International Space Station Status Report #10, 28-02-2005

Report #10
3 p.m. CST, Monday, Feb. 28, 2005
Mission Control Center, Houston

Carrying more than two tons of supplies, a Russian cargo spacecraft began a
two-day trip to the International Space Station today after its launch from
the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The ISS Progress 17 resupply ship
launched at 1:09 p.m. CST. Less than 10 minutes later, it settled into orbit
and automatic commands deployed its solar arrays and navigational antennas.

As the Progress launched, Expedition 10 Commander and NASA Station Science
Officer Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov were wrapping up
their work day. The Station was flying over the southern Atlantic Ocean west
of Cape Town, South Africa at an altitude of 225 statute miles at the time
of liftoff.

Engine firings are scheduled later today and tomorrow to raise and refine
the Progress' orbit and its path to the Station for an automated docking at
the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module on Wednesday at 2:15 p.m. CST.
NASA TV will provide live coverage of the linkup beginning at 1:30 p.m. CST.

The Progress is carrying more than 2 tons of food, fuel, oxygen, water,
spare parts and personal items for the crew. It is filled with 386 pounds of
propellant, 242 pounds of oxygen and air, 1071 pounds of water, and more
than 2932 pounds of spare parts, life support system components and
experiment hardware. The manifest also includes an additional six-month
supply of food in 86 containers to replenish the Station pantry. Among the
items being carried on the Progress is a new heat exchanger device to
replace a faulty component in the U.S. airlock that is needed for the
resumption of spacewalks in U.S. space suits this summer.

Also in the Progress are cameras and lenses that will be used by the
Expedition 11 crew to capture digital images of the thermal protection
system on the Shuttle Discovery during its approach to the Station for
docking during the STS-114 mission in May. The photos will be part of the
imagery-gathering effort for Return to Flight to insure that the Shuttle has
incurred no threatening damage to its tiles or the reinforced carbon-carbon
coating on its wings during ascent.

Chiao and Sharipov are scheduled to open the hatch to the Progress a few
hours after docking Wednesday to begin unloading its contents.

The Progress spacecraft that had been at the Station since Christmas night
was undocked yesterday at 10:06 a.m. CST as the two vehicles flew over
eastern Asia. Filled with discarded items, the ship fired its engines after
undocking to move to a safe distance away from the Station for 10 days of
engineering tests by Russian flight controllers. It will be deorbited on
March 9 and will burn up in Earth's atmosphere.

Information about crew activities on the Space Station, future launch dates
and Station sighting opportunities from Earth, is available on the Internet
at:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/


For information about NASA and other agency missions, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

The next ISS status report will be issued on Wednesday, March 2 after the
ISS Progress 17 docking, or earlier, if events warrant.


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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info