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International Space Station Status Report #02-31 The Expedition 5 crew had a busy and successful week aboard the International Space Station, completing the activation and checkout of the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG), beginning the first experiment in that glovebox, and operating the Canadarm2 from the Mobile Base System (MBS) for the first time.
On Wednesday, Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson
commanded the Canadian-built robotic arm to "walk off" its
grapple fixture on the Destiny laboratory and grapple a power and data
fixture on the Mobile Base System on the S0 truss. The walk-off was
the first time the Canadarm2 has been detached from Destiny since it
was installed in April 2001. Korzun and Whitson also completed a dry
run of the S1 truss installation. The S1 will be brought to the station
during STS-112. On Friday, the duo maneuvered the Canadarm2 onto several
other MBS grapple fixtures to give engineers on the ground the data
they need to prepare for the installation of both the S1 and P1 trusses.
During the week, Korzun and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev also continued to unload the Progress 8 resupply craft and enter supplies it brought to the station into the Inventory Management System. Korzun and Treschev also spent time doing periodic maintenance activities and installing cargo enclosures in Zarya.
When not working with the Canadarm2, Whitson activated and checked out systems in the MSG and completed the first runs of the Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules experiment in that new facility. Processing in the Zeolite Crystal Growth furnace concluded Friday after 15 days of operations and a new science payload, the Microencapsulation Electrostatic Processing System experiment, will begin next week.
The crew congratulated the designer of the station's Zvezda service
module today, the second anniversary of its launch. Information on the crew's activities aboard the space station, future
launch dates, as well as station sighting opportunities from anywhere
on the Earth, is available on the Internet at:
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://www.scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov
The next ISS status report will be issued on Friday, July 19, or sooner, if events warrant.
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