International Space Station Status Report #29 - 2004

Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2004 15:56:52 -0500
Subject: International Space Station Status Report #29

2004
Report #29
4 p.m. CDT, Friday, June 4, 2004
Mission Control Center, Houston

The Expedition 9 crew aboard the International Space Station spent the week
unpacking a Russian resupply ship and getting ready for a June spacewalk to
replace a faulty circuit breaker.

Gennady Padalka, the Station commander, and Mike Fincke, the NASA science
officer and flight engineer, spent several days unloading about 2 ½ tons of
food, water, spare parts and supplies from the Progress 14 vehicle that
docked to the aft end of the Zvezda Service Module at 8:55 a.m. CDT May 27.

Flight controllers later will transfer fuel from the Progress' tanks to
those in the Russian modules of the Station.

Preparations for the upcoming spacewalk began in earnest Thursday, when the
orbiting duo began configuring the Russian spacesuits they will use for the
excursion, and charging batteries that will be used in their suits and
cordless tools.

The spacewalk is scheduled for no earlier than June 15 Houston time. The
status of preparations and planning for the spacewalk will be the subject of
further review during regular Station management meetings next week. The
goal is to replace a power controller that failed April 21, resulting in the
temporary loss of one of three operational Control Moment Gyros (CMGs) that
govern the orientation of the complex.

Although the two functioning CMGs are sufficient to control the Station's
attitude without the use of Russian chemical thrusters, Station managers and
flight controllers would like to have the additional backup CMG available
for attitude control during the expedition's two scheduled spacewalks later
this summer. A fourth CMG failed two years ago and is slated to be replaced
when Space Shuttles resume flights next year.

This will be the first bilaterally coordinated spacewalk in history, with
flight controllers in Houston and Moscow taking turns as the primary ground
support team.

Russian ground experts will coordinate as Padalka and Fincke don their
Russian Orlan spacesuits, exit the Pirs airlock and use the Strela cargo
crane to travel to the U.S.-built section of the Station. Once there,
American flight controllers will assume primary responsibility for the
replacement of the faulty Remote Power Control Module (RPCM) and assist with
routing power through the new RPCM to the gyroscope. After power is restored
to the CMG, Houston controllers will assist the spacewalkers in their
hand-over-hand return to the Russian crane and pass responsibility back to
the Russian ground team.

Last week, Fincke and Padalka took turns moving the Station's Canadarm2
robotic arm to a position along the S0 Truss for camera views of the
spacewalk worksite. Late next week, they are slated to climb into their
spacesuits for a dress rehearsal of the suit up and systems checkout that
will clear the way for the spacewalk.

Padalka and Fincke also conducted Russian hand movement studies as part of a
series of biomedical experiments and routine housekeeping tasks that filled
up the remainder of their workdays.

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 on Friday, June 11, or earlier, if
events warrant.



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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info