International Space Station Status Report #03-63
4 p.m. CST, Friday, Dec. 12, 2003
Expedition 8 Crew

Aboard the International Space Station this week the Expedition 8 crew
served as scientists, engineers, mechanics and investigators as it
approaches two months of life in space aboard the orbiting outpost.

The workweek began with a U.S. milestone being recognized when Commander
Mike Foale surpassed the astronaut cumulative time in space record of 231
days. During a special phone call Monday, Carl Walz, the previous record
holder, called Foale to congratulate him on the milestone and discussed life
on the Station and future endeavors in space.

Tuesday and Wednesday Foale - joined by Flight Engineer Cosmonaut Alexander
Kaleri - dismantled the high-tech exercise treadmill and identified the
cause of a problem preventing its use in the motorized mode. A bad bearing
associated with its gyroscope assembly was determined to be the culprit and
a replacement will be shipped to the Station on the next Progress resupply
vehicle in late January. Until that time, the treadmill is usable for
exercise without the stabilization system active.

Thursday Foale, also the onboard NASA ISS Science Officer, "flew" the
Station's robotic arm for the first time through a survey of various modules
and components of the complex. The survey had two-purposes: To continue
investigating the source of an unusual noise heard by the crew a couple of
weeks ago while in the Zvezda Service Module and to check for any other
changes outside the station, a check normally handled by a Space Shuttle
upon undocking and flyaround. This survey detected no abnormalities.

Foale and Kaleri discussed their mission with news organizations from ABC
and the website SpaceflightNow.com. The crew also enjoyed a lengthy
question-and-answer period with schoolchildren at the Wright Brothers
National Memorial in North Carolina, as celebrations are ongoing in advance
of the 100th anniversary Dec. 17 of powered flight.

Information on the crew's activities aboard the Space Station, future launch
dates, as well as Station sighting opportunities from anywhere on the Earth,
is available on the Internet at: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/

Details on Station science operations can be found on an Internet site
administered by the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space
Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., at: http://scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov/

The next ISS status report will be issued Dec. 19, or sooner if events
warrant.


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Jacques :-)

Editor: www.spacepatches.info