ISS Science Operations Status Report #12 – 30 Mar 2001
On board the orbiting laboratory, the Expedition Two crew has successfully
hooked up the first Space Station science rack.
The umbilical mating Thursday provides the Human Research Facility rack and
its experiments with cooling air and water, electricity, pressurized gases
and vacuum, and data and communications links. Final activation, power-up
and check-out activities are tentatively planned for next week.
The HRF rack was carried to the station two weeks ago by Space Shuttle
Discovery and installed in the Destiny laboratory module until it could be
connected and brought to life. During the Station program, it will house a
variety of experiments for studying the physiological, behavioral and
chemical changes in human beings caused by space flight.
Aboard the rack are the Gas Analyzer System for Metabolic Analysis
Physiology – GASMAP – and the Ultrasound Imaging System. GASMAP will be
used on future expeditions to periodically assess crew aerobic capacity by
checking heart output, lung diffusing capacity, lung volume, pulmonary
function and nitrogen washout. Ultrasound will provide three-dimensional
images of the heart and other organs, muscles and blood vessels.
The Bonner Ball Neutron Detector and the Dosimetric Mapping
radiation-measuring experiments continue to collect data. Flight Engineer
One Jim Voss today performed a status check on Bonner Ball to make sure it
is functioning correctly.
Radiation is one of the most significant hazards for humans during long-term
space missions. These experiments will measure the different types of
radiation that penetrate the station and help scientists more accurately
predict the crew’s radiation exposure and develop countermeasures to safely
prolong human exposure to radiation during space travel.
Flight Engineer Two Susan Helms today used the personal computer in the
Human Research Facility rack to fill out a questionnaire as part of the
Interactions experiment. After the mission, this experiment will provide
scientists on the ground with “snapshots” of crew interactions during
various phases of the mission.
The goal of this experiment is to identify and characterize interpersonal
and cultural factors that may impact the performance of the crew in space.
Ground controllers in Huntsville, Ala., also are participating in the study.
Coming up next week, the crew plans to perform Crew Earth Observations,
transfer radiation data from a pair of dosimeters to the HRF personal
computer for transmission to the ground later, and do some on-board training
on operating the MACE II experiment. The hardware for the EarthKAM
experiment will also be checked out.
Editor’s Note: The Payload Operations Center at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages all science research experiments aboard
the International Space Station. The center is also home for coordination
of the mission-planning work of a variety of international sources, all
science payload deliveries and retrieval, and payload training and payload
safety programs for the Station crew and all ground personnel.
