[sarex] ISS SCIENCE REPORT #04-43A

[Arthur Z Rowe <n1orc@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Submitted by Arthur N1ORC - Amsat A/C #31468

Allard Beutel
Headquarters, Washington                    Dec. 3, 2004
(Phone: 202/358-4769)

James Hartsfield
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone: 281/483-5111)

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION STATUS REPORT UPDATE: SS04-043a

     The International Space Station's crew completed the first 
50 days of their six-month mission this week, highlighted by a 
short flight in their Soyuz spacecraft.

To put the Station in the preferred configuration for two 
spacewalks out of the Russian Pirs Docking Compartment next 
year, Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer 
Salizhan Sharipov moved their Soyuz spacecraft Monday to the 
Earth-facing docking port on the Zarya module. The flight 
lasted 21-minutes. The work to prepare the Station for possible 
autonomous operations, and then to reconfigure it for normal 
operations, stretched from Sunday afternoon until early Monday 
afternoon.
 
After getting Tuesday and Wednesday to rest, Chiao and Sharipov 
spent the rest of the week on routine maintenance tasks, such 
as the regeneration of filter cartridges in the Elektron oxygen 
generation system. 

They also completed audits of on board computer hardware and 
food as mission managers finalize the appropriate manifest for 
the next Russian cargo craft. The Progress spacecraft will 
ferry food, fuel, clothing and other supplies to the Station on 
Dec. 25. The audit of food supplies aboard the Station 
confirmed sufficient food remains for the crew until arrival of 
the next supply craft. However, managers have adjusted the 
amount of food carried on the Progress to ensure onboard stores 
are fully replenished.
 
Also included in the cargo are three laptop computers to return 
the Station Support Computer network to full functionality. 
This week one of the computers failed crewmembers use to access 
messages while working at the Zvezda module's command post. 
Another computer was moved from Sharipov's sleep station to the 
command post until the new laptops are delivered.

The new Progress cargo ship is scheduled for launch from the 
Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 5:19 p.m. EST on Dec. 23. 
It is due to arrive at the Station just after 6 p.m. EST on 
Christmas.
 
Chiao and Sharipov will spend time over the next three weeks 
loading unneeded materials from throughout the Station into the 
Progress spacecraft docked to the Zvezda module. It will be 
undocked and deorbited on Dec. 22.
 
On Tuesday, Sharipov located a missing component of an American 
spacesuit's cooling pump. The shim, a washer-shaped piece of 
metal that is custom fitted for each spacesuit, was missing 
last month when Chiao was repairing the spacesuit's pump 
assembly. The shim was planned for installation in a portion of 
the spacesuit in a pure oxygen environment to ensure it is in 
pristine condition and free of contamination. Spacewalk 
specialists at NASA's Johnson Space Center decided further 
spacesuit repair attempts would use a new shim delivered on the 
upcoming Progress to avoid any potential contamination from the 
shim that was temporarily lost.

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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