NASA Space Station Status Report 13 August 2004
The Expedition 9 crew aboard the International Space
Station prepared this week to receive another shipment of
supplies. The crew also worked on several science experiments
and routine maintenance of Station systems.
A Russian Progress cargo craft was launched from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1:03 a.m. EDT Wednesday and is
due to dock to the aft docking port of the Zvezda module at
1:02 a.m. EDT Saturday. NASA Television will broadcast the
docking live, with coverage beginning at midnight EDT.
Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer and NASA
Science Officer Mike Fincke prepared for the arrival of the
craft by clearing room for the new supplies and setting up
video cameras to monitor its arrival. Padalka also trained on
the use of the Russian telerobotically operated docking
system he would use to manually dock the Progress in the
unlikely event the automated system is not available.
During the Station’s orbits above the Gulf of Mexico and the
Caribbean Sea the crewmembers took photographs of Tropical
Storm Bonnie and Hurricane Charley, while video cameras on
the exterior of the Destiny laboratory module documented the
storms’ development. Crew Earth Observations began onboard
the Space Station in November 2000 to record Earth surface
changes over time, as well as more fleeting events such as
storms, floods, fires and volcanic eruptions. So far, the
Expedition 9 crew has taken more than 10,000 photographs for
researchers worldwide.
Other science activities included the ADUM experiment —
Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity. Fincke set up
the equipment, and then he and Padalka performed the
ultrasound bone scans on each other by taking turns as
operator and subject. The bone scans were taken of the
subject’s knee, ankle, elbow and shoulder, monitored remotely
from the ground. This will gather more data about what
ultrasound exams of healthy crewmembers look like while in
microgravity. The work is also verifying techniques developed
for minimally trained people to conduct the exams with the
help from doctors in remote places, such as Mission Control,
Houston, in this instance.
The crew worked with a Russian experiment studying plasma-
dust crystals and another studying changes in body mass while
in space. The crew also filled out dietary logs for the U.S.
BIOPSY experiment. BIOPSY studies the effects of long-
duration space flight on human skeletal muscle. Crewmembers
are recording their food consumption for the experiment and
biopsies were taken from their calf and foot-flexing muscles
before launch. Similar biopsies will be taken again
immediately when they return to Earth.
On Monday, both crewmembers answered questions on camera from
students at the Waimea Middle School in Kamuela, Hawaii, with
about 550 educators and students in attendance. On Tuesday,
Fincke contacted students at Good Shepherd School and St.
Paul’s Catholic School in Decherd, Tenn., through the amateur
radio system onboard.
Regular maintenance was conducted on the ventilation system
and periodic environmental samples were collected. The crew
also participated in a Soyuz emergency-evacuation drill.
More information on the Progress spacecraft arriving at the
Station tonight is available from the Russian Federal Space
Agency at:
http://www.federalspace.ru/video/Progress_M50_www.pdf
Information on the crew’s activities aboard the Space
Station, future launch dates, as well as Station sighting
opportunities from anywhere on the Earth, are available on
the Internet at:
Details on Station science operations can be found on an
Internet site administered by the Payload Operations Center
at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.,
at:
The next ISS status report will be issued from NASA’s Johnson
Space Center on Saturday, August 14, or earlier, if events
warrant. It will be available at:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/spacenews/reports/issreports/2004/index.html
