[sarex] EXP 10 STATUS - 4 APRIL 2005

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

Submitted by Arthur N1ORC - Amsat A/C #31468

Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer Salizhan 
Sharipov are preparing the International Space Station for the arrival 
of the next resident crew on April 16. Chiao and Sharipov plan to leave 
the Station in the same Soyuz craft they arrived in, returning to Earth 
on April 24.

The Station’s next residents, Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev 
and Flight Engineer John Phillips, will have begun their mission as 
Space Shuttle Discovery rests on Launch Pad 39B. Discovery is scheduled 
to launch between May 15 and June 3 to deliver much needed supplies and 
cargo to the Station.

Science continues on the ISS with such experiments as EarthKam -- a 
student-run camera operated from the ground with schools participating 
from all over the world. Students remotely control a Space Station 
camera and photograph landmarks on Earth. Chiao worked on the Miscible 
Fluids in Microgravity (MFMG) experiment over the weekend. The 
experiment seeks to study how miscible fluids -- those that completely 
dissolve -- interact without the interference of gravity. Scientists 
seek to use the results from MFMG to learn how to improve processes on 
Earth such as the production of plastics and polymers to manufacturing 
medicines.

The crew also worked with the Elektron oxygen-generating system, which 
has been operating intermittently over the past two weeks. The system is 
off at this time. Sharipov tried to reactivate the unit last week, but 
it spontaneously shut down each time. Over the weekend, the Elektron 
resumed power again but its primary and back-up pump failed again on 
Sunday. Russian engineers are still grappling with the Elektron and are 
looking at several options to restore power over the next several days.

The Space Station's two operational Control Moment Gyroscopes slowly 
moved the outpost into a different attitude last week. The adjustment 
changed the Station's roll orientation by 11.2 degrees in an effort to 
improve thermal conditions for exterior antennas. The maneuver, which 
moved the Station at a rate of only 0.0001 degrees per second, took 
about 31 hours.
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