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STS-107
Report #07 
Tuesday, January 21, 2003 - 6 p.m. CST 
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas 

The seven astronauts aboard Columbia continued to conduct scientific
studies 24-7 today, concentrating their efforts on combustion in
weightlessness, the growth of cell cultures, and measurements of the
ozone layer. 

The Blue Team was awakened at 3:39 p.m. CDT to the sounds of "The
Wedding Song" by Paul Stookey, uplinked from Mission Control
especially for Pilot Willie McCool. McCool and Blue Team Astronauts
Dave Brown and Michael Anderson will begin work after a handover at
5:24 p.m. The Red Team of Rick Husband, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark
and Ilan Ramon begins its sleep shift at 7:39 p.m. 

Israel Space Agency Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon took a break from
observations of thunderstorms today to speak with Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon and other dignitaries in Jerusalem. Ramon
captured never-before-photographed lightning phenomena, known as &
quot;sprites" and "elves," in the extreme upper
atmosphere using Middle Eastern Dust Experiment (MEIDEX) cameras. The
experiment's primary objective is to study dust storms in the Middle
East, but clouds in the region have delayed those observations thus
far. 

Work continued with a study of combustion in space, focusing on
understanding the nature of soot. The Laminar Soot Processes
experiment was operated by Ramon to burn various fuels in
weightlessness and study production of soot. Weightlessness alllows
the process to be studied without the interference caused by
gravity-induced convection.

Other experiments run today included continued growth of prostate
cancer cells in the Bioreactor Demonstration System (BDS), a device
that has been shown on previous flights to grow cultures of much
greater fidelity than can be produced in ground labs. The space-grown
cultures may help scientists unlock lethal secrets of prostate cancer
that allow it to spread through the bones and other body tissues.
Mission Specialist Laurel Clark, a medical doctor, worked with the
culture device today, checking its operation and photographing the
tissues that have grown. 

For other experiments, Commander Rick Husband steered Columbia to aim
payload-bay mounted instruments to study ozone in the upper atmosphere 
and another experiment that studies the solar constant.  The Shuttle 
Ozone Limb Sounding Experiment-2 (SOLSE-2) uses observations of 
sunlight scattering by the atmosphere to measure ozone. The Solar 
Constant Experiment (SOLCON) measures solar irradiance above the 
atmosphere. 

The Blue Team will continue observations of "sprites" with the MEIDEX
cameras, studies of soot with the Laminar Soot Process apparatus and
examinations of bone cell activity in microgravity using the
Osteoporosis Experiment in Orbit. The second half of its day will
include off-duty time to help stay fresh for the extended-duration
mission. 

Cooling and humidity control of the Spacehab module is being managed
through minor adjustments to systems aboard Columbia and the science
module. The Spacehab's dehumidifiers remain off due to problems
experienced in the last few days. The cooling glitch is not expected
to interrupt any of the mission's ongoing research. Flight controllers 
are continuing to investigate options for reactivating the 
dehumidifiers. 

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