Susan Helms on work platform near Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 to be added to the International Space Station next year. Photo: NASA/KSC

Members of the International Space Station's Expedition 2 crew, the second team to inhabit the orbiting outpost, visited Kennedy Space Center last week.

Russian cosmonaut Yuri Usachev and U.S. astronauts Susan Helms and Jim Voss toured the Space Station Processing Facility and looked over hardware slated for launch to the station.

Among the pieces examined was Pressurized Mating Adapter-3, or PMA-3. The docking adapater will be added to the station when the trio are ferried to ISS aboard space shuttle Discovery next October.

In addition to PMA-3, the STS-102 shuttle mission will also carry the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, nicknamed Leonardo, to deliver equipment and supplies for the station's U.S. laboratory module.

The Expedition 2 crew will replace the outgoing Expedition 1 team of U.S. commander Bill Shepherd and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko. The three men will return to Earth when Discovery lands to complete the 9-day STS-102 mission.

During their expected five-month stay aboard ISS, Expedition 2 will install and test new components aboard the station, stock supplies inside the U.S. laboratory, complete required maintenance work and run some medical and science experiments.