European Space Agency's Biorack passive thermal conditioning unit (PTCU)

European Space Agency's Biorack MLSI (middeck locker stowage insert) for PTCU

European Space Agency's Biorack passive thermal conditioning unit (PTCU)

STS081-E-05145 (13 Jan. 1997) --- Astronaut John M. Grunsfeld, mission specialist, works with a Passive Thermal Conditioning Unit (PTCU), the cylindrical device suspended between the mission specialist and the nearby biorack glovebox onboard the Spacehab Double Module (DM). He holds a container of experiment samples in his left hand. This image was recorded with an Electronic Still Camera (ESC) and was later downlinked to flight controllers in Houston, Texas. Grunsfeld and five astronaut crew mates are preparing for a scheduled mid-week docking with Russia's Mir Space Station.

STS081-E-05094 (12 Jan. 1997) --- Astronauts Peter J. K. (Jeff) Wisoff (left) and John M. Grunsfeld, mission specialists, deploy two Passive Thermal Conditioning Units (PTCU) onboard the SPACEHAB Double Module (DM) late on Day 1 of the mission. The two units had been transported by the pair through the tunnel connecting SPACEHAB and the mid-deck of crew cabin of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. They are joined by four other NASA astronauts for the almost ten-day mission. The crew is scheduled to dock with Russia's Mir Space Station and pick up John E. Blaha, NASA astronaut who has been serving as a cosmonaut guest researcher since September 1996. Jerry M. Linenger (out of frame) will replace Blaha onboard Mir.