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International Space Station Status Report #03-31
4 p.m. CDT, Friday, June 27, 2003
Expedition 7 Crew

Expedition 7 Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA International Space
Station Science Officer Ed Lu today wrapped up a busy week of station
and science activities as they approached the end of their eighth
week on the ISS. Lu performed another run of the InSPACE experiment
in the Microgravity Science Glovebox while Malenchenko spent some
time loading the Progress 10, docked to the rear of the Zvezda
Service Module, with station discards. 

InSPACE stands for Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic
Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions. The experiment, in the U.S.
laboratory Destiny, looks at fluids that contain small particles that
can be magnetized. The research could result in improved brake or
vibration dampening fluids, or even improved systems to make
buildings better able to survive earthquakes. 

Malenchenko spent part of today loading the Progress 10 unpiloted
supply craft docked to the aft port of Zvezda with ISS discards. With
its load of trash, that progress will be undocked in October and burn
up in the Earth's atmosphere. A similar craft, Progress 11, arrived
at one of the Zarya docking ports on June 11 and crewmembers have
worked to unload it. 

Lu and Malenchenko on Monday and Wednesday replaced the flexpacks in
the canisters of the resistive exercise device (RED). The flexpacks
provide the resistance as crewmembers exercise major muscle groups.
The new flexpacks were brought up on Progress 11.

Tuesday Lu calibrated an ultrasound device and downlinked ultrasound
images from the instrument in the Human Research Facility, a rack in
the U.S. laboratory. Malenchenko did maintenance on the Zarya
module's cooling system, replacing a pump in one of the cooling
loops.

Medical tests continued throughout much of the week. On Wednesday Lu
set up and calibrated the Portable Clinical Blood Analyzer (PCBA).
The next day each crewmember performed health status checks on one
another using a variety of equipment, including the PCBA.

The two crewmembers talked on Tuesday with reporter Stephen Young of
SpaceflightNow.com. Wednesday they held a ship-to-ship chat with the
six-member Aquarius crew of the NASA Extreme Environment Mission
Operations (NEEMO). Peggy Whitson, the first NASA ISS science
officer, who flew on ISS Expedition 5 from June to November 2002,
commands the Aquarius crew. And on Thursday they talked with people
from the NASAexplorers website at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
in Huntsville, Ala. 

Saturday and Sunday will be days off, though exercise and necessary
station maintenance will be performed both days. On Sunday they will
have a chance to talk with their families in private family
conferences. Another InSPACE run is scheduled for Monday, as is data
transfer with the EXPRESS Rack 1 in the Destiny laboratory.

Information on the crew's activities aboard the space station, future
launch dates, as well as station sighting opportunities from anywhere
on the Earth, is available on the Internet at:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/

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:

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

The next ISS status report will be issued on Thursday, July 3, or
earlier, if events warrant.

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