[sarex] ISS STATUS REPORT #04-68

[Arthur Z Rowe <n1orc@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Submitted by Arthur N1ORC - Amsat A/C #31468



*International Space Station Status Report #04-68*
*4:45 p.m. CST Thursday, Dec. 23, 2004*
*Expedition 10 Crew*

A Russian cargo spacecraft is on its way to the International Space 
Station. The Progress resupply ship launched at 4:19:31 p.m. CST from 
the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, and less than 10 minutes later 
settled into orbit. Moments after that, automatic commands deployed its 
solar arrays and navigational antennas.

As the Progress launched, Expedition 10 Commander and NASA Station 
Science Officer Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov were a 
few minutes from the start of their sleep period. The Station was flying 
over western Chile at an altitude of 225 statute miles at the time of 
lift off.

Engine firings are scheduled overnight to raise and refine the Progress' 
orbit and its path to the Station for an automated docking at 5:31 p.m. 
CST Dec. 25. It will dock to the aft port of the Station's Zvezda living 
quarters module. This will be the 16th Progress spacecraft to dock with 
the Station. The Christmas Day docking will be broadcast live on NASA 
Television beginning at 4:30 p.m. CST. The Johnson Space Center newsroom 
will be open concurrent with the NASA TV coverage of docking.

The Progress is carrying 5,000 pounds of food, fuel, oxygen, water, 
spare parts and holiday presents to the crew. It's loaded with 1,234 
pounds of propellant, 110 pounds of oxygen and air, 926 pounds of water, 
and more than 2,700 pounds of spare parts, life support system 
components and experiment hardware. The manifest also includes about a 
112-day supply of food in 69 containers to replenish the Station pantry. 
Other items on the Progress include new laptop computers, replacement 
parts for the U.S. spacesuits and additional components for the arrival 
next year of the European Automated Transfer Vehicle, another type of 
automated cargo craft.

Chiao and Sharipov are scheduled to open the hatch to the Progress 
shortly after 12 p.m. CST Sunday to begin unloading the cargo.

The Progress spacecraft that had been at the Station since August was 
undocked yesterday by Russian flight controllers at 1:37 p.m. CST. 
Filled with discarded items, it was commanded to deorbit about four 
hours later and burned up in the Earth's atmosphere.

The crew also continued their science research this week. Chiao and 
Sharipov conducted another in a series of tests of the Advanced 
Diagnostic Ultrasound in Micro-G experiment.

On the first day, they took turns performing bone and dental scans on 
each other. One day later, after six hours of fasting, Sharipov was the 
subject for abdominal scans. Chiao also performed an abdominal scan on 
Sharipov to recover from a previous session during which data was lost.

They also used the Crew Medical Restraint System for positioning the 
subject and electrodes for electrocardiogram recording. The scanning and 
post-scan activities were videotaped and photographed for downlinking to 
the ground for interpretation. The experiment tests the diagnostic 
capability of ultrasound for medical contingencies that could occur in a 
space environment

Later in the week, Chaio and the ground team conducted their 
post-session analysis to discuss the successful ultrasound scans and in 
particular the abdominal scan conducted on Salizhan. Conducting the 
scans repeatedly increases the proficiency of crewmembers.

The experiment has already demonstrated the capability of non-medical 
personnel to downlink diagnostic information for evaluation by medical 
specialists on the ground. This "telemedicine" technique has application 
to emergency medical care in remote areas of the earth, as well as for 
astronaut crews traveling beyond low earth orbit.

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/

For information about NASA and other agency missions, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

-end-

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