Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Astronauts hitched a giant chest of drawers to the international space station that contained a brand new freezer, sleeping compartment and treadmill bearing a TV comedian's name.
The Italian-built chest - nicknamed Leonardo, as in Leonardo da Vinci - was moved from space shuttle Discovery via a hefty robot arm and hoisted onto the space station.
It's loaded with nearly 8 tons of equipment and science experiments for the orbiting outpost and its six residents. Much of the gear is stored in portable racks; the bedroom is the size of a phone booth.
Leonardo will remain secured to the space station for the next week. The astronauts will remove the cylindrical vessel - 6.5 metres long and 4.6 metres in diameter - and place it back on space shuttle Discovery for return to Earth. By that time, it will be loaded with trash and unneeded items.
Nasa's brand new $5 million treadmill - officially called the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, or COLBERT for short - is in pieces and will need to be assembled after Discovery leaves.
The TV comedian ended up with an exercise machine named in his honour after he won an online vote for christening rights to a space station room. Unwilling to go with Colbert for the yet-to-be-launched room, Nasa opted for Tranquility to commemorate the Apollo 11 moon landing 40 years ago this summer. The treadmill was a consolation prize.
Shuttle astronaut Jose Hernandez will oversee Leonardo's unloading operation. He is filing regular Twitter updates from orbit, the first astronaut to do so in two languages, English and Spanish.
"Met our 6 neighbours & they seem nice!" Hernandez wrote.
Besides his bilingual tweets, Hernandez is taking part in several Spanish-language interviews during the mission. "I'm just happy to be able to share my experiences," said Hernandez, a Mexican-American who is the son of migrant workers. He grew up working the fields in California alongside his parents, two brothers and sister.
Next up for the 13 space travellers - seven on the shuttle and six on the station - is the first spacewalk of their joint mission.
The space station's newest inhabitant, Nicole Stott, will venture out on Tuesday evening with Danny Olivas to remove a depleted ammonia tank.
A fresh tank will be installed as part of the space station cooling system during spacewalk No. 2 on Thursday night. In all, three spacewalks are planned.
Stott carried over six mice in an enclosed container overnight. The mice are part of a bone loss study and will return to Earth with her in November, aboard shuttle Atlantis.
Meanwhile, the chairman of Nasa's mission management team, LeRoy Cain, delivered some good news Monday: Discovery's thermal shielding looks to be in good shape and should soon be cleared for re-entry, currently scheduled for 10 September.
Flight controllers, meanwhile, are looking at fuel-efficient ways to move the shuttle-station complex over the coming week. Discovery's tiny steering jets are unusable because of a leak.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments