[sarex] ISS STATUS REPORT #04-53

[Arthur Z Rowe <n1orc@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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

*International Space Station Status Report #04-53*
*4 p.m. CDT Friday, Sept. 24, 2004*
*Expedition 9 Crew*

With less than a month remaining in their stay aboard the International 
Space Station, Expedition 9 Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA Science 
Officer Mike Fincke are preparing the orbiting complex for its next 
residents. The crew's work this week included taking inventory, 
performing maintenance on exercise equipment and continued 
troubleshooting of the onboard oxygen generator.

Roskosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency, announced this week the 
next Station crew will launch at 11:17 p.m. CDT Oct. 10 aboard a Soyuz 
rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. The Expedition 10 crew 
commander is Leroy Chiao and Salizhan Sharipov is flight engineer. 
Russian Space Forces Test Cosmonaut Yuri Shargin will accompany them for 
launch and spend about a week aboard the Station. Padalka, Fincke and 
Shargin will return to Earth Oct. 19.

This week, Padalka and Fincke performed routine maintenance work on the 
station’s treadmill, a job done every six months. The treadmill provides 
cardiovascular training.

Additional troubleshooting work continued on the Elektron 
oxygen-generating unit. It produces breathing oxygen from wastewater. 
Sporadic operations of the unit led the Russian flight control team to 
believe contamination was preventing proper pressurization in a hydrogen 
line. Padalka cleaned the line. Further work is planned this weekend. As 
oxygen is generated from water by the unit, hydrogen is dumped overboard.

While the Elektron work continued, the Station’s atmosphere was 
repressurized twice this week using oxygen from tanks on the Progress 
supply craft docked to the Station. If needed, many months' supply of 
oxygen is available for the crew even without the use of the Elektron. 
Oxygen is available on the Station in Progress tanks, Station tanks and 
oxygen-generating canisters.

The crew also continued to prepare for its trip home by taking food and 
hardware inventory. They also began stowing cargo containers and 
personal items for the return trip.

The crew periodically sends down digital photographs of life in space, 
including Earth views, which can be viewed online at:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-9/ndxpage1.html

For information on the crew's activities aboard the Space Station, 
future launch dates, as well as a list of opportunities to see the 
Station from anywhere on the Earth, visit: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/

Details on science operations provided by the Payload Operations Center 
at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., visit:

http://scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov/

The next ISS status report will be issued on Friday, Oct. 1 or earlier, 
if events warrant.

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