Status Report

NASA Space Station Status Report 14 May 2004

By SpaceRef Editor
May 16, 2004
Filed under , , ,
NASA Space Station Status Report 14 May 2004
iss.21.jpg

The crew of the International Space Station (ISS) is
working through its regular schedule of operations in orbit.
Expedition 9 Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA ISS Science
Officer and Flight Engineer Mike Fincke spent the week
preparing spacesuits for their upcoming spacewalk and loading
trash aboard a Progress logistics vehicle.

Early in the week, Fincke conducted the second in a series of
battery recharging activities for the U.S. spacesuits. The
nickel metal hydride batteries will be used during a
spacesuit dry run scheduled for next week. Fincke also worked
on the water servicing system of one of the spacesuits’
liquid cooling and ventilation garments. The garments, worn
under the spacesuit, are imbedded with a network of tiny
tubes that provide cooling. Fincke’s maintenance work ensured
no air bubbles will develop in that tubing.

The spacesuit work is part of preparations and evaluations
for a spacewalk planned for June 10 to replace a Remote Power
Control Module and restore power to a Station Control Moment
Gyroscope.

Both crew members spent several hours loading trash into the
Progress 13 spacecraft, which is scheduled to be undocked
from the Station NET 5:18 a.m. EDT May 24. The next Russian
cargo vehicle, Progress 14, is scheduled to launch May 25
from Kazakhstan at 8:34 a.m. EDT and dock with the Station at
8:57 a.m. EDT May 27. Progress 14 will carry fresh food,
clothes and other supplies for the Station and new spacesuit
gloves and other equipment for the June 10 spacewalk.

Also this week, U.S. flight controllers transmitted a
software upgrade to several onboard computers. The upgrades
are part of an extensive program initiated this year to
improve Station software. They were loaded in four separate
Station computers: two external multiplexer/demultiplexers
(MDMs) and two S0 Truss MDMs that operate the systems on the
truss.

The crew’s scientific work included setting up a camera for
use by thousands of middle-school students. The Earth
Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM)
camera was set up to operate from a window in the Zvezda
Service Module. More than 60 schools and 3,600 students are
expected to participate in EarthKAM observations.

The EarthKAM program allows students to research and select
photos of sites on Earth to be taken using the equipment
aboard the Station. A Station computer receives the list of
requested images from the ground. A high-resolution digital
camera controlled by a nearby laptop computer, photographs
the target. The computer then downlinks the image back to
Earth. When the students receive the digital images, they
conduct geographical research based on the photographs.

Crewmembers also had some daily time reserved for continued
Station familiarization and adaptation, as is routine for new
Station crewmembers during their first two weeks onboard.

Flight controllers are also preparing for a regularly
scheduled reboost of the ISS Tuesday using the Progress
engine for an 11-minute firing that will increase the
altitude of the Station by two statute miles at its apogee.

For information about NASA and agency missions on the
Internet, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

Information about crew activities on the Space Station,
future launch dates, and Station sighting opportunities from
Earth, is available on the Internet at:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/

Station science information is available on an Internet site
administered by the Payload Operations Center at NASA’s
Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., at:

http://scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov/

SpaceRef staff editor.