[sarex] ISS Status Report: SS06-053

[Arthur Rowe]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

> Dec. 29, 2006
>
> Grey Hautaluoma
> Headquarters, Washington
> 202-358-0668
>
> James Hartsfield 
> Johnson Space Center, Houston 
> 281-483-5111 
> STATUS REPORT: SS06-053
>
> INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION STATUS REPORT: SS06-053
>
> HOUSTON - The three residents of the International Space Station spent 
> a busy week unpacking, inventorying and stowing more than two tons of 
> equipment and supplies left by the Space Shuttle Discovery. 
>
> The week began with Christmas, a day off for the crew except for 
> required maintenance and exercise. Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and 
> flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Sunita Williams were back on 
> their regular schedule Tuesday, waking at midnight CST and going to 
> bed at 3:30 p.m. 
>
> Unpacking items delivered by Discovery took up part of each day during 
> the week. Crew members entered the new supplies and equipment in the 
> Inventory Management System, a computerized, bar-coded tool to keep 
> track of the voluminous material aboard the orbiting laboratory. 
>
> Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin passed a milestone of their stay on the 
> station on Tuesday -- it was their 100th day in space. Williams came 
> to the station aboard Discovery earlier this month. She had an hour 
> budgeted each day to familiarize herself with the station and adapt 
> to life on board. These unstructured hours are scheduled during new 
> crew members' first two weeks aboard to get them used to the station 
> and its activities.
>
> Scientific activities picked up again on the station since the 
> departure of the STS-116 crew. During the week, crew members worked 
> on experiments analyzing heart function during long-duration 
> spaceflight, measuring cosmic rays, and examining plant growth and 
> changes in blood of long-duration spacefarers. They also continued a 
> Nutritional Status Assessment.
>
> Crew members also performed required station maintenance and did their 
> daily 2.5 hours of exercise, designed to mitigate some of the 
> negative effects of lengthy space flights.
>
> The next station status report will be issued Jan. 5, or earlier if 
> events warrant. For more information about the crew's activities and 
> station sighting opportunities, visit: 
>
> http://www.nasa.gov/station 
>
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