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07
New gear helped the astronauts on the International Space Station kick
off a new year as they prepared a second oxygen-generating system,
upgraded soundproofing in the living quarters and unpacked supplies
delivered just before Christmas by the space shuttle.
This morning, Lopez-Alegria and Williams took time out from their work
to share their mission with a group of students in the fifth through
eighth grades from the Columbia Explorers Academy. From the Adler
Planetarium in Chicago the students asked the astronauts about living
in orbit and the goals of their mission.
Also this week, the crew finished unpacking and stowing supplies
delivered last month on shuttle mission STS-116, and they marked
milestones in two laboratory experiments. On Tuesday, Williams set up
the hardware for the Test of Reaction and Adaptation Capabilities, or
TRAC investigation. It is a NASA-sponsored experiment jointly managed
by scientists from Germany and Canada. Crew members' hand and eye
coordination are tested before, during and after missions. For the
tests, subjects use a joystick to control a cursor on a computer
screen and respond to audio and visual stimuli. The experiment
gathers data about how, and to what extent, the brain adapts to
weightlessness.
http://www.nasa.gov/station
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