[sarex] ISS SCIENCE REPORT#SS 04-038

[Arthur Z Rowe <n1orc@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Submitted by Arthur N1ORC - Amsat A/C #31468

Allard Beutel
Headquarters, Washington                  Nov. 5, 2004
(Phone: 202/358-4769)

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION STATUS REPORT: SS04-038

     Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer 
Salizhan Sharipov are picking up the pace of scientific, 
maintenance and familiarization activities aboard the 
International Space Station.

A highlight of the week's scientific activities was work with 
an advanced diagnostic method that could be important to 
medical care of future crewmembers on long spaceflights. It 
also could improve medical care in remote areas and emergency 
medical care on Earth.

The crew devoted considerable time yesterday and today to the 
Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity (ADUM) 
experiment. The experiment looks at whether crewmembers can 
perform advanced ultrasound examinations after undergoing 
computer-based training. Data is sent as the scan is done in 
space to physicians on the ground, who use it in making a 
diagnosis. 

Chiao, who also is NASA Station Science Officer, used 
Sharipov as an ADUM subject yesterday, and Sharipov did test 
scans on Chiao today.

Both crewmembers also participated in an emergency medical 
drill yesterday, looking at procedures and use of Crew Health 
Care Systems equipment. Later in day Sharipov relocated the 
Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter (TEPC) within the U.S. 
laboratory Destiny. The device continuously records radiation 
readings. It is moved periodically to provide information 
from throughout the Station.

Chiao worked with the Binary Colloidal Alloy Test (BCAT). It 
looks at long-term behavior of colloids, particles suspended 
in liquids like ink, paint and milk, in microgravity. Results 
should help determine what types of colloids should be 
studied by future Station crews. Chiao spent a little over 
two hours on BCAT Monday and worked periodically with the 
experiment later in the week.

Crewmembers continued their regular exercise sessions and 
Station maintenance chores. Activities included replacement 
of smoke detectors in the Zarya module.

Yesterday, Sharipov spent about an hour and a half checking 
the continuity of cables on the European Space Agency/Russian 
Global Timing System. GTS broadcasts time signals downward 
for global time synchronization. It has had occasional 
problems recently.

On Tuesday, Election Day, Chiao talked with reporters from 
Fox News and Associated Press. The conversations focused on 
Chiao having become the first person in space to vote in a 
U.S. presidential election when he cast his ballot by e-mail 
Oct. 31.

Next Monday Chiao and Sharipov will carry out proficiency 
training in operating the Space Station robotic arm, 
Canadarm2. To practice their work with the arm, the crew will 
maneuver the arm to provide camera views of an area of 
interest on the U.S. Lab module's exterior debris shielding. 
The area may be a shadow or possibly a dent in the shielding. 
The area has been observed in previous imagery taken during a 
Space Shuttle flight two years ago. On Friday the crew will 
operate the arm again to position its cameras in a prime 
viewing location for the relocation of the Soyuz by the crew 
later this month.

Meanwhile, Expedition 9 NASA Station Science Officer Mike 
Fincke and Commander Gennady Padalka are at the Gagarin 
Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. They are 
conducting debriefings and rehabilitation as they readapt to 
Earth's gravity. They are scheduled to return to Houston 
later this month.

Information about crew activities on the Space Station, 
future launch dates and Station sighting opportunities from 
Earth, is available on the Internet at:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/

Details about Station science operations are available 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/

For information about NASA and other agency missions, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

-end-
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