International Space Station Status Report #38 - 2003

Report #38
4 p.m. CDT, Friday, Aug. 15, 2003
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas

The Expedition 7 crew, Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA International
Space Station Science Officer Ed Lu, this week conducted science
experiments, maintenance activities and prepared for the upcoming departure
and arrival of Progress cargo and Soyuz vehicles.

Lu talked with former Station Science Officer Don Pettit to help locate
hardware for the Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation (PFMI) that Lu
installed in the Microgravity Science Glovebox Monday. Lu was scheduled to
begin science operations with PFMI this week, but was unable to locate an
essential cable to complete the installation. Pettit's ideas as to where he
left the cable were fruitful. With the cable now installed, Lu can begin a
run of the experiment next week.

Troubleshooting continued this week with the two U.S. spacesuits
experiencing cooling system issues onboard. Lu and Malenchenko executed a
procedure to closely inspect valves and filters for water circulation in the
system of the first suit Lu tried on during the mission. Investigations of
the cooling system of the spare suit he re-sized last week are still
underway. Even though they are not scheduled to conduct a spacewalk during
this mission, Lu and Malenchenko could use the Russian Orlan spacesuits to
conduct a spacewalk, if needed, since Lu does not currently have a working
U.S. spacesuit to wear.

This week, Malenchenko continued to use oxygen from the Progress cargo
vehicles docked to the aft of the Zvezda Service Module and to the Pirs
Docking Compartment to repressurize the Station. The extra oxygen is being
used before the two spacecraft are undocked, taking with them trash and used
supplies to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. The Progress docked to Zvezda
will undock Aug. 27 to make room for a new Progress resupply craft scheduled
for launch to the Station Aug. 28 (U.S. time). The Progress docked to Pirs
will undock Sept. 4 to make room for the Soyuz TMA-3 spacecraft scheduled to
arrive Oct. 20 with the Expedition 8 crew and European Space Agency
astronaut Pedro Duque.

Expedition 8 Commander Michael Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri,
will replace the Expedition 7 crew. Foale and Kaleri are scheduled to launch
to the Station Oct. 18 aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, along with Duque
who will return to Earth with the Expedition 7 crew after completing more
than a week of science activities aboard the Station on Oct. 28.

Information on the crew's continuing activities on the Space Station, future
launch dates and Station sighting opportunities from anywhere on Earth is
available 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 on Friday, Aug. 22, or sooner if
events warrant.

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Jacques :-)

Editor: www.spacepatches.info

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