ISS Status Report No. 01 - 2004

International Space Station Status Report #04-1
4 p.m. CST, Friday, Jan. 2, 2004
Expedition 8 Crew

The International Space Station's Expedition 8 crew got back to work today
after a day off to welcome the new year. Mike Foale, commander and NASA ISS
science officer, and Alexander Kaleri, the flight engineer, worked with
station systems and science. Foale also delivered a "status of the Station"
message, looking ahead to future ISS activities and more distant space
exploration.

Foale worked with the Cellular Biotechnology Operations Support System
(CBOSS), a bioreactor apparatus capable of growing cell cultures in three
dimensions, an advantage over the two-dimension cultures typically grown on
Earth. Meanwhile, Kaleri uploaded software into station computers.

This afternoon Kaleri, helped by experts at Mission Control Moscow, made
adjustments to the Elektron oxygen generator in the Zvezda Service module,
which has been operating intermittently. He also successfully activated two
Solid-fuel Oxygen Generator (SFOG) canisters to enrich the station's
atmosphere. On Wednesday two other SFOGs were activated, primarily as a test
to set expiration dates for the more than 140 SFOG candles on board. Each
SFOG can provide oxygen for one crewmember for one day.

Additional oxygen is available on the Progress unpiloted cargo vehicle
docked to Zvezda. Some of it was introduced into the Station atmosphere on
Thursday, and more is being added Saturday. More oxygen is stored in two
high-pressure tanks attached to the Joint Airlock Quest.

On Monday, Kaleri spent three hours removing no-longer-needed attitude
control equipment from the Zarya module. Much of it will be discarded in the
Progress, for destruction on re-entry in late January. He also began the
48-hour regeneration of the two beds of the Russian harmful impurities
removal system, which helps purify the Station's atmosphere. Foale continued
his review of CBOSS experiments.

Both crewmembers took time on Tuesday for a news interview with the Internet
site space.com. Foale also worked with the soldering in space experiment and
repacked the station's medical kit with fresh medications from the Progress.
The following day both crewmembers did the required hour-long emergency
medical training, and both performed daily exercise and station maintenance
activities.

Thursday, New Year's Day, was a day off. Their only activity was exercise,
necessary station maintenance and science activities. Both crewmembers
talked with family members on Earth via private video conferences.

People in many U.S. cities will have an opportunity to see the International
Space Station as it flies overhead during the next several days. For
detailed information on sighting opportunities for hundreds of cities, as
well as viewing tips, visit:

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 Jan. 9, or sooner if events
warrant.


###



--
-------------------

Jacques :-)

Editor: www.spacepatches.info