International Space Station Status Report #42- 2003

International Space Station Status Report #03-42
4 p.m. CDT, Friday, August 29, 2003
Expedition 7 Crew

Progress 12, carrying more than 5,000 pounds of fuel, air and water, fresh
and prepared foods, clothing, and experiment hardware, is scheduled to
arrive at the International Space Station tomorrow. The unpiloted cargo
spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 8:48
p.m. CDT yesterday, following Wednesday's undocking of a previous cargo
craft from the aft end of the station's Zvezda module. The new supply ship
is due to dock to that vacant port at 10:45 p.m. CDT tomorrow. NASA-TV
coverage of the Progress 12 docking begins tomorrow at 10 p.m. CDT.

The Expedition 7 crew, Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science
Officer Ed Lu, spent part of their week seeing to the proper operation of
the Station's systems, as well as completing their regularly scheduled
exercise. They also finished preparing the old Progress ship for its
departure. After loading the craft with material no longer needed on board
and removing hardware that will be refurbished and used on future Progress
flights, the Station crew closed the hatch on Progress 10 Wednesday morning.
Wednesday afternoon, specialists at the Russian Mission Control Center
outside Moscow commanded the ship to release its grip on the ISS and back
away from the Station. It was destroyed as it plunged into the Earth's
atmosphere.

In the Station's Destiny laboratory this week, Lu oversaw completion of the
second successful test run inside the Microgravity Sciences Glovebox of the
Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation, in which samples of a transparent
test material are melted so researchers can study the formation of bubbles
that might diminish the strength or usefulness of metals or crystals. Two
more test sessions of PFMI are scheduled for next week, and three others
later in Expedition 7.

Supported by the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Ala., Lu also activated the Commercial Generic
Bioprocessing Apparatus for use in future fundamental space biology
research. He also installed a new laptop computer to function as an interim
control unit for the Space Acceleration Measurement System. SAMS, which
measures small vibrations on the Station that might impact delicate
microgravity science, is now back to full operation.

Russian mission managers reported this week that the charge/discharge unit
of Battery No. 2 in the Zvezda module has been declared fully failed and
will need replacement. The seven other storage batteries in Zvezda are fully
operational and provide sufficient electricity.

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 tomorrow night after the Progress
12 docking, or sooner if events warrant.


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Jacques :-)

Editor: www.spacepatches.info

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