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2003
Report #25 
4 p.m. CDT, Friday, May 30, 2003 
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas 
 
Science, maintenance and training for spacewalks was the focus of
attention this week for the Expedition Seven crew of Commander Yuri
Malenchenko and NASA International Space Station Science Officer Ed
Lu as they complete their fifth week in space aboard the orbiting
laboratory. 

The station's Microgravity Science Glovebox is back in action
supporting hands-on experiments in a closed/controlled environment
after researchers reset the unit's computer to resume activity with
the InSPACE experiment (Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic
Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions), which began during the
Expedition Six increment on the station. 

Scientists hope to develop better fluids for systems that are
routinely exposed to magnetic fields, such as automobile brake fluids
and vibration damping systems. Experimenters also hope to use data
from InSPACE to develop new applications such as vibration damping
systems for buildings in earthquake-prone areas. 

Earlier this week a faulty battery in the Zvezda living quarters
module was replaced and the crew practiced techniques for conducting
a spacewalk without the assistance of a third crewmember.  Portions
of the demonstration will be rescheduled due to a problem encountered
when the water flow in Lu's undergarment failed to work properly. The
Extravehicular Activity team is evaluating the problem. 

No spacewalk is planned for the six months the Expedition Seven crew
is aboard the complex, but the on-orbit training exercise - or dry
run - was designed to prepare the crew in the event an unscheduled
spacewalk is warranted. 

Earlier today, trajectory flight controllers planned, and then
executed, a slight orbit-raising firing of the Progress resupply ship
engines to position the ISS out of the path of an orbiting satellite:

http://www.megsat.com/html/megsat0.htm

The one-meter per second posigrade maneuver lasted a little more than
7 minutes and was conducted at 11:50 a.m. CDT Friday after three days
of tracking confirmed the need for the burn. The result of the burn
actually raised the station's average altitude by about 1.8
kilometers. The closest approach to the station occurred at 3:55 p.m.
CDT Friday. The maneuver was the sixth in the history of the ISS
since construction began in November 1998. The ISS Program estimates
that about two such maneuvers would be needed each year, but the
actual number thus far is fewer than one each year. 

Thursday, the crew gathered in the Destiny Laboratory to talk about
their mission with WABC Radio's "Rambling with Gambling" show in New
York City and KNX Radio in Los Angeles. 

That followed Lu's demonstration of the properties of flight in
microgravity using a paper airplane and a small model of the Wright
Flyer he brought along in honor of the Centennial of Flight
activities of the Wright Brothers' achievement. Preparations continue
on track for the launch of a new Progress 11 cargo ship to the ISS
June 8, which will dock to the station June 11, delivering more than
5,000 pounds of food, water and supplies for the crew on board. 

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 Friday, June 6, or
sooner if events warrant. 

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