MRPO Daily Status Report 10-28-02

GMT Date: 301

Calendar Date: 10/28/02

Increment: 5

Stage: 9A

Week 21

ISS:
Soyuz 5 launch is scheduled tomorrow evening at 9:11 p.m. CST (Wed.10/30,
0311 GMT). Docking with the ISS should occur Thursday night at approximately
11:00 p.m. CST (Fri, Nov.1, 0500 GMT).

STS-113/11A is now scheduled to launch on Sunday, 11/10. Docking with
the ISS should occur on Tuesday.

Payloads currently on-board ISS:
BSTC, CGBA, InSPACE, MAMS, MSG (facility), PFMI, PGBA, SAMS, STES-7, SUBSA
and ZCG.

Status:
MRPO payloads CGBA, MAMS, MSG, PGBA, SAMS, STES-7 and ZCG continue nominal,
basically unattended, operations. BSTC, InSpace, PFMI, and SUBSA are currently
inactive.

EXPRESS RACKS 1, 2 and 4 (ER1, ER2& ER4) are powered and supporting
payload operations. ER3 and ER5 are available to support payload operations
but are currently inactive.

CGBA health and status data is nominal. Payload power was turned off
today to remove PGBA seed plugs to be planted and to stow seed plugs removed
from PGBA. CGBA power was restored without incident.

MAMS is operating nominally in the quasi-steady mode. HiRAP is currently
turned-off. MAMS data is available on the acceleration measurement web
page.

MSG was activated yesterday to support an additional PFMI run. All MSG
systems operated nominally. After completion of the PFMI run, MSG lap
top and rack controller software updates were uplinked and installed in
preparation for Increment 6 operations. The facility will be powered-down
today.

PGBA health and status data is nominal. Downlink of video from the PGBA
internal cameras has not yet been successful. Video downlink trouble-shooting
procedures were performed by the crew today, however the problem was not
corrected. Further Video downlink trouble-shooting procedures will be
developed. Initial harvesting of PGBA plants was scheduled for today but
the crew reported there were no plants to harvest. All seed plugs were
removed and replaced with fresh seed plugs.

On Friday, 10/25, Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson offered to initiate an
additional PFMI run on Sunday. A plan was developed to take advantage
of the offer and PFMI processing run #7 was initiated yesterday and successfully
completed today. The PFMI hardware will be removed from the MSG and stowed
Wednesday, 10/30.

All SAMS sensors in EXPRESS Racks are operating nominally. The SAMS
sensor in the MSG is currently turned-off but was active during the PFMI
run. SAMS data is also being posted to the acceleration measurement web
page.

STES-7 health and status data is nominal. All growth chambers have been
activated.

ZCG successfully completed operations yesterday and was deactivated after
approximately 15 days. The ampoules will be removed and stowed tomorrow.

Near-term Outlook:

Week 21 (10/28-11/02) – Planning for this week was based on approximately
20 hours of crew time availability for NASA payload operations. ZCG ampoules
will be removed and stowed tomorrow. PFMI hardware will be removed from
the MSG Wednesday. Soyuz 5 will dock on Friday.

Week 22 (11/03-11/09) – Preliminary planning for this week is being based
on approximately 12 hours of crew time availability for NASA payload operations.
Soyuz 4 will undock for return Wednesday November 6.

M. Vlasse, PhD, DSc
MRPO Increment Scientist

ACRONYMS:

BCSS — Biotechnology Cell Science Stowage
BSTC– Biotechnology Specimen Temperature Controller (General status information
on this payload will include coverage of the following items of support
equipment: BTR, BCSS and GSM)
BTR — Biotechnology Refrigerator
CGBA – Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus
ER1– EXPRESS RACK 1
ER2 — EXPRESS RACK 2
ER3 – EXPRESS RACK 3
ER4 – EXPRESS RACK 4
ER5 – EXPRESS RACK 5
GSM — Gas Supply Module
InSPACE– Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates
ISS – International Space Station
MAMS — Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System
MSG – Microgravity Science Glovebox
PFMI – Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation
PGBA – Plant Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus
SAMS — Space Acceleration Measurement System II
STES – Protein Crystal Growth – Single Thermal Enclosure System
SUBSA – Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules
ZCG – Zeolite Crystal Growth