International Space Station Status Report #41 - 2004

Report #41
3 p.m. CDT, Friday, July 23, 2004
Mission Control Center, Houston

The International Space Station's Expedition 9 crewmembers passed the
halfway point of their six-month mission this week as they prepared for a
third spacewalk and joined the world in observing the 35th anniversary of
the first landing of humans on the moon.

July 19 was the midpoint of the flight for ISS Commander Gennady Padalka and
Flight Engineer Mike Fincke, who launched Apr. 19 and are targeted to return
Oct. 19. On Monday Fincke spoke with Charles Gibson of ABC-TV's "Good
Morning, America" about the birth of his daughter, Tarali, in June while he
was in space. Fincke's wife and children joined the discussion from Houston.

This week the crew continued packing unneeded equipment and trash in the
Progress vehicle, scheduled to undock July 30. Undocking the Progress from
Zvezda's aft docking port will clear the area for the next spacewalk,
targeted for Aug. 3. Wearing Russian spacesuits and exiting from the Pirs
Docking Compartment, Padalka and Fincke are to install retroreflectors and
communications equipment needed for the docking of the Automated Transfer
Vehicle, a European Space Agency cargo ship slated to make its first flight
next year. Yesterday Padalka and Fincke maneuvered the Station's Canadarm2
into position so its cameras can view the spacewalk, and today they wrapped
up a thorough review of the spacewalk timeline with specialists in Moscow.

Meanwhile, flight controllers in Houston continue to investigate why two
U.S. spacesuits are not providing the proper cooling. This week spacesuit
engineers monitored as Fincke conducted troubleshooting of a motor in the
water pump of one of the spacesuits. An analysis of photos and video from
that work is underway. Two spare water pumps will be launched in the next
Progress supply ship, due to liftoff Aug. 11 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in
Kazakhstan.

The failure on Monday of a computer on the Station's inactive starboard
thermal radiator has no significant impact on current operations. The
radiator is not in use in the present Station configuration, although the
computer had assisted flight controllers with monitoring of temperatures and
pressures of the unused equipment. The radiator is not scheduled to be used
until several missions after the Space Shuttle's return to flight.

Tuesday Padalka and Fincke recognized the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon
landing and discussed both the past as well as the present and future of
space exploration - and the role to be played by the International Space
Station in future exploration - in an interview with CBS News.

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 July 30 or sooner if events
warrant.



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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info