4 p.m. Friday, Aug. 1, 2003
Expedition 7 Crew
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08.01.03
| STATUS REPORT:
ISS03-36
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International Space Station Status Report #03-36
The Expedition 7 crew, Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA International Space Station Science Officer Ed Lu, spent their 14th week in space performing various science experiments, practicing with the Station's robotic arm and maintaining Station systems.
On Tuesday, the crew marked the 1,000th day of human occupancy of the Station with a downlinked video message and a call from the heads of the five global space agencies that represent the 16 nations of the ISS Program.
During the week, Lu worked with the Coarsening in Solid Liquid Mixtures (CSLM) experiment in the Microgravity Science Glovebox in the Destiny Laboratory. That experiment will be continued next week. CSLM is being used to study a physical process called "coarsening" that can reduce the strength of metals, such as those in jet engine turbine blades. Lu also performed a functional check of the Biotechnology Specimen Temperature Controller, which will be used in a fluid dynamics experiment later in the Expedition 7 mission.
Throughout the week, Malenchenko took part in various Russian medical studies to continue gathering data on the effects of microgravity on the human body during a long-duration spaceflight. He also worked with the Russian/German Plasma Crystal-3 (PK-3) experiment, which is being used to examine fine particles inside an evacuated work chamber that have been charged and excited by radio frequencies.
Both crewmembers also took time from their schedules to answer questions from TV Globo's "Fantastico" show in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and from teachers participating in the NASA Explorer Schools Program at Ames Research Center, Calif.
Throughout the week, Malenchenko and Lu continued regular maintenance activities on the Station and performed daily physical exercises to minimize the long-term effects of living in microgravity.
The Expedition 7 crewmembers, who arrived at the station April 28, are scheduled to return to Earth in their Soyuz TMA-2 spacecraft on Oct. 28. They will be replaced by the Expedition 8 crew, U.S. astronaut Michael Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri. Foale and Kaleri are scheduled to launch to the Station Oct. 18 aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, along with European Space Agency astronaut Pedro Duque of Spain. Duque will then return to Earth with the Expedition 7 crew after completing more than a week of science activities aboard the Station.
Information on the crew's continuing activities on the Space Station, future launch dates and Station sighting opportunities from anywhere on Earth is available 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, Aug. 8, or sooner if events warrant.
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