[sarex] Progress to Arrive Saturday

[Arthur Z Rowe <n1orc@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Submitted by Arthur - N1ORC - Amsat A/C #31468

* Station Crew, Cameras Provide Views of Storms; Progress to Arrive 
Saturday*
The International Space Station continued to provide a view from above 
of tropical weather systems threatening the United States on Thursday. 
The Station's orbit allowed Expedition 9 NASA ISS Science Officer Mike 
Fincke to capture still imagery and external cameras to record video 
footage of Hurricane Charley at 6:29 a.m. CDT (1129 GMT). As of 4 p.m. 
CDT (2100 GMT) Thursday, Charley was located in the Caribbean Sea 
packing sustained winds near 105 mph (170 kilometers per hour). The 
official National Hurricane Center <http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/> 4 p.m. CDT 
forecast track predicts Charley will make landfall on the western coast 
of Florida late Friday or early Saturday.

The ISS cameras were also able to catch Tropical Storm Bonnie before it 
made landfall in northwestern Florida on Thursday. Still imagery of 
Bonnie and Charley 
<http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-9/inflight/ndxpage13.html> 
are available in the Gallery 
<http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/index.html>.

In other activities on the Station, Commander Gennady Padalka and Fincke 
prepared for the arrival of the ISS Progress 
<http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/assembly/elements/progress/index.html> 
15 cargo ship by training with a backup rendezvous and docking system. 
The backup system would only be used in the unlikely failure of the 
automated system.

Progress 15 is still on track to dock with the aft end of the Zvezda 
Service Module 
<http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/assembly/elements/sm/index.html> at 
12:02 a.m. CDT (0502 GMT) Saturday, with NASA TV 
<http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/nasatv/index.html>'s coverage 
beginning at 11 p.m. CDT Friday (0400 GMT Saturday). The Russian cargo 
vessel will deliver fresh supplies and equipment to the ISS.

International Space Station Status Report No. 45 
<http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/spacenews/reports/issreports/2004/iss04-45.html>.

*Russian Federal Space Agency Progress M-50 Brochure 
<javascript:createWindow('www.federalspace.ru/video/Progress_M50_www.pdf')> 
(PDF 2.4 Mb)*
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