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STS-107
Report #11 
Saturday, January 25, 2003 - 5:00 p.m. CST 
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas 

Space shuttle Columbia's astronauts completed an experiment studying
the activity of bone cells in microgravity and began final tests with
a technology demonstration designed to investigate the behavior of
capillary-pumped loops in space as the 16-day international science
mission completed Flight Day 10. 

Toward the end of their workday at 1 a.m. CST this morning, Pilot
Willie McCool and Mission Specialists Dave Brown and Michael Anderson
of the Blue Team took time out from their experiment schedule for
interviews with reporters from Black Entertainment TV, WTKR-TV in
Norfolk, Va., and KNSD-TV in San Diego.  Following handover talks,
Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla and Laurel
Clark, and Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon of the Red Team began their
workday. 

Clark completed operations with the OSTEO (Osteoporosis Experiment in
Orbit) investigation for STS-107. The experiment studied the activity
of bone cells in microgravity by looking at normal activity and
activity under the influence of various drugs. Clark also continued
work on the Bioreactor Demonstration System, which is using the
NASA-developed bioreactor to grow prostate cancer tissues. The
objective is to learn how the cancer spreads into bones and aid in the 
development of future treatment methods. She also worked on a study of 
how bacteria and yeast develop in space and how microgravity affects 
their response to antibiotics. 

Investigations with the Combined Two-Phase Loop Experiment were begun
using a third cooling loop. Testing of this loop will continue for
about 48 hours. The testing is performed to learn about the behavior
of the loop in microgravity. The investigation examines three
different two-phase thermal loops by transporting different amounts of 
heat from an evaporator to a condenser and then radiating the heat
into space. 

The Facility for Adsorption and Surface Tension, known as FAST, has
completed the last pre-planned sequence of experiments. It is designed 
to measure the response of surface tension to carefully controlled 
changes in the surface areas of bubbles or droplets.

Ramon continued investigations with the SOFBALL (Structures of Flame
Balls) experiment. The experiment studies lean combustion to help
engineers design engines with better fuel efficiency and reduced
emissions of pollution.

Television from the crew, narrated by Ramon, was downlinked around
11:30 a.m. showing various aspects of experiment operations conducted
by both teams. Husband maneuvered Columbia today as required for any
scientific activities. 

McCool, Brown and Anderson were awakened at 2:39 p.m. to the sounds of 
"I Say a Little Prayer for You" sung by Dionne Warwick. The song was 
played for Anderson from his wife. 

Husband ended his 10th day in space by calibrating two Israeli cameras 
that will be used to continue photographing dust particles, sprites 
and other electrical phenomena in the upper atmosphere. The crew hope 
to use the camera to observe a substantial plume of dust and smoke 
that extends from the Nigerian coast westward toward the Atlantic and 
an additional plume off the coast of Mauritania and Mali. Sprites in 
storms over Western Australia near Perth also will be observed. 
Sprites are electrical discharges that shoot up from the tops of 
thunderstorms into the Earth's ionosphere. 

All of Columbia's systems continue to operate in excellent shape.

It was a quiet day on board the International Space Station,
meanwhile, as Expedition 6 Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer
Nikolai Budarin and ISS Science Officer Don Pettit enjoyed a light
workday. They will also partake in an off-duty day tomorrow before
resuming normal scientific research and routine station maintenance
activities on Monday. 

The next STS-107 status report will be issued Sunday afternoon, or
earlier, if events warrant. 

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