International Space Station Status Report #47 - 2003

International Space Station Status Report #03-47
4 p.m. CDT, Friday, Sept. 19, 2003
Expedition 7 Crew

Hurricane photography took its place alongside other science, maintenance,
and education on the International Space Station this week, where Expedition
7 Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu completed a
busy week on orbit.

This week's Earth Observation research focused on Hurricane Isabel. Starting
last Friday morning, and continuing this past Saturday and Monday, cameras
on the Station's S1 Truss and Destiny Laboratory, plus a handheld camera
operated by Lu, provided an additional perspective on the size and shape of
the large storm as it moved through the western Atlantic Ocean on its way to
landfall along the North Carolina coast. Those photographs can be accessed
through the Human Spaceflight Web site:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/

Lu performed the first operations with the Hand Posture Analyzer this week;
it was delivered on the most recent Russian Progress resupply vessel last
month. Working at the Human Research Facility rack in the Destiny
Laboratory, Lu donned an instrumented glove and performed a series of hand
and arm movements. Researchers will study the data to learn how a person in
zero-g uses hand and arm muscles to reach and grasp items, and what impact
that has on muscle fatigue. Lu also used the Microgravity Sciences Glovebox
(MSG) to complete two more experiment runs of the Pore Formation and
Mobility Investigation, a study of the formation of bubbles in samples of
metals or crystals that may weaken the sample's strength or effectiveness.

Lu's work inside Destiny this week included two educational activities: his
demonstration of how to use MSG will be incorporated into a NASA Educator
Guide for teachers of middle school students, who will attempt to build
their own gloveboxes and perform simple experiments. He also completed a
demonstration illustrating the difference between the scientific concepts of
weight and mass. NASA's Office of Spaceflight sponsored both demonstrations.

Both Station crewmembers spent time each day looking after the proper
operation of Station systems. In particular, Lu completed troubleshooting
ISS's Resistive Exercise Device, which affords the crewmembers another
option for exerting muscles that don't encounter even routine resistance in
the weightless environment of the Station, and Malenchenko performed
upgrades in the Russian Service Module Zvezda by installing a replacement
800-amp battery, replacing a failed hard drive in Zvezda's portable computer
system, and installing removable handrails on the galley table.

Malenchenko and Lu took time Thursday to discuss their mission with
reporters at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The Crew News Conference
was part of a workshop on NASA efforts to meet the recommendations set out
by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board to return the Space Shuttle to
flight after the loss of Columbia and its crew on Feb. 1.

Preparation of components for delivery to ISS continues at the Kennedy Space
Center, where the Multi-Element Integrated Test between the Japanese
Experiment Module-Pressurized Module-Kibo-and NASA's Node-2 has been
completed. Node-2 will be attached to the forward end of the Destiny
Laboratory after its delivery on assembly mission 10A, and Kibo will later
be docked to the port side of Node-2.

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 Sept. 26, or sooner if events
warrant.

-end-