes Early for International Space Station Crew
Maybe because they are so high in space that the crew of the International Space Station get to celebrate Christmas early, as a cargo supply containing 2000 kilograms of food, supplies and fuel have arrived.
As reported by Stuff, a Russian cargo resupply spaceship arrived at the ISS to provide some well needed goods for the crew currently spending the Yuletide season up in space.
The docking comes less than a week after a Soyuz spacecraft also successfully delivered Russian commander Yuri Malenchenco, American NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and British Astronaut Tim Peake to the station.
Even though NASA called the cargo shipment a "Christmas delivery," it remains to be disclosed what are the specific kind of presents the astronauts have received, as the crew prepares to celebrate the holiday orbiting planet Earth.
In a related report by the Miami Herald, two American astronauts helped with moving a stalled rail rack into place outside of the International Space Station, just in time before the package arrived.
Kopra, together with Scott Kelly, took more than half-hour to release brake handles on the rail car and help guide it 4 inches back into its place. The rail car needed to be moved so the cargo ship containing their supply could dock at the station.
After the astronauts released the brake, Kelly said, "I see motion!" and a robotics officer in Mission Control sent a command to move the rail car.
Astronaut Mike Hopkins in Mission Control said "Good News! It appears to have reached the work site" to the two astronauts some time later.
The rail car that they moved is a part of the station's mobile transport system, which is normally used to transport people and equipment that includes the ISS' big robot arm.
And when engineers on the ground confirmed that the rail car was latched in place, Hopkins said to the astronauts that it's now in a good configuration.
In a related report by the Daily Mail, four hours after the spacewalk began, the cargo ship that launched from Kazakhstan made its way to the ISS.
This spacewalk was the seventh one this year, but operated under significantly less planning than normal.
Usually, crews of the International Space Station plan for months before going on a spacewalk, but due to the circumstances, this was just planned over the weekend.
With the rail cart fixed and the food supply already arrived, it seems that Christmas will be merry even in outer space.
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