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For the first time since early 2003, the International Space is home to three crew members. European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter joined Expedition 13 following Space Shuttle Discovery's mission earlier this month.

Reiter, who serves as the expedition flight engineer, Commander Pavel
Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams got down to business.
Their tasks this week included activating a new high-tech freezer;
installing additional sound suppression devices; performing a
functional check of a new oxygen generation system, which will become
active next year; and preparing for the next spacewalk, set for just
before 10 a.m. EDT on Aug. 3.

Discovery left behind about three tons of supplies, hardware and
experiments as well as 175 gallons (660 liters) of water and 74
pounds (33 kilograms) of nitrogen, leaving the station in excellent
condition to support the crew of three.

One of the most anticipated experiment racks, the Minus Eighty
Laboratory Freezer for ISS, was activated. The freezer will allow
biological and human research experiment samples to be stored until
they are returned to Earth for evaluation.

The recent Discovery mission brought the new oxygen generation system
and the freezer to the station. Status checks were performed this
week on the newly installed oxygen system to prevent its internal
valves from sticking over long periods of dormancy. Once it is
activated, the device will augment the Russian Elektron
oxygen-generation system in preparation for the further expansion of
the station crew to six people.

The crew also began preparations for the next spacewalk. The spacewalk
by Williams and Reiter will be conducted in U.S. spacesuits. The
astronauts will deploy external experiments and prepare station truss
components for future assembly work. Additional solar panels and
electrical equipment will be delivered by the next two space shuttle
missions, scheduled for late August and December. Spacewalk
preparations included flushing cooling loops in the Quest airlock and
the spacesuits and configuring airlock systems and tools. The
astronauts also reviewed station robotic arm procedures.

The next station status report will be issued on Friday, July 28, or
earlier if events warrant.

For more about the crew's activities and station sighting
opportunities, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station