[sarex] ISS SCIENCE Status Report: SS07-16

[Arthur Rowe]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468


> April 6, 2007
>
> John Yembrick
> Headquarters, Washington
> 202-358-0602
>
> John Ira Petty
> Johnson Space Center, Houston
> 281-483-5111
>
> STATUS REPORT: SS07-16
>
> INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION STATUS REPORT: SS07-16
>
> HOUSTON - The Expedition 14 crew of the International Space Station 
> was busy this week performing fitness evaluations, working on 
> scientific experiments and preparing for the arrival of the 
> Expedition 15 crew.
>
> Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin, Expedition 15 commander, and Oleg Kotov, 
> Expedition 15 flight engineer, and spaceflight participant Charles 
> Simonyi, a U.S. businessman, are scheduled to launch from the 
> Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at approximately 12:30 p.m. CDT 
> Saturday. Their Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the 
> station at approximately 2:12 p.m. Monday. 
>
> The Expedition 14 crew, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight 
> Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, will return to Earth with Simonyi on April 
> 20. In preparation for their departure, Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin 
> reviewed descent procedures. 
>
> Suni Williams, who joined Expedition 14 in progress, will remain on 
> the station as an Expedition 15 crew member for the first part of its 
> increment. The two crews held a space-to-ground conference on 
> Wednesday discussing upcoming mission activities.
>
> On Monday, Lopez-Alegria set a new U.S. single-mission spaceflight 
> record, passing the 196-day mark previously set by station crew 
> members Dan Bursch and Carl Walz in 2001 and 2002. 
>
> The Expedition 14 crew performed periodic fitness evaluations this 
> week. Additionally, they worked on a video tape recorder and on a 
> faulty light of an ophthalmoscope that was used during a health 
> check. They downloaded information from the Internal Wireless 
> Instrumentation System, or IWIS, which monitors the health of the 
> station's systems.
>
> The crew continued scientific activities aboard the station. Williams 
> tested a bacteria detection instrument developed by researchers at 
> Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and industry 
> partners. The device, Lab-On-a-Chip Application Development Portable 
> Test System (LOCAD-PTS) is a portable bacteria detection system small 
> enough to fit into a compact ice cooler. Four more sessions with 
> LOCAD-PTS are planned for upcoming weekend science sessions.
>
> Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin tested their hand-eye coordination by 
> completing their sixth sessions with the Test of Reaction and 
> Adaptation Capability (TRAC) experiment. The experiment studies 
> whether the decline of motor skills during spaceflight is a result of 
> the brain adapting to space. The hand-eye coordination test is 
> performed before, during and after the mission.
>
> The crew also continued their work with the Anomalous Long-Term 
> Effects in Astronauts' Center Nervous System (ALTEA) experiment. 
> Using an instrumented helmet, the experiment measures the cosmic 
> radiation that passes through a crew member's head, brain activity 
> and visual perception. The experiment should help researchers better 
> understand what levels of cosmic radiation crew members are exposed 
> to and develop countermeasures for future long-duration spaceflights.
>
> For more about the crew's activities and station sighting 
> opportunities, visit:
>
> http://www.nasa.gov/station 
>
> The next station status report will be issued following the launch of 
> Soyuz TMA-10 on Saturday or earlier if events warrant.
>
> 	
> -end-
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