[sarex] ISS STATUS REPORT #04-46

[Arthur Z Rowe <n1orc@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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

*International Space Station Status Report #04-46*
*1:30 p.m. CDT Friday, Aug. 13, 2004*
*Expedition 9 Crew*

The Expedition 9 crew aboard the International Space Station prepared 
this week to receive another shipment of supplies. The crew also worked 
on several science experiments and routine maintenance of Station systems.

A Russian Progress cargo craft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome 
in Kazakhstan at 12:03 a.m. CDT Wednesday, and is due to dock to the aft 
port of the Zvezda module at 12:02 a.m. CDT Saturday. NASA Television 
will broadcast the docking live with coverage beginning at 11 p.m. CDT.

Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer 
Mike Fincke prepared for the arrival of the craft by clearing room for 
the new supplies and setting up video cameras to monitor its arrival. 
Padalka also trained on the use of the Russian telerobotically operated 
docking system that he would operate to manually dock the Progress in 
the unlikely event the automated system is not available.

During the Station's orbits above the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean 
Sea, the crewmembers took photographs of Tropical Storm Bonnie and 
Hurricane Charley while video cameras on the exterior of the Destiny 
laboratory module documented the storms' development.

Science activities for the crew included using the advanced ultrasound 
equipment to gather more data about what ultrasound examinations of 
healthy crewmembers look like while in microgravity. The work is also 
verifying techniques developed for minimally trained people to conduct 
the examinations with the help from doctors in remote places, such as 
Mission Control, Houston in this instance.

The crew worked with a Russian experiment studying plasma-dust crystals 
and another studying the changes in body mass while in space. The crew 
also filled out dietary logs for two days to support the U.S. Biopsy 
experiment studying the effects of long-duration space flight on human 
skeletal muscle.

On Monday, the crewmembers answered questions from students at the 
Waimea Middle School in Kamuela, Hawaii with about 550 educators and 
students in attendance. Tuesday Fincke contacted students at Good 
Shepherd School and St. Paul’s Catholic School in Decherd, Tennessee 
through the amateur radio system onboard.

Regular maintenance was conducted on the ventilation system and periodic 
environmental samples were collected. The crew also participated in a 
Soyuz emergency evacuation drill.

More information on the ISS Progress 15 (M-50) spacecraft is available 
from the Russian Federal Space Agency at:

http://www.federalspace.ru/video/Progress_M50_www.pdf

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/

NASA TV is available in the continental United States on AMC-6, at 72 
degrees west longitude, Transponder 9, 3880 MHz, vertical polarization, 
audio at 6.8 MHz. In Alaska or Hawaii, NASA TV can now be seen on AMC-7, 
at 137 degrees west longitude, Transponder 18, at 4060 MHz, vertical 
polarization, audio at 6.8 MHz.

The next ISS status report will be issued after the Progress docking on 
Saturday, August 14, or earlier, if events warrant.

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