[sarex] ISS STATUS REPORT #05-7

["ARTHUR Z. ROWE" <N1ORC@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Submitted by Arthur N1ORC - Amsat A/C #31468

*International Space Station Status Report #05-7*
*4 p.m. CST, Friday, Feb. 11, 2005*
*Expedition 10 Crew*

The Expedition 10 crew of the International Space Station completed 
another productive week of their mission, focusing on science 
experiments, Progress undocking preparations and robotic arm operations.

The all-Asian crewmembers commemorated a New Year as they passed their 
four-month mark in space. Commander and NASA ISS Science Officer Leroy 
Chiao and Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov delivered a special message 
in honor of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrated Tuesday. The message 
included greetings in Russian and Mandarin, which Chiao speaks fluently.

Chiao and Sharipov began the workweek with a checkout of the onboard 
defibrillator as well as continued preparation and packing of items to 
be transferred to Space Shuttle Discovery's Multipurpose Logistics 
Module during the Shuttle Return to Flight mission scheduled for May or 
June. The preparations included several hours early in the week with 
stowage and audit activities of spacesuit equipment in the Quest 
Airlock, including inventory of tool and maintenance kits.

Other technical tasks completed during the week included installation of 
a Navigation Receiving Module in the Russian segment for Station 
attitude determination. Chiao continued work in the Quest, regenerating 
two Metal Oxide or METOX canisters for use in U.S. spacesuits. Those 
canisters “scrub” air exhaled into the spacesuit system of carbon 
dioxide and recharge the oxygen.

The crew also deactivated the Russian Elektron oxygen generation system 
Wednesday. The planned deactivation allows the use of oxygen from the 
docked ISS Progress 16 cargo vehicle. It also reduces Progress to the 
weight necessary for its undocking scheduled for Feb. 27. Two 
repressurizations are planned. The first repress, of about 10mmHg, is 
scheduled for Feb. 15, and the second, about 15mmHg, for Feb. 25. The 
Elektron is scheduled to be reactivated in early March.

After a successful preplanned attitude transition maneuver Tuesday, 
return of attitude control was interrupted when one of the Control 
Moment Gyroscopes (CMG) became saturated and lost its ability to control 
the Station’s orientation.

Attitude control was automatically taken over by the Russian Attitude 
Control System thrusters for about one orbit, using about 14 kilograms 
of propellant. The CMG saturation was the result of an incorrect ground 
command. The ground team recognized the source of the error and issued 
the command to properly reposition the CMG. The CMGs then resumed 
control and the thrusters were turned off. The crew's workday was 
unaffected by the events.

Along with their technical tasks and maintenance activities, the 
crewmembers supported nearly 14 hours of science and medical 
experiments. Sharipov worked on the Cardio-Cog experiment and Plasma 
Crystal, a Russian experiment that studies plasma dust crystals and 
fluids in microgravity. Chiao captured still photos documenting the 
progress of the Binary Colloidal Alloy Test, which looks at the 
long-term behavior of colloid particles suspended in fluids, such as 
ink, paint and milk.

Both crewmembers participated in continued studies as part of the ADUM, 
or Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity, experiment. After 
some computer-based proficiency training earlier in the week, on Friday, 
they performed scans with Chiao serving as the test subject. This 
experiment could have applications on Earth by assisting in the 
diagnosis of patients in rural or remote areas.

Also highlighting the crew’s week was a live education event with 
Crossroads Elementary School, a NASA Explorer School in Saint Paul, 
Minn. Tuesday the crew also had a special conference call with Anatoly 
Perminov, Head of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), and 
Edelhard Bulman, the German Minister of Education and Science, who were 
discussing future German/Russian space cooperation ventures.

For more on NASA, the crew's activities aboard the Space Station, future 
launch dates and Station sighting opportunities from anywhere on the 
Earth, visit:

www.nasa.gov

The next International Space Station Status report will be issued on 
Friday, Feb. 18, or earlier if events warrant.

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