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Dolores Beasley
Headquarters, Washington                   Feb. 12, 2003
(Phone: 202/358-1753)

Steve Roy
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
(Phone: 256/544-0034)

RELEASE: 03-066

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION SCIENCE UPDATE

     Science operations continue on the International Space Station. 
Basic and applied research is being conducted in biology, physics, 
chemistry, ecology, medicine, materials science, manufacturing and the 
long-term effects of space flight on humans.

During the past week, the Expedition Six crewmembers, Commander Ken 
Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolay Budarin and NASA Station Science 
Officer Don Pettit, completed several sessions in support of the Human 
Research Facility (HRF). The HRF is a floor-to-ceiling, facility-class 
rack located in the Station's Destiny laboratory. It is designed to
support human life science investigations, such as the Pulmonary 
Function in Flight (PuFF) experiment. The PuFF experiment evaluates 
how the lungs function in space. Little is known about how the lungs 
can be affected by long-term exposure to microgravity like the 
near-weightlessness inside the Space Station.

The science data recorded from previous life sciences experiments was 
beamed down to a team at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. 
Pettit read the EVA Radiation Monitoring (EVARM) experiment dosimeter 
badges and downloaded the data from the reader to the HRF laptop
computer. The data from the badges is read once a week and then 
downloaded to the computer on a bi-weekly basis. The badges measured 
radiation absorbed by the eyes, skin, and blood-forming organs when 
previous expedition and Shuttle crews wore them outside during 
spacewalks. The dosimeters are located at strategic locations inside 
the Destiny laboratory, where they measure radiation inside the
laboratory. Scientists will compare data collected by the EVARM badges 
with data collected by other nearby radiation measurement devices 
inside Destiny.

On Tuesday, Feb. 4, the Russian Progress re-supply ship arrived at the 
Station on schedule with a load of supplies, including scientific 
equipment. After the Progress docked, the crew began unloading 
equipment and supplies, including a new power distribution box and an 
electronics module for the Microgravity Science Glovebox. On Feb. 5, 
Pettit installed the new parts, powered up the Glovebox and activated 
the facility. This resulted in a circuit breaker trip, and further 
activity was put on hold. The Glovebox team on the ground is working 
with the European Space Agency, which built the facility, to develop a 
troubleshooting plan for the Station crew.

The Glovebox supports several physical science experiments, providing 
a contained work volume for crews to safely work with experiments 
involving fumes, fluids, flames or loose particles. Several 
experiments are onboard the Station and are ready to resume inside the 
Glovebox when it is restored to working order.

The crew set up a camera in the Station's high-quality optical window, 
and students from 30 schools across the globe used it to do their 
geography lessons. Students remotely controlled the special digital 
camera through the Internet and took 767 images of Earth during the 
past week. They selected and photographed Earth's coastlines, mountain
ranges and other geographic areas of interest.

The Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM) 
educational program team posted the photographs on the Internet. They 
are available to the public and participating classrooms around the 
world. This experiment has been performed on several Station 
expeditions, giving thousands of students a chance to study Earth from 
the unique vantage point of space. Images are available at:
http://datasystems{at}earthkam.ucsd.edu

The crew took photographs this week as part of the Crew Earth 
Observation (CEO) program. The crew had the opportunity to photograph 
many places in India, Africa, Panama, Puerto Rico, South America, and 
Asia. The CEO science team praised recent detailed shots of glaciers 
on the west side of the Andes, which is often covered by clouds and 
difficult to photograph.

Upcoming science activities for the crew include work with the 
FOOT/Ground Reaction Forces During Space Flight (FOOT) experiment. 
FOOT characterizes the stress on the bones and muscles in the lower 
extremities. The next FOOT session is planned for Thursday, Feb. 13.

The Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center 
(MSFC) in Huntsville, Ala., manages all science research experiment 
operations aboard the Space Station. For supporting materials for this 
news release, such as photographs, fact sheets, video and audio files 
and more, visit the MSFC Web site at:

www.msfc.nasa.gov/news  

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