[sarex] ISS STATUS REPORT #04-13

[Arthur Z Rowe <n1orc@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Submitted by Arthur - N1ORC - Amsat #31468

2004
Report #13
2 p.m. CST, Friday, March 12, 2004
Mission Control Center, Houston

The Expedition 8 Commander Michael Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander 
Kaleri started the week with a three-day weekend and finished it with a 
successful treadmill repair. The International Space Station crew can 
now exercise on the treadmill with a working gyroscope.

Foale and Kaleri spent the better part of three days working closely 
with Mission Control-Houston to take the treadmill out of its well, 
remove a gyroscope, replace a bearing within that gyro and put all the 
pieces back together. Thursday the crew began exercising on the 
treadmill again. The treadmill has operated properly since, but flight 
controllers are continuing to monitor its performance during initial 
exercise sessions with the gyroscope both activated and deactivated.

The crew has been able to exercise on the machine without the Vibration 
Isolation and Stabilization (VIS) system activated, for the last three 
months. The VIS system keeps the rigorous movement of the crew on the 
treadmill from affecting delicate microgravity science experiments.

The crew heard noises coming from the treadmill in November, which 
engineers determined was a failed bearing in the gyroscope that 
stabilizes movement in the roll direction. A repair kit was sent to the 
Station in January aboard a Progress resupply spacecraft. After this 
week’s repair work, Foale reported the noises had stopped.

Repair work will continue onboard the Station this weekend as Kaleri 
works through troubleshooting procedures on the oxygen-generating 
Elektron system. Friday he began systematically checking its parts to 
help determine what may need replacing. There is a full compliment of 
spare parts aboard the Station for the Elektron system.

Russian oxygen-generating canisters will be used to supplement the 
Station’s oxygen beginning Saturday. The final repressurization using 
Progress oxygen tanks was completed this week. The next Progress vehicle 
is scheduled to arrive in May. The Station has plentiful supplies of 
oxygen aboard – enough to last more than four months – if needed. 
However, the Elektron is expected to be fully operational once the 
current troubleshooting and necessary repairs are completed.

Friday, Foale completed the third of four sessions with the Foot/Ground 
Reaction Forces During Spaceflight, or FOOT, experiment. By doing so, he 
gathered additional data about how he uses his legs differently in 
microgravity, which will help scientists develop countermeasure 
techniques for future long-duration spaceflights.

Foale also completed a familiarization session with the Advanced 
Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity, or ADUM, experiment. The training 
involved working with a computer-based training program that will help 
him perform an ultrasound examination on Kaleri next week. The ADUM 
experiment is studying how minimally trained Station crewmembers can 
perform advanced ultrasound examinations using the computer-based 
program and guidance from doctors in Mission Control.

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 Friday, March 19, or earlier 
if events warrant.



----
Via the sarex mailing list at AMSAT.ORG courtesy of AMSAT-NA.
To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe sarex" to Majordomo@amsat.org