Posted: Sat, Jun 2, 2001, 12:37 PM ET (1637 GMT)
NASA officials confirmed Friday that the three-person crew on the International Space Station will remain there several weeks longer than previously planned. The Expedition Two crew was slated to return home in July when the shuttle Discovery brought a replacement crew to the station, but that mission has been delayed until at least early August as problems with the station's robot arm have delayed the previous mission, STS-104, from mid-June to early July. NASA officials also said Friday that ISS crew members Yuri Usachev and James Voss will not venture outside the station when they perform a spacewalk next week. Usachev and Voss will perform an "internal" spacewalk on June 8, venturing into a depressurized section of the Zvezda module to reposition a device that will be used to attach a Russian-built docking compartment to the station later this year. ISS manager has considered having the two go outside the station to replace an electronics system used by Canadarm2, but decided that the system was not the cause of any of the problems recently experienced by the arm.

Related Links:

•  SPACE.com article
•  AP article
•  Reuters article