Malenchenko, Lu Get Familiar with Space Station Robot Arm

Expedition 7 Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu conducted robotic arm operations Wednesday aboard the International Space Station. The session was scheduled to allow the crewmembers to familiarize themselves with the arm, which is also known as Canadarm2.

In other activities, Lu supervised another run of the Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions, or InSPACE, experiment. InSPACE is a fluid materials experiment studying how very small individual particles that are magnetizable respond to a magnetic field that is repeatedly turned on and off. Malenchenko continued an audit to update the Russian Inventory Management System.

On Earth, preparations continued Wednesday for the launch of the Progress 11 cargo ship, which will deliver a fresh load of supplies to the Station next week. Progress 11 is scheduled to launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, at 5:34 a.m. CDT (1034 GMT) June 8 and dock with ISS at 6:17 a.m. (1117 GMT) June 11.