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January 30, 2003

Steve Roy
MSFC, Huntsville, Ala.
(Phone: 256/544-0034)

RELEASE: 03-013

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION EXPEDITION SIX SCIENCE OPERATIONS STATUS 
REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING JAN. 29, 2003

During the last week, the crew focused on research that studies how 
the human body adapts to living in space. The three International 
Space Station (ISS) crewmembers were test subjects for experiments 
that examine how space flight affects muscles and bones and kidney 
stone formation. These and other aspects of human physiology must be 
studied to ensure humans can live and work in space safely for 
extended durations.

Expedition Six Commander Ken Bowersox completed the third round of 
research 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 data were sent to scientists on 
Earth for analysis.  In February, more measurements will be collected 
for FOOT.

On Tuesday, the crew completed five days of Renal Stone experiment 
tests.  The crew is taking potassium citrate pills or a placebo to 
study a possible preventative for kidney stones in space. The 
microgravity environment of the Station changes fluid metabolism and 
bone loss, which may increase the chance of kidney stone formation 
during and after flight.  The crew collected urine samples and 
recorded their food, fluid, exercise and medication to assess 
environmental influences other than microgravity.

The ISS  crew not only looked inward at their bodies, but also looked
outward at their home, Earth. The Station provides an excellent 
platform for photographing planet Earth. On Tuesday, the crew 
activated and set up camera equipment for the Earth Knowledge Acquired 
by Middle School Students (EarthKAM) experiment. For the rest of the 
week, middle school students will operate the camera.

EarthKam is a NASA education program that enables thousands of 
students to photograph and examine Earth from a space crew's 
perspective. Using the Internet, the students control a special 
digital camera mounted on the Station. This allows them to photograph 
the Earth's coastlines, mountain ranges and other geographic items of 
interest from the unique vantage point of space. The EarthKam team 
then posts the photographs on the Internet so that they can be viewed 
by the public and participating classrooms around the world. This 
experiment has been performed on several ISS expeditions.

Crew Earth Observation crew photography opportunities have been 
performed since the first crew took up residence on the ISS. This 
week, the crew will have the opportunity to photograph fires and 
widespread blankets of smoke over southeast Australia. In the past 
week, crewmembers captured photographs of cloud formations that are of 
interest to meteorologists. They also took photographs of southern 
Louisiana and Florida and images of Lake Poopo in the high tropical 
Andes. This week, the crew also will have the opportunity to 
photograph glaciers in Patagonia, a landslide in Chili, and several 
more areas in Africa, Australia, and South America.

On Tuesday, the crew started activation and checkout of the new Active 
Rack Isolation System (ARIS) installed in EXPRESS Rack 3 during 
Expedition Five.  ARIS is a vibration- dampening system that protects 
delicate microgravity experiments from tiny vibrations caused by crew 
movement, operating equipment, etc. The crew will checkout several key 
components of the ARIS system including eight acceleration and 
position sensors, actuators and pushrods that keep the rack suspended 
by sensing vibrations and providing a counter force to prevent 
vibrations from reaching the rack and experiments inside.

EXPRESS Racks provide Station experiments with utilities such as 
power, cooling, fluids, communications and more. Over the last week, 
the Payload Operations Center and the Station crew successfully 
upgraded software for several Express racks in the Destiny lab.  This 
upgrade is expected to make science operations even smoother.

The crew continues to prepare for the arrival of the Russian Progress
resupply ship, which is scheduled to dock with the Station next week 
with a load of equipment and supplies. This equipment will include new 
replacement parts (power distribution and control unit) for the 
Microgravity Science Glovebox, which should restore the Glovebox to 
working order. This facility supports several physical science 
experiments, providing a contained work volume for crews to work 
safely with experiments involving fumes, fluids flames or loose 
particles.

The Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center 
in Huntsville, Ala., manages all science research experiment 
operations aboard the International Space Station.  The center is also 
home for coordination of the mission-planning work of a variety of 
international sources, all science payload deliveries and retrieval, 
and payload training and payload safety programs for the Station crew 
and all ground personnel.

For supporting materials for this news release - such as photographs, 
fact sheets, video and audio files and more - please visit the NASA 
Marshall Center Newsroom Web site at

www.msfc.nasa.gov/news

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