Bowersox Credit - www.spacefacts.de

Personal: Male, Married, three children. Born in Portsmouth, Virginia, USA. US Navy US Navy

Astronaut Career

Astronaut Group: NASA Group 12 - 1987. Inactive Entered space service: 5 June 1987. Left space service: 30 September 2006. Number of Flights: 5.00. Total Time: 211.59 days. Number of EVAs: 2.00. Total EVA Time: 0.56 days.

Official NASA Biography - 1997

NAME: Kenneth D. Bowersox (Commander, USN)

NASA Astronaut

PERSONAL DATA:

Born November 14, 1956, in Portsmouth, Virginia, but considers Bedford, Indiana, to be his hometown. Married to the former Ann C. Flatley of Pleasanton, California. They have two children.

EDUCATION:

Graduated from Bedford High School, Bedford, Indiana, in 1974; received a bachelor of science degree in aerospace engineering from the United States Naval Academy in 1978, and a master of science degree in mechanical engineering from Columbia University in 1979.

EXPERIENCE:

Bowersox received his commission in the United States Navy in 1978 and was designated a Naval Aviator in 1981. He was then assigned to Attack Squadron 22, aboard the USS Enterprise, where he served as a Fleet A-7E pilot, logging over 300 carrier arrested landings. Following graduation from the United States Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California, in 1985, he moved to the Naval Weapon Center at China Lake, California, where he spent the next year and a half as a test pilot flying A-7E and F/A-18 aircraft until advised of his selection to the astronaut program. He has logged over 4,000 hours flight time.

NASA EXPERIENCE:

Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in June 1987, Bowersox completed a one-year training and evaluation program in August 1988. He has held a variety of assignments since then including: flight software testing in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL); Technical Assistant to the Director of Flight Crew Operations; Astronaut Office representative for Orbiter landing and rollout issues; Chief of the Astronaut Office Safety Branch; Chairman of the Spaceflight Safety Panel; during several Shuttle missions he served as a spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM) in the Houston Mission Control Center. A four flight veteran, Bowersox has logged over 50 days in space. He flew as pilot on STS-50 in 1992 and STS-61 in 1993, and was the spacecraft commander on STS-73 in 1995 and STS-82 in 1997.

STS-50, June 25-July 9, 1992, was the first flight of the United States Microgravity Laboratory and the first Extended Duration Orbiter flight. Over a two-week period, the STS-50 flight crew aboard Space Shuttle Columbia conducted a wide variety of experiments relating to materials processing and fluid physics in a microgravity environment. This was the longest Shuttle flight on record, allowing him to log over 331 hours in space.

STS-61, December 2-13, 1993, was the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) servicing and repair mission. During the 11-day flight, the HST was captured and restored to full capacity through a record five space walks by four astronauts. After having traveled 4,433,772 miles in 163 orbits of the Earth, the Space Shuttle Endeavour and her crew returned to a night landing on the runway at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

STS-73, Oct. 20 to Nov. 5, 1995, was the second flight of the United States Microgravity Laboratory. The mission focused on materials science, biotechnology, combustion science, the physics of fluids, and numerous scientific experiments housed in the pressurized Spacelab module. In completing his third space flight, Bowersox and his crew orbited the Earth 256 times, traveled over 6 million miles, and logged a total of 15 days, 21 hours, 52 minutes and 21 seconds in aboard Space Shuttle Columbia.

STS-82, Feb. 11-21, 1997, was the second Hubble Space Telescope (HST) maintenance mission. During the flight, the crew retrieved and secured the HST in Discovery's payload bay. In five space walks, two teams installed two new spectrometers and eight replacement instruments, as well as replacing insulation patches over three compartments containing key data processing, electronics and scientific instrument telemetry packages. Following completion of upgrades and repairs, HST was boosted to a higher orbit and redeployed. Mission duration was 9 days, 23 hours, 37 minutes, traveling 3.8 million miles in 149 Earth orbits.

• 25 June 1992 Flight: STS-50. Flight Up: STS-50. Flight Back: STS-50. Flight Time: 13.81 days.

• 2 December 1993 Flight: STS-61. Flight Up: STS-61. Flight Back: STS-61. Flight Time: 10.83 days.

• 20 October 1995 Flight: STS-73. Flight Up: STS-73. Flight Back: STS-73. Flight Time: 15.91 days.

• 11 February 1997 Flight: STS-82. Flight Up: STS-82. Flight Back: STS-82. Flight Time: 9.98 days.

• 24 November 2002 Flight: ISS EO-6. Flight Up: STS-113. Flight Back: Soyuz TMA-1. Flight Time: 161.05 days.

5 June 1987 - NASA Astronaut Training Group 12 selected.. The group was selected to provide pilot, engineer, and scientist astronauts for space shuttle flights.. Qualifications: Pilots: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics. Advanced degree desirable. At least 1,000 flight-hours of pilot-in-command time. Flight test experience desirable. Excellent health. Vision minimum 20/50 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20 vision; maximum sitting blood pressure 140/90. Height between 163 and 193 cm.

Mission Specialists: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics and minimum three years of related experience or an advanced degree. Vision minimum 20/150 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20. Maximum sitting blood pressure of 140/90. Height between 150 and 193 cm.. First selection after the Challenger accident. 1962 applicants, 117 finalists. Reported to Johnson Space Center on August 17, 1987, to begin their one year training. Seven pilots and eight mission specialists. Two female mission specialists, including the first black woman astronaut. Ten military officers and five civilians (including three from NASA Johnson and one from NASA Marshall).

The Hubble Space Telescope was released back into orbit at 06:41 GMT on February 19. Discovery landed on Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center at 08:32 GMT on February 21.

The Progress 9 vehicle linked up to the aft docking port of the Zvezda Service Module of the ISS at 12:01 p.m. Central time (1701 GMT) as the two spacecraft flew over Central Asia after a four-day flight following its launch Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The automated docking went off without a hitch as Expedition 5 Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson, and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev viewed the arrival of the new capsule from inside Zvezda. A few minutes later, hooks and latches closed between the two vehicles to form an airtight seal.

Korzun was prepared to take over manual control of the Progress for the docking in the event its automated rendezvous system did not work, but the linkup was executed flawlessly.

The crew was scheduled to open hatches between Zvezda and Progress this afternoon and will begin unloading supplies from the craft on Monday.

Some of the supplies include clothing and personal items for the Expedition Six crew - Commander Ken Bowersox and Flight Engineers Nikolai Budarin and Don Pettit - who will be launched aboard Endeavour on the STS-113 mission in November to replace Korzun, Whitson and Treschev following the completion of their 5 1/2 month mission.

The older Progress 8 vehicle, which arrived at the ISS in June and which was undocked on Tuesday, remains in orbit a safe distance away from the station, spending another 10 days aloft to enable Russian flight controllers to document smog and smoke over northeastern Russia through its cameras.

The Progress docking clears the way for the launch of Atlantis on the STS-112 mission Wednesday to deliver the 14-ton Starboard 1 (S1) Truss to the station. A Wednesday launch would result in Atlantis' docking to the ISS Friday. Commander Jeff Ashby, Pilot Pam Melroy and Mission Specialists Dave Wolf, Sandy Magnus, Piers Sellers and Fyodor Yurchikhin are in the final stages of their prelaunch preparations.

The week started out with Expedition 5 Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev making sure station systems are ready to support installation of the next piece of the orbiting outpost's truss structure. They performed a final checkout of the Mobile Transporter, Canadarm2, the Quest airlock, and the spacewalk tools and equipment that already are on board. After those activities were complete, they began pre-packing items that will come home with them aboard Endeavour, which is set to launch with a replacement crew between 11 p.m. Sunday and 3 a.m. Monday CST.

Once the Port One (P1)1 truss is installed, the Expedition 5 crew will hand over control of the station to Expedition 6 Commander Ken Bowersox and Flight Engineers Nikolai Budarin and Don Pettit and return home with Endeavour's crew - Commander Jim Wetherbee, Pilot Paul Lockhart and Mission Specialists Mike Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington.

The visiting taxi crew - Commander Sergei Zalyotin, European Space Agency Flight Engineer Frank DeWinne from Belgium and Russian Flight Engineer Yuri Lonchakov - will undock from the station at 2:41 p.m. CST on Saturday. Zalyotin will fire the Soyuz deorbit engines at 5:10 p.m., bringing his crew in for a landing on the Kazakh steppes at 6:04 p.m.

The taxi crew, which rode into orbit aboard an upgraded Soyuz TMA capsule with more legroom and more modern cockpit controls, displays and computers, will ride home in the older Soyuz TM-34 return vehicle that has been at the station since April. A fresh Soyuz is delivered to the ISS every six months to provide an assured return capability for station residents in the unlikely event they would need to come home early.

During their eight-day stay on the station, the taxi crew conducted a host of medical, protein crystal growth and materials processing experiments. With DeWinne leading the investigations, the crew looked at human physiology in microgravity and how crystals grow and alloys form inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox in the Destiny Laboratory module.

Flight controllers in Houston are troubleshooting with the Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly in the Destiny lab. CDRA is a system of absorption beds, tubing and valves that remove excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere after it is expelled during breathing and vents it overboard. Two of six valves appear to be malfunctioning, causing the system to shut down several hours after it is started. The system supplements the station's Russian Vozdukh carbon dioxide removal system when more than three crewmembers are on board.

Troubleshooters have confirmed that a recent lab systems software update is not the cause of the problems, and they are refining their activation procedures to try to support the upcoming shuttle and Expedition 6 crews with CDRA using additional ground commanding. Lithium hydroxide canisters, which absorb carbon dioxide through a chemical process, may also be used to supplement the primary system; one canister was used during some of the CDRA troubleshooting activities.

The Elektron unit that generates oxygen by separating the oxygen and hydrogen atoms from water molecules also is not working properly. Korzun and Treschev conducted troubleshooting activities this week and are scheduled to replace the unit's liquid electrolysis module on Sunday. Additional oxygen is available in the Progress vehicle docked to the aft end of Zvezda. Oxygen and nitrogen also are available in tanks attached to the Quest airlock. Oxygen also is available from Russian oxygen generating "candles."

Saturday's departure of the taxi crew will set the stage for the launch of the shuttle Endeavour. The crew arrived at the Kennedy Space Center last night, and the launch countdown began today. Endeavour will take the 1 truss structure and additional resupply items, as well as two replacement valves for the station's CDRA system to the ISS. The three-pound aluminum replacement valves are about 5 by 9 by 6 inches, and look like valves in a home air conditioning system.

On board the International Space Station, the current residents - Expedition Five Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev - were told of Endeavour's on-time liftoff by spacecraft communicator Stan Love in the space station control center.

"Thanks so much for the play-by-play Stan. That was great," Whitson said in response to the news that the Expedition Six crew - Commander Ken Bowersox and Flight Engineers Nikolai Budarin and Don Pettit - were en route.

Once on orbit, Commander Jim Wetherbee, Pilot Paul Lockhart and Mission Specialists Mike Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington, along with Bowersox, Budarin and Pettit will begin setting up equipment on board and preparing to open the shuttle's payload bay doors to begin orbital operations.

Endeavour is scheduled to dock to the station about 3:30 p.m. central time Monday, setting the stage for Tuesday's installation of the Port One (P1) truss to the International Space Station. As was the case during Atlantis' flight last month to deliver the Starboard One truss segment, three spacewalks will be conducted by Lopez-Alegria and Herrington to help activate the new truss' systems. P1 is the third truss segment to be launched this year. It is one of 11 truss segments that will form the structural backbone for the station and provide the cooling and support for new solar arrays to be delivered to the station next year.

Endeavour's crew will go to sleep just before 1 a.m. Sunday and will be awakened just before 9 a.m. to begin its first full day in orbit. The crew will begin check-outs of the Shuttle's robot arm, the spacesuits to be worn by Lopez-Alegria and Herrington during their spacewalks and the tools and mechanisms involved in Monday's rendezvous with the ISS.

Onboard the station, the Expedition Five crew, Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev, awakened at 7:45 a.m. to continue preparations for the arrival of Endeavour, and their replacement crew.

In preparation for Monday's docking, Endeavour's crew - Commander Jim Wetherbee, Pilot Paul Lockhart, Mission Specialists Mike Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington, and the Expedition Six crew Commander Ken Bowersox, NASA ISS science officer Don Pettit and flight engineer Nikolai Budarin - will verify operation of the equipment used during docking. The centerline camera will be installed in the docking system, the orbiter docking system ring will be extended and a variety of handheld cameras and distance-measuring devices will be checked out. In addition, Lopez-Alegria and Herrington will inspect and checkout the spacesuits they will wear during three scheduled spacewalks to install and outfit the P1 truss segment.

Monday's docking to the International Space Station is scheduled to occur about 3:26 p.m. central time and sets the stage for those three spacewalks to be conducted over a period of five days. The P1 truss is the third such segment to be launched this year, one of 11 truss segments that will form the structural backbone of the station. The trusses will also provide cooling and support for new solar arrays, which will be delivered to the station next year.

At 6:55 p.m., Bowersox, Budarin and Pettit will talk with reporters from USA Today and AP Radio News. The trio will become the sixth resident crew to live and work in space aboard the International Space Station, replacing the current Expedition Five residents who are beginning their 173rd day in space today.

In preparation for Monday's docking, Endeavour's crew - Commander Jim Wetherbee, Pilot Paul Lockhart, Mission Specialists Mike Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington, and the Expedition Six crew Commander Ken Bowersox, NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit and flight engineer Nikolai Budarin - verified operation of the equipment used to support a smooth rendezvous and soft docking. A camera was installed to give Wetherbee a view of the station's docking port through the shuttle's docking system, a shock-absorbing ring that will make the first contact was extended and a variety of handheld cameras and distance-measuring devices were checked out. In addition, Lopez-Alegria and Herrington inspected and checked out the spacesuits being delivered to the station for use on three spacewalks to install and outfit the P1 truss segment.

Checkout of the shuttle's Remote Manipulator System went smoothly today, but the robotic arm camera survey of Endeavour's payload bay ran a little longer than expected. The robotic arm's wrist roll joint was commanded in extra maneuvers to help work in lubrication that was applied during the arm's preflight servicing. The robotic arm is ready to support operations to remove Endeavour's primary cargo, the P1 or port truss, from the payload bay on Tuesday.

Also today, Bowersox, Budarin and Pettit spoke with reporters from USA Today and AP Radio News. The trio will become the sixth resident crew to live and work in space aboard the International Space Station, replacing the current Expedition Five residents.

Onboard the station, the Expedition Five crew, Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev, continued preparations for the arrival of Endeavour, and their replacement crew.

Endeavour's crew is scheduled to go to sleep about 11:20 p.m. Central time and awaken about 7:20 a.m. Monday.

Onboard the space station, the Expedition Five crew - Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev - awakened at 7:50 a.m. to continue preparations for the arrival of their latest guests, including their replacement crew.

After hatch opening and a safety briefing conducted by Korzun, the two crews will begin transferring supplies and equipment that will be needed during the three upcoming spacewalks, as well as the Expedition Six seat liners and reentry suits for the Soyuz spacecraft. The Soyuz serves as a lifeboat for the station, enabling a crew to come home quickly in the event of an emergency. Each crewmember has their own custom-fitted seat liner to cushion the effects of a Soyuz landing. The official exchange of resident crews aboard the station will be complete once the Expedition Six crew has transferred its seatliners to the Soyuz spacecraft and the Expedition Five crew transfers its seatliners over to Endeavour for the return trip home.

Over the next seven days, the astronauts and cosmonauts will work together to attach another truss to the space station, the Port 1 (P1) truss, and complete the changeover between the Expedition Five and Six crews. The first of three spacewalks to install and outfit the truss is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, to be conducted by Mission Specialists Mike Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington.

Endeavour's crew - Commander Jim Wetherbee, Pilot Paul Lockhart, Mission Specialists Lopez-Alegria and Herrington, and the Expedition Six crew Commander Ken Bowersox, NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit and Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin - will begin rendezvous operations around 10:35 a.m. The final approach phase of the docking is scheduled to begin about 1 p.m. with hatch opening between the two spacecraft scheduled to occur at 4:45 p.m.

The rendezvous and docking of Endeavour with shuttle Commander Jim Wetherbee at the controls went smoothly. Docking occurred about 248 statute miles above the South Pacific off the southeastern coast of Australia.

After successful leak checks, the last hatch between the two spacecraft was opened at 5:31 p.m. The Expedition 5 crew - Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev - welcomed the new arrivals to the orbiting laboratory to begin a week of docked operations. After greetings, the first item on the agenda was a safety briefing by Korzun.

Expedition 6 Commander Ken Bowersox, NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit and Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin later installed their custom seatliners in the Soyuz spacecraft that could serve as a return vehicle in the unlikely event it became necessary to leave the station unexpectedly. Their call saying they had completed the installation and pressure checks of the Russian SOKOL re-entry suits made them station crewmembers. It also officially ended the Expedition 5 increment, after 171 days, 3 hours and 33 minutes.

Expedition 5 was launched last June 5 and has been on the station since June 7. The trio will return to Earth with the Endeavour crew, Wetherbee, Pilot Paul Lockhart, Mission Specialists Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington.

During the week together at the station, Expedition 5 crewmembers will conduct extensive briefings for their successors, familiarizing them with their new home and the location and function of its equipment and experiments. They also will brief the Expedition 6 crew on the inventory and location of supplies aboard the station.

On Tuesday the shuttle and station crews will lift the new P1 truss segment from Endeavour's cargo bay with the shuttle's robotic arm, operated by Wetherbee. He will hand the P1 off to the Canadarm2, the station's arm, which Bowersox and Whitson will use to position it for installation.

Once remotely operated bolts have secured P1 to the S0 truss center, Lopez-Alegria and Herrington will begin the first of three spacewalks to make electrical, fluid and data connections between it and the rest of the station and to outfit the new truss segment.

Subsequent spacewalks will be made Thursday and Saturday. Each of the three spacewalks will be about 61/2 hours long.

P1 was removed from Endeavour's payload bay at 9:22 a.m. CST by the shuttle's robotic arm, operated by Commander Jim Wetherbee. He handed it off to the station's Canadarm2, operated by Expedition 6 commander Ken Bowersox and Expedition 5 NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson, and released the shuttle arm's grip on P1 a little before 11 a.m. Whitson and Bowersox maneuvered the 14-ton, 45-foot truss segment to its installation position.

P1 is the third segment of the Integrated Truss Structure to be installed this year. A fourth segment, the P6 truss, supports the 240-foot-long solar arrays atop the station. It was installed there in December 2000 and will be moved later to the left end of the station's backbone. At completion, the integrated truss will consist of 11 segments stretching the length of a football field.

The spacewalk began at 1:49 p.m., about 30 minutes earlier than planned, after the four bolts securing the P1 to the S0 truss centerpiece had been driven home by remote commands. The spacewalk ended a little before 8:35 p.m. for a total time of 6 hours and 45 minutes.

Herrington and Lopez-Alegria hooked up electrical connections between P1 and the station, installed spool positioning devices designed to ensure that quick disconnect devices in fluid lines will function properly, and released launch locks securing the Crew and Equipment Translation Aid (CETA) cart, a kind of hand car for the truss railway. The two spacewalkers also removed two drag links, large metal rods that had supported P1 during launch, and stowed them in the P1 framework. Finally, after Herrington had topped off his oxygen supply in the airlock, they installed Node Wireless video system External Transceiver Assembly (WETA) antennas allowing reception from spacewalkers' helmet cameras without a shuttle present.

Endeavour Pilot Paul Lockhart, with help from Bowersox and Expedition 6 Science Officer Don Pettit, served as intravehicular officer during the spacewalk, coaching Lopez-Alegria and Herrington through their tasks and keeping them on the timeline.

The spacewalk was the 22nd station-based spacewalk, and brought the total time for space station spacewalks to 292 hours, 10 minutes. There have been 25 shuttle-based assembly spacewalks.

Lopez-Alegria, wearing the spacesuit with red stripes, and Herrington, in the all-white spacesuit, will conduct two more spacewalks, each scheduled for 61/2 hours, on Thursday and Saturday. Both will focus on making additional connections between the new truss segment and the station, and outfitting the P1.

Expedition 5 Commander Valery Korzun, Whitson and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev conducted handover discussions with their Expedition 6 successors, Bowersox, Pettit and Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin, during parts of the Tuesday spacewalk.

Beginning around 9:20 a.m., Endeavour Commander Jim Wetherbee will use the shuttle's robotic arm to lift the P1 truss from the cargo bay, then hand it off to the station's robotic arm. Expedition Six Commander Ken Bowersox and Expedition Five NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson will fly the station's robotic arm. Bowersox and Whitson will position the P1 for installation around 1 p.m.

About 2:20 p.m., after remotely-operated bolts have secured the P1 truss to the station's central Starboard Zero (S0) truss segment. Mission Specialists Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington will exit the station's Quest airlock to begin the first of the mission's three spacewalks. Lopez-Alegria will start by making connections between the P1 and the S0 while Herrington releases launch restraints on the Crew and Equipment Translation Aid cart. Lopez-Alegria also will install Spool Positioning Devices onto the station. Both spacewalkers will then remove a drag link on the P1 that served as a launch restraint.

The final major task of the 61/2-hour spacewalk is the installation by both spacewalkers of a Wireless video system External Transceiver Assembly (WETA) onto the Unity module. The WETA will be used to support helmet camera communications from future spacewalkers.

Endeavour Pilot Paul Lockhart will coordinate the spacewalk from the flight deck of the shuttle. During the spacewalk, the Expedition Five crew - Commander Valery Korzun, Whitson and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev - will continue handover discussions with the Expedition Six crew - Bowersox, NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit and Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin.

In the afternoon, Endeavour's crew - Commander Jim Wetherbee, Pilot Paul Lockhart and Mission Specialists Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington - will take time to prepare for the second spacewalk of the mission, scheduled for Thanksgiving Day. The second spacewalk will focus on making additional connections between the new Port 1 (P1) truss segment and the station and outfitting the P1 for future use.

The Expedition Five and Six crews also will continue handover discussions and training as Expedition Six - Commander Ken Bowersox, NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit and Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin - begins their stay. Expedition Five - Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev -- is completing six months in orbit as they prepare to return home.

Wetherbee, Lockhart, Lopez-Alegria and Herrington will take a break from their moving duties at about 2:30 p.m. CST for interviews with KFOR-TV of Oklahoma City, OK; the Chickasaw Times newspaper; and the Cedena Ser radio network.

This morning, Mission Control radioed up birthday greetings to Wetherbee, who is celebrating his 50th birthday in orbit today.

The crew of Endeavour was awakened at 7:20 a.m. and the Expedition Six crew was awakened at 7:50 a.m. The shuttle and station remain in excellent condition.

The transfer of items between the two spacecraft is going smoothly, as are the handover briefings for Expedition 6 Commander Ken Bowersox, Cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit. Expedition 5 Commander Valery Korzun, NASA Science Officer Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev are familiarizing the new arrivals with station systems and procedure, and discussing the location of equipment and supplies on the ISS.

This afternoon, Whitson and Bowersox replaced two valves and cleared debris from vent lines of the Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) in the station's U.S. Destiny laboratory. The job was completed about 8 p.m. CST. Later Mission Control radioed them that the valve replacement had been successful, but that there was a leak in one of the CDRA vacuum lines. Whitson and Bowersox began efforts to find and fix that leak late today. CDRA had not been working well for the past several weeks. A Russian system cleanses the station atmosphere of the carbon dioxide exhaled by the normal three-person crew, but CDRA is needed to handle the load of larger crews.

NBC's Jay Leno wished Endeavour Commander Jim Wetherbee a happy 50th birthday. The good wishes were videotaped during Leno's show and transmitted to Endeavour via Houston's Mission Control Center.

This afternoon Wetherbee, Endeavour Pilot Paul Lockhart, Lopez-Alegria and Herrington talked with reporters from KFOR-TV of Oklahoma City, Okla., the Chickasaw Times newspaper; and the Cadena Ser radio network of Spain. The radio network spoke with Lopez-Alegria in Spanish.

Endeavour performed the first of three scheduled reboosts of the station a little after 11 a.m., increasing the altitude of the orbiting laboratory by about 2.8 statute miles. That left the average altitude of the station and Endeavour at almost 244 statute miles. Subsequent reboosts are scheduled for Friday and Sunday.

Thursday's second of three STS-113 spacewalks will see Lopez-Alegria and Herrington make more electrical, data and fluid line connections for the new Port One (P1) truss segment, install a second wireless video antenna system and move a Crew Equipment Translation Aid railway handcar from the P1 to the S1 truss. P1 was installed just before the Tuesday spacewalk. Thursday's and Saturday's spacewalks each will last about 61/2 hours.

Thanksgiving travel is being taken to new heights by Endeavour and ISS crewmembers. They will log about 1.68 million miles during the four-day weekend, with no weather or traffic delays, no airport security problems and certainly no crowds. Their vehicles' mileage over just those four days is excellent -- almost unlimited. Lopez-Alegria and Herrington are scheduled to travel about 227,500 Thanksgiving weekend miles outside the ISS-Endeavour complex during their two spacewalks.

Endeavour Mission Specialists Mike Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington will exit the station's Quest airlock for a second time during this mission to begin a 61/2-hour spacewalk. Scheduled to begin about 1:20 p.m. central time, the work outside the station today will see Lopez-Alegria and Herrington connect fluid lines from the new Port One (P1) truss segment to the Starboard Zero (S0) truss; install a second wireless video antenna system to the P1; relocate stanchions that were used to hold the P1 in place during launch; and move a Crew Equipment Translation Aid railway handcar from the P1 to the Starboard One (S1) truss.

Endeavour Pilot Paul Lockhart will coordinate the spacewalk from the orbiter's flight deck and Endeavour Commander Jim Wetherbee will provide photo and TV support. From the ISS, Expedition Five NASA Science Officer Peggy Whitson will provide robotic arm support using the station's Canadarm2, and will be assisted by Expedition Six NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit.

Expedition Five Commander Valery Korzun, Whitson and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev will also continue their handover and training briefings for Expedition Six Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and Pettit.

Whitson and Bowersox will take some time today to test the station's bicycle ergometer, which experienced some trouble over the weekend. In addition to being used for exercise, it is used as part of a pre-spacewalk protocol to purge nitrogen from crewmembers' bodies. Testing of the Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly in the station's Destiny laboratory continued overnight and showed that maintenance work performed by the crew on Wednesday had resolved a faulty valve problem with the system.

The Thanksgiving Day spacewalk started at 12:36 p.m. CST, almost 45 minutes ahead of schedule, and ended officially at 6:46 p.m.

Lopez-Alegria and Herrington were helped by intravehicular officer Paul Lockhart, Endeavour's pilot, who coached them through their activities from the shuttle's aft flight deck. Expedition 5 NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson, with help from her Expedition 6 successor Don Pettit, operated the station's Canadarm 2. Endeavour Commander Jim Wetherbee did photo and TV documentation.

The first task for Lopez-Alegria, wearing the spacesuit with red stripes, and Herrington, in the all-white spacesuit, was connection of two fluid jumpers between P1 and the Starboard Zero (S0) truss centerpiece. The jumpers link plumbing for ammonia in the station's cooling system. Next the spacewalkers removed the starboard keel pin, a launch support, and using the Crew and Equipment Translation Aid - one of two handcar-like devices on the truss railway - moved it to the proper location and stowed it in the P1 truss structure.

Lopez-Alegria and Herrington installed a second Wireless video system External Transceiver Assembly (WETA), this one on the P1 truss. They had installed the first WETA on the station's Unity Node during their Tuesday spacewalk. After removal and stowage of the port keel pin, they did the first of the additional jobs, releasing launch locks on the P1's radiator beams. Then they turned their attention to relocation of the CETA cart.

Herrington, in a foot restraint on Canadarm2, lifted the cart from its tracks and held it while Whitson swung him and his cargo around the front of the station, past Endeavour's cargo bay and to the Starboard One (S1), where he attached the cart to tracks and secured it to its sister CETA, launched with the S1 truss on Atlantis' STS-112 flight in October. The relocation was done to clear the P1 tracks for the Canadarm2 to move along them on its Mobile Transporter and Mobile Base System.

The CETA move accomplished, the two spacewalkers moved on to the second additional task, reconnection of one of the cables on the WETA installed Tuesday. Both extra jobs took about 20 minutes.

The oxygen prebreathe protocol before today's spacewak to purge nitrogen from spacewalkers' bloodstreams, was done on the shuttle's cycle ergometer. Whitson and Expedition 6 Commander Ken Bowersox checked out the station's cycle ergometer with a newly uplinked procedure to use it in manual mode.

Expedition 5 Commander Valery Korzun, Whitson and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev continued their handover briefings for Bowersox, cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin and Pettit. Transfer of equipment and supplies between the station and shuttle also continued.

The Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) is functioning well. Whitson and Bowersox replaced two valves and cleaned airlines on the device on Wednesday, and later that evening they repaired a leak in a CDRA vacuum line.

Handover briefings of the Expedition 6 crew, Commander Ken Bowersox, cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit, by their Expedition 5 predecessors, Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson and cosmonaut Sergei Treschev, continued. The briefings focus on procedures aboard the ISS, science and the location of equipment and supplies.

This afternoon Korzun ceremonially handed over the reigns of the station to Bowersox. Expedition 6 has been the official station crew since Monday when they installed their custom seat liners in the Soyuz spacecraft attached to the station. Later in the afternoon the 10 astronauts and cosmonauts held their crew news conference, fielding questions from reporters at Johnson Space Center and Kennedy Space Center.

Endeavour commander Jim Wetherbee initiated a series of shuttle thruster firings which boosted the altitude of the International Space Station by about eight-tenths of a mile this morning. The reboost left the station at an average altitude of more than 244 statute miles. It was the second of three reboosts during Endeavour's mission to the station. The first, on Wednesday, increased the station's altitude by about 2.8 miles. A third reboost is scheduled for Sunday.

Whitson and Pettit did troubleshooting on the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) on board the station. They checked electrical circuits upstream and downstream of the MSG's power distribution and conversion box - the device that provides electrical power to the facility - in hopes of identifying what caused the component to fail Nov. 20.

Endeavour astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington reviewed procedures for their third and final spacewalk of the STS-113 mission on Saturday. Participating were pilot and spacewalk intravehicular officer Paul Lockhart, Bowersox and Canadarm2 operators Whitson and Pettit. Much of the spacewalk will be devoted to installation of 33 spool positioning devices, to ensure that quick disconnect devices in station ammonia coolant lines will release as designed. Other tasks include connecting Ammonia Tank Assembly umbilicals and reconfiguring a circuit breaker on the Main Bus Switching Unit. If time allows, they also will reconfigure the Squib Firing Unit, designed to release Port One truss radiator panels for deployment.

Among the items to be transferred today are various science experiments, two returning home aboard Endeavour and one moving to the station. This morning, Mission Specialist Mike Lopez-Alegria and Expedition Five NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson will transfer the Protein Crystal Growth Single Thermal Enclosure System (PCG-STES) - Unit 7 to Endeavour, while Expedition Six Commander Ken Bowersox will transfer PCG-STES Unit 10 from the shuttle to the station. This afternoon, Lopez-Alegria and Expedition Six NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit will transfer the Plant Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (PGBA) to Endeavour. Plants grown while on orbit will be studied by researchers on the ground.

Whitson and Pettit will also spend some time today troubleshooting the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) on board the station. The MSG recently developed a problem with its power distribution and conversion box - the device that provides electrical power to the facility.

To date, NASA has conducted more than 90,000 hours of scientific research aboard the station and the Expedition Six crew is scheduled to conduct 18 new or continuing experiments.

About 11 a.m., Commander Jim Wetherbee will fire Endeavour's small thruster jets to gently raise the altitude of the station by slightly less than one mile. Late today, Pilot Paul Lockhart, Mission Specialist John Herrington, Lopez-Alegria, Whitson, Bowersox and Pettit will take time to review plans for Saturday's third and final scheduled spacewalk of the mission.

A formal Change of Command ceremony between the Expedition Five and Six crews is scheduled for 2:20 p.m., but may occur earlier. The full crews also will gather for a joint crew news conference beginning at 3:49 p.m. central time.

Pilot Paul Lockhart will coordinate the spacewalk from the aft flight deck of Endeavour. The station's robotic arm, the Canadarm2, will be operated at varying times by Expedition Five Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson, Expedition Six Commander Ken Bowersox and Expedition Six NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit. Commander Jim Wetherbee will provide TV and photo support.

The spacewalkers will begin by installing 33 spool positioning devices on various locations around the outside of the station. The clamp-like devices ensure that the quick disconnect fittings in the station's ammonia coolant lines release as designed.

Other spacewalk tasks include connecting the Ammonia Tank Assembly umbilicals and reconfiguring a circuit breaker on the Main Bus Switching Unit. If time allows, the two also will reconfigure the Squib Firing Unit, a pyrotechnic device designed to release the Port One truss radiator panels when they are deployed next year.

Before the spacewalk begins, Whitson and Bowersox will command the Canadarm2 to walk off its current location on the Destiny Laboratory to its mobile base on the P1 truss. Whitson will operate the robotic arm with Pettit assisting during some of the spacewalk activities. When Herrington is finished, Whitson and Bowersox will command the Canadarm2 to return to a Power and Data Grapple Fixture on the Destiny Laboratory.

During the spacewalk, Expedition Five Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev will continue handover activities with Bowersox and Expedition Six Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin. Korzun and Treschev also will complete their final sessions in the Lower Body Negative Pressure suit, a Russian device to help the cosmonauts prepare for their return to Earth's gravity.

Today's spacewalk began at 1:25 p.m., with Herrington being asked to look for possible obstructions that might have stalled the station's railcar, or Mobile Transporter (MT) that had stopped unexpectedly about 10 feet short of its intended destination. At 10:21 a.m. today, the MT was commanded to move from its position at Worksite 4 near the S-Zero (S0) truss to Worksite 7 where the station's robotic arm would have "walked off" from its mooring on the Destiny Laboratory to the MT and been used to maneuver Herrington through some of his tasks.

Herrington spotted a stowed UHF communications antenna that had snagged a trailing umbilical mechanism on the MT, halting its motion. Herrington then deployed the antenna, freeing the MT to continue its travel toward Worksite 7. At 4:11 p.m., the railcar was in place and just before 6 p.m., was securely latched into place.

Flight controllers evaluated the performance of the railcar and possible impacts to the spacewalk schedule as a result of troubleshooting activities, ultimately deciding to reprioritize some of today's tasks to ensure the high priority items were completed. After Herrington informed flight controllers he could complete all his assigned tasks without using the station's robotic arm, flight controllers elected not to perform the "walk off" of the station arm to the MT.

Herrington and Lopez-Alegria successfully completed all of their assigned tasks during today's spacewalk, including the installation of 33 spool positioning devices on various locations around the outside of the station. From onboard Endeavour, Pilot Paul Lockhart coordinated the two spacewalkers' efforts, providing them with visual cues as they moved around the station.

Aboard the station, handover activities continued between Expedition Five Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev and Expedition Six Commander Ken Bowersox and Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin.

Since Endeavour arrived at the station on November 25, the 10 astronauts and cosmonauts have successfully worked together to install the 14-ton P1 truss segment, outfit and activate it during three spacewalks, transfer equipment, experiments and supplies between the two spacecraft, and exchange resident crews aboard the station.

Today, spacewalkers Mike Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington, along with Pilot Paul Lockhart will clean up and stow away their spacesuits, following the conclusion of Saturday's final spacewalk of the mission. Endeavour Commander Jim Wetherbee will gently pulse the orbiter's thrusters this morning to raise the station's altitude by approximately 2.8 miles. The jet firings will last approximately 45 minutes, and combined with two previous reboost maneuvers earlier in the mission, should increase the station's total altitude by about 6 1/4 miles.

The crew will also take some time today to verify operation of the tools that will be used during Monday's undocking of Endeavour from the International Space Station and to complete the final transfer of equipment. Approximately 95 percent of transfer activities are complete.

About 2 p.m. central time, Wetherbee, Lockhart, Lopez-Alegria and Herrington, Expedition Six Commander Ken Bowersox and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit, will talk with media representatives from CNN Espanol, Indian Country Today and the Native America Calling radio network.

Final handover briefings between the Expedition Five and Expedition Six crews will continue throughout the day, as the 10 astronauts and cosmonauts prepare to bid each other farewell tomorrow. Hatches between the two spacecraft are slated to be closed about 11:15 a.m. central time Monday, with Endeavour undocking from the station about 2:05 p.m.

This morning Endeavour Commander Jim Wetherbee initiated a series of firings of Endeavour's thrusters to raise the station's altitude by about 2.8 statute miles. This was the third reboost of the flight and left the ISS almost 61/2 miles higher than it was when the shuttle docked on Nov. 25. The station's average altitude is now about 247 miles.

Shuttle crewmembers, Wetherbee, Pilot Paul Lockhart, Mission Specialists Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington, and Expedition 5's NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson, her Expedition 6 successor Don Pettit and Expedition 6 Commander Ken Bowersox, spoke with representatives of Indian Country Today and Native America Calling radio network.

Transfer activities wound down, with the crew wrapping up movement of supplies, equipment and experiments between the two spacecraft. Endeavour brought more than 2,500 pounds of material to the station in the shuttle's crew compartment.

During the afternoon, Pettit and Whitson did additional troubleshooting on the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) in the station's U.S. laboratory Destiny. The glovebox allows experiments with fluids, flame, particles or fumes to be performed in an enclosed environment. The MSG's power distribution and conversion box failed Nov. 20. The box will be returned to Earth aboard Endeavour, leaving the MSG inactive.

Handover talks continued between the Expedition 5 crew, Commander Valery Korzun, Whitson and cosmonaut Sergei Treschev, and Expedition 6 crewmembers Bowersox, Cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin and Pettit.

Hatches between the two spacecraft are to be closed about 11:15 a.m. CST Monday, with Endeavour undocking from the station about 2:05 p.m. near the west coast of Australia after a pass over the Indian Ocean. Landing is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at Kennedy Space Center.

Endeavour will leave behind the Expedition Six Crew - Commander Ken Bowersox, NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit and Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin - who are scheduled to live and work aboard the station for the next four months.

Endeavour Commander Jim Wetherbee, Pilot Paul Lockhart, Mission Specialists Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington, and Expedition Five Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev are scheduled to begin those farewells at 11:15 a.m.

Endeavour is scheduled to undock from the space station at 2:05 p.m., after bringing the station a new resident crew, installing the Port One truss and transferring more than 2,500 pounds of supplies, equipment and experiments. As Endeavour gently undocks and backs slowly away from the station, the two vehicles should be flying high over Western Australia.

Shortly after undocking, the Endeavour crew will release two miniature satellites as part of an experiment referred to as MEPSI. Funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the two small satellites, which are tethered together, will be released from Endeavour's payload bay to fly free for three days as a technology demonstration of the launcher assembly and use of micro-and nano-technolgoies in space systems.

As the Expedition Six crew settles into its first day alone aboard the station, Endeavour's crew will begin stowing away equipment and hardware in anticipation of Wednesday's scheduled landing at the Kennedy Space Center. Weather permitting, Endeavour is scheduled to return to Earth on Wednesday at 2:48 p.m. central.

After final farewells among the STS-113 and Expedition 5 and 6 crews, the hatches between the spacecraft were closed at 11:57 a.m. CST. Following a series of pressure and leak checks, Endeavour gently undocked from the station at 2:05 p.m. as the two spacecraft flew over northwestern Australia. Total docked time for the mission was six days, 22 hours and six minutes.

As Endeavour departed the station, Bowersox rang the ship's bell on board and wished the crew a safe landing. Endeavour Commander Jim Wetherbee wished the Expedition 6 crew "fair winds." After a one-quarter-lap fly-around of the station, Pilot Paul Lockhart fired a final separation burn of Endeavour's engines at 3:01 p.m. and began its final departure from the station.

All major mission objectives were accomplished during Endeavour's stay at the ISS. The 14-ton Port One truss segment, one of 11 such structures that will form the station's backbone, was delivered and installed over the course of three spacewalks by Mission Specialists Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington, and the station crews were exchanged. With its latest addition, the station's mass stands at 197 tons, or about 400,000 pounds. Returning home after spending 178 days on the station is the Expedition 5 crew -- Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev.

At 4:05 p.m., Endeavour's crew released two miniature satellites as part of an experiment referred to as MEPSI. Funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the two small satellites, which are tethered together, were released from Endeavour's payload bay to fly free for three days as a technology demonstration of the launcher assembly and use of micro- and nano-technologies in space systems.

The focus of activities aboard Endeavour on Tuesday will include a checkout of the systems that will be used during Wednesday's planned landing at the Kennedy Space Center. Endeavour is scheduled to land at 2:48 p.m., bringing Korzun, Whitson and Treschev home after 182 days in space. Weather for landing is forecasted to be questionable.

Commander Jim Wetherbee, Pilot Paul Lockhart and Flight Engineer John Herrington activated one of three hydraulic power units on Endeavour, tested all of its aerosurfaces, and then test-fired Endeavour's steering jets. The remaining crewmembers - Mike Lopez-Alegria, and Expedition 5 crewmembers Valery Korzun, Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev - continued packing up gear and hardware in anticipation of tomorrow's landing.

Endeavour has two opportunities to land at the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday. The first begins with a deorbit burn of the Orbital Maneuvering System engines at 1:42 p.m. CST, followed by a landing at 2:48 p.m. In the event weather prevents a landing on that first opportunity, there is a second opportunity, beginning with a deorbit burn at 3:20 p.m. and resulting in a 4:26 p.m. landing. Preliminary weather forecasts call for the possibility of clouds and rain showers in the vicinity of the three-mile-long landing strip on Wednesday. The backup landing site at California's Edwards Air Force Base was not activated for Wednesday. Endeavour has sufficient consumables to remain in orbit until Sunday.

The seven crewmembers took a few minutes this afternoon to talk with CBS' "Up to the Minute," TV-E Spain and the Tulsa World newspaper. The crew discussed its successful shuttle mission as well as the Expedition 5 crew's to date 181-day experience in space.

Meanwhile, aboard the International Space Station, the Expedition 6 crew -Commander Ken Bowersox, NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit and Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin - spent today settling into its new home and unpacking some of the equipment and hardware carried to the station by Endeavour. The crew also enjoyed some time off during its first full day alone on the station.

Endeavour's crew will begin a scheduled eight-hour sleep period at 9:50 p.m. today, waking at 5:50 a.m. Wednesday to prepare for a homecoming to the Kennedy Space Center.

The crew will spend its day stowing away equipment and hardware, and preparing their vehicle for its high-speed reentry. With a landing tomorrow, the returning Expedition Five crew - Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev -will have spent 182 days in space. Approximately 2,203 pounds of equipment and experiments from the International Space Station will also return home aboard Endeavour.

Over the course of an 11-day mission, the STS-113 crew - Commander Jim Wetherbee, Pilot Paul Lockhart and Mission Specialists Mike Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington - Whitson, Korzun and Treschev, and the Expedition Six crew of Commander Ken Bowersox, NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit and Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin, combined to install the new P1 truss to the station, perform three spacewalks to outfit and activate the truss, and transfer supplies and equipment between the two spacecraft.

Preliminary weather forecasts for tomorrow's landing in Florida indicate the possibility of clouds and rain showers in the vicinity of the landing site. Flight controllers will continue to watch weather conditions and receive updated briefings throughout the day today.

About 2 p.m. today, Endeavour's crew will take time to discuss the successful mission with CBS "Up to the Minute," TV-E Spain and Tulsa World newspaper. Aboard the space station, Bowersox, Pettit and Budarin are spending their 10th day in space unpacking the 2,135 pounds of supplies and equipment brought to the station by Endeavour.

Endeavour has two opportunities to land today. The first begins with a deorbit burn of the Orbital Maneuvering System engines at 1:42 p.m. CST, followed by a landing at 2:48 p.m. In the event weather prevents a landing on that first opportunity, there is a second opportunity, beginning with a deorbit burn at 3:20 p.m. and resulting in a 4:26 p.m. landing.

Preliminary weather forecasts call for the possibility of clouds and rain showers in the vicinity of the three-mile-long landing strip, with a 30 percent probability of weather prohibiting landing. The backup landing site at California's Edwards Air Force Base has not been activated for today. Endeavour has sufficient consumables to remain in orbit until Sunday.

Commander Jim Wetherbee, Pilot Paul Lockhart and Missions Specialists Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington have been in space since Nov. 23. Returning to Earth from the International Space Station with STS-113 is the Expedition Five crew - Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev - which has been in space since June 5.

The new crew of the International Space Station - Expedition Six Commander Ken Bowersox, NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit and Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin - will spend its day, respectively, reconfiguring the station's computer network and loading new software onto the computers to support the crew's activities for the next four months; checking out the equipment in the Human Research Facility Rack and the station's defibrillator; and performing periodic maintenance on the station's Russian systems.

If Endeavour lands on time, crewmembers are tentatively scheduled to return to the Johnson Space Center in Houston on Friday afternoon.

There are two landing opportunities in Florida today. The first begins with a deorbit firing of Endeavour's engines at 11:51 a.m. resulting in a 12:57 p.m. Central Time landing. If weather does not permit a landing on the first opportunity, there is a second, with a deorbit burn at 1:27 p.m. resulting in a 2:33 p.m. Central Time landing.

Preliminary forecasts for today continue to show low cloud ceilings, possible windy conditions and rain at the Florida landing site. A clearing trend is expected over the next 24 hours with improved conditions in the vicinity of the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday. The alternate shuttle landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in California will be called up for support as well on Saturday.

There are two landing opportunities available at both the Kennedy Space Center and Edwards Air Force Base on Saturday, if required. The first of two opportunities in Florida would see Endeavour land at 1:37 p.m. Central Time, with a second opportunity at 3:14 p.m. Central. The times for a California landing are 4:45 p.m. Central and 6:22 p.m. Central.

Endeavour's seven-member crew includes Commander Jim Wetherbee, Pilot Paul Lockhart, Mission Specialists Mike Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington, and the returning International Space Station Expedition Five crew of Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev. Korzun, Whitson and Treschev are now in their 184th day in space.

Aboard the International Space Station, the Expedition Six crew is completing its first week in orbit. Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit have been busy at work stowing away the supplies and hardware carried to orbit by Endeavour. They also are preparing for Thursday's scheduled 6 1/2 hour-long spacewalk to be conducted by Bowersox and Budarin. NASA Television coverage of the spacewalk begins at 7 a.m., with the start of the spacewalk slated for 8 a.m. Central.

Commander Jim Wetherbee guided Endeavour to a touchdown on KSC's shuttle runway at 1:37 p.m. Central, completing a 5.74-million-mile journey that added a new segment to the space station's growing backbone and exchanged resident space station crews. Endeavour's landing completed the final shuttle mission of the year and brought home the station's Expedition Five crew -- Commander Valery Korzun, Science Officer Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev. The Expedition Six crew -- Commander Ken Bowersox, NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit and Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin -- remain on the International Space Station, beginning a three-month stay. Ending a 14-day flight aboard Endeavour today were Wetherbee, Shuttle Pilot Paul Lockhart and Mission Specialists Mike Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington.

Official landing times for Endeavour include main gear touchdown at 1:37:12 p.m. Central which equates to 13 days, 18 hours, 47 minutes and 25 seconds Mission Elapsed Time. Nose gear touch down occurred at 1:37:23 p.m. Central or 13 days, 18 hours, 47 minutes and 36 seconds Mission Elapsed Time. Wheels stop for Endeavour occurred at 1:38:25 p.m. Central or 13 days, 18 hours, 48 minutes and 38 seconds Mission Elapsed Time.

The Expedition Five crew and Endeavour's crew will return to Houston's Ellington Field on Monday, December 9. A welcome home ceremony is planned beginning at 3 p.m. Central at Hangar 990.

Early this week Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin, and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit completed the first of three rounds of sample collection for a Human Life Sciences experiment looking into the risk of kidney stone formation in astronauts during extended spaceflights. The investigation, developed by Peggy Whitson before her assignment on the Expedition 5 crew, tests whether the use of potassium citrate, which has been used successfully to combat kidney stones in people on Earth, decreases the occurrence of stone formation in astronauts during long periods in a microgravity environment. This week Bowersox, Budarin and Pettit also finished their first monthly session with an apparatus that measures pulmonary function, gathering data on possible adverse impacts from being in zero-g or in the lower-than-normal atmospheric pressure inside a spacesuit during a spacewalk.

On Thursday Pettit completed a scheduled monthly check of the GASMAP equipment in the Human Research Facility rack. The Gas Analyzer System for Metabolic Physiology analyzes gases in a crewmember's breath so flight surgeons can assess aerobic capacity; it also measures cardiac output and lung volume and efficiency.

Flight control teams in Houston and Moscow continue to work on rescheduling the increment's only planned spacewalk, which was postponed this week. The spacewalk by Bowersox and Budarin, which includes tasks to continue outfitting the station's new P1 Truss but is not time-critical, is being considered for late January. The station's Expedition 5 crewmembers—Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson, and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev—completed their 185-day spaceflight Dec. 7 when the space shuttle Endeavour and its crew, after waiting out three days of poor weather, landed at Kennedy Space Center. Endeavour delivered Expedition 6 and the P1 Truss during its two-week mission. Korzun, Whitson and Treschev returned to the Johnson Space Center in Houston Monday to continue their physical rehabilitation after six months in weightlessness.

The contact with the walls of the station's U.S. laboratory Destiny was carefully planned. It produced vibrations for a data take with the Internal Wireless Instrumentation System (IWIS). IWIS software has been upgraded and the data take was for a structural dynamics experiment.

Expedition 6 Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin, and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit worked during the week on a number of science activities, including biomedical tests and the Zeolite Crystal Growth (ZCG) experiment. Bowersox suggested spinning the autoclaves of the experiment, designed to produce Zeolite crystals larger than can be grown on Earth, to concentrate bubbles that formed in the sample's center. The suggestion contributed to the success of the experiment. Bowersox also had a practice run for his upcoming Foot/Ground Reaction Forces (FOOT) experiment. Pettit installed the Express Rack 3 laptop and later activated and checked out the rack, delivered to the station several months ago.

The crew and Russian ground stations tested the Kurs-P passive ring, and later Budarin reconfigured the Kurs-P radar system, used in Russian automated rendezvous and docking operations. The crew did more than three hours of tests of the Canadarm2 on Thursday. Tests included a series of grapples on a Mobile Base System fixture while collecting Force Moment Sensor (FMS) data.

The HCOR is a data recorder that stores information collected while the station is not in contact with the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) system, for later transmission to the ground. It will replace a medium rate recorder, giving the station greater capacity to store information from scientific experiments and elsewhere and transmit it when the station can use the TDRS system.

Flight control teams in Houston and Moscow continue to work on rescheduling the increment's only planned spacewalk, now expected to occur in January. The spacewalk includes tasks to continue outfitting the station's new P1 Truss.

Crewmembers did get a Christmas call from NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, who chatted with them for almost 15 minutes. Each crewmember also had a private 15-minute conversation with family members at home, and each had the daily standard two hours of physical exercise. While they had no special Christmas meal on board, each selected favorite dishes for their holiday dinner. They opened presents too, sent up well in advance of the day.

The week began with the station in the YVV attitude, with the right side of the ISS in the direction of travel and the 20-inch window in the bottom of Destiny continuously facing the ground. The maneuver to that attitude took place just before midnight CST on Dec. 21, a little earlier than planned. It was done in response to high temperatures on some parts of the station. The ISS returned to the more familiar XPOP attitude, with the 240-foot solar wings continuously pointed toward the sun, late on Christmas Day.

On the science front, Bowersox on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday worked with the FOOT (Foot/Ground Reaction Forces During Spaceflight). The experiment is designed to see how the joints of the hips, legs and feet move and what changes occur in their bones and muscles in the absence of gravity. On Tuesday Bowersox wore a pair of tights with 20 sensors. The information they recorded was sent to an ISS workstation on Thursday for transmission to scientists on the ground.

Bowersox was able to show off the FOOT fashion on Tuesday during a Christmas Eve chat with representatives of KOIN-TV in Portland, Ore., and WISH TV of Indianapolis. On Thursday Bowersox and Pettit talked about science activities aboard the ISS in a 20-minute live segment carried on NASA-TV.

Budarin worked with a Russian plant-growth experiment during the week, while Pettit continued his work with experiments in Destiny. On Friday each crewmember submitted to a pre-breakfast blood analysis and a periodic health assessment.

Work aboard the orbiting outpost resumed on Jan. 2, highlighted by a practice fire drill, set-up of the ultrasound equipment associated with the Human Research Facility and a leak check of the Quest airlock module using a jumper hose that is being evaluated for future support of airlock window replacements. The ultrasound equipment provides enlarged, three-dimensional images of the heart and other organs, muscles and blood vessels for both research and diagnostic applications.

The following day was dedicated to sound level measurements inside the various modules of the space station, part of an on-going effort to characterize the level of noise inside the station, and operation of the Zeolite Crystal Growth experiment, which scientists are using in an effort to grow crystals larger than can be grown on Earth. Zeolites form the backbone of the chemical processing industry. Larger, purer zeolite crystals could increase the amount of gasoline that can be produced from a barrel of oil, making the petrochemical industry more efficient.

Budarin worked with a Russian plant-growth experiment, and on inventories of Russian medical equipment and supplies and videotapes available for use on the station. He also conducted an inspection of the aft docking port of the Zvezda Service Module, where a Progress resupply vehicle will dock in February.

The crew is scheduled to enjoy a fairly relaxed weekend, with weekly housekeeping activities and routine private family and medical conferences on tap.

Bowersox is scheduled to resume work Monday with the FOOT (Foot/Ground Reaction Forces During Spaceflight), which looks at how the hips, legs and feet move in the absence of gravity, and at what changes occur in bones and muscles using a special pair of tights with 20 sensors.

The crewmembers spent this week reviewing the timeline and procedures, organizing tools, and preparing the spacesuits and the Quest airlock for the 61/2-hour spacewalk. During the outing, Bowersox and Pettit will release launch restraints to permit deployment of a cooling radiator on the Port 1 truss segment and clean the attach point on the Unity Node for station cargo modules. They also will install a work light and a foot restraint on an astronaut handcar for future spacewalking construction workers to use. Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin will provide support for Bowersox and Pettit from inside the station. NASA television spacewalk coverage starts at 5 a.m. CST Wednesday.

Bowersox provided data to scientists for the FOOT (Foot/Ground Reaction Forces During Spaceflight) experiment, which looks at how the arms, hips, knees, legs and feet move in the absence of gravity, and at what changes occur in bones and muscles during spaceflight. Bowersox wore a special pair of cycling pants with 20 sensors on his legs and additional sensors on his arms that took electrical impulse measurements throughout his workday Tuesday.

All three crewmembers participated in a monthly lung-function test, to study the effects of weightlessness. The crewmembers forcefully exhaled into a device which stored lung capacity measurements in an onboard medical computer. The session served as the pre-spacewalk reading for Bowersox and Pettit, while the experiment also studies how wearing low-pressure spacesuits affects lung performance. They will participate in another session after the spacewalk.

Thursday, Bowersox and Pettit operated the space station robotic arm, Canadarm2, to do camera surveys of exterior hardware in the station's expanding thermal control system. They maneuvered Canadarm2 into positions to inspect the location of thermal blankets on cooling lines and the S1 and S0 trusses and also survey the condition of the radiator on the P6 truss. Engineers on the ground will review the footage for any irregularities.

The spacewalk, which was the first for both Bowersox and Pettit, was the 50th excursion in support of the assembly and maintenance of the ISS, the 25th originated from the Station itself and the 16th conducted from Quest. Russian cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin supported the spacewalk from inside the ISS, acting as the spacewalk choreographer while operating television cameras on the Canadarm2 robotic arm.

After encountering some difficulty opening the airlock hatch due to a strap on the inside of the thermal hatch cover, the hatch finally swung open and Bowersox and Pettit began their spacewalk at 6:50 a.m. Central time by placing their suits on internal battery power. As he did, Bowersox reported a loss of digital data for his suit systems, requiring him to recycle his suit power that cleared up the momentary glitch. Once outside, Bowersox and Pettit quickly set up tools and gear, then moved to the recently installed Port One (P1) Truss segment, where they released ten remaining launch restraints from the truss' radiator system. Eight others had been released when the truss was delivered to the ISS last November on the STS-113 mission.

Flight controllers then sent commands to unfurl the P1's center radiator, enabling it to extend to its fully deployed length of 75 feet, preparing the system for its activation later this year to provide cooling for station systems. The deployment took only 9 minutes to complete.

After inspecting some hardware on the P1 Truss for engineers on the ground, the two spacewalkers made their way to the Unity connecting node, where Pettit used Kapton tape to dab away small amounts of grit from a sealing ring on the nadir Common Berthing Mechanism, leaving the CBM in a pristine condition for the attachment of the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module during the next shuttle flight to the station in March.

Bowersox and Pettit were unable to complete one minor task, the installation of a stanchion and a light fixture on one of two handcarts located on the Starboard One (S1) Truss which future spacewalkers will use to transport themselves up and down the station's truss system. The stanchion would not release from its stowed position on the truss, apparently because of a pin interfering with its movement, and the task, considered a low priority for today's spacewalk, was deferred to a future Expedition excursion.

As they neared the end of their spacewalk, Bowersox and Pettit returned to the center of the station, as Pettit retrieved tools from a storage box on the Z1 Truss and conducted a health check on an ammonia reservoir that was delivered to the P6 solar array truss structure in 2001. That ammonia system will be used to partially fill the cooling loops of the P1 Truss on an intricate shuttle assembly flight later this year that will occur in the midst of the reconfiguration of station power systems.

As they reentered the Quest Airlock, Bowersox and Pettit used a scissors to cut away the strap on the hatch cover which interfered with the rotation of the hatch handle at the start of the spacewalk. The hatch closed normally with no further problems expected in the future.

With their work completed, Bowersox and Pettit completed their spacewalk at 1:41p.m. Central time, raising the total spacewalk time for ISS assembly and maintenance to 312 hours and 11 minutes.

Before the spacewalk began, robotic engineers in Mission Control sent commands to move the station's Mobile Transporter from the far end of the P1 Truss to its normal parking place at the centermost S0 Truss segment to protect its umbilical cable from any potential damage from orbital debris. The Transporter began its move from the P1 Truss to the S0 Truss at 1:53 a.m. Central time, latching itself in place about 20 minutes later.

The transporter is used to maneuver the Canadarm2 space crane up and down the length of the station's trusses for assembly work. It had been parked on the P1 Truss during the STS-113 mission when it ran into a communication antenna on the truss, delaying its use for one of that flight's spacewalks. Today, it moved back to its normal parking place uneventfully.

Bowersox, Budarin and Pettit will enjoy an off-duty day Thursday in the wake of today's spacewalk before resuming their normal complement of scientific experiments and ISS housekeeping on Friday.

Commander Rick Husband, Pilot Willie McCool, Mission Specialists Dave Brown, Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark, Payload Commander Mike Anderson and Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon of the Israel Space Agency blasted off at 9:39 a.m. CST from Launch Pad 39-A. Less than nine minutes later, Columbia settled into an orbit inclined 39 degrees to the equator.

The seven astronauts will divide their duties into two teams working 12-hour shifts to conduct round-the-clock science. Aboard Columbia more than 80 experiments dealing with astronaut health and safety, advanced tehnology development and Earth and space sciences.

Husband, Chawla, Clark and Ramon comprise the Red team which will work in the pre-dawn and daytime hours, while McCool, Brown and Anderson make up the Blue team, working the evening and overnight hours.

Once in orbit, the crewmembers will begin to unstow gear and prepared for the opening of Columbia's payload bay doors, before activating hardware and experiments in a double Spacehab research module housed in the shuttle's cargo bay, which contains the lion's share of the mission's science. Other experiments housed in the cargo bay also will be activated, along with a special pallet of cryogenic fuel tanks at the rear of the cargo bay which will provide Columbia and its experiments sufficient electrical power for the duration of the flight.

Having shifted their sleep schedule to accommodate the dual-shift operations, McCool, Brown and Anderson will begin an abbreviated six-hour sleep period at 1:39 p.m. CST and will be awakened at 7:39 p.m. while Red team counterparts continue the early stages of experiment activation. Husband, Chawla, Clark and Ramon will begin an eight-hour sleep period at 8:39 p.m. and will be awakened Friday at 4:39 a.m. to handover work from the Blue team which will be continuing the initial phase of scientific studies overnight.

As Columbia was launched, the Expedition 6 crew aboard the International Space Station was orbiting over the northern Pacific Ocean south of the Aleutian island chain. Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit are in their 54th day in space, their 52nd day on board the station.

Columbia lifted off at 9:39 a.m. CST from the Kennedy Space Center in near-perfect weather after a flawless countdown. The crew opened the spacecraft's payload bay doors about 11:35 a.m. and then were given the go-ahead for on-orbit operations.

The seven-member crew is divided into two teams, each working 12 hours per day during most of the flight. Members of the blue team, Pilot Willie McCool and Mission Specialists Dave Brown and Mike Anderson, began a six-hour sleep period at 2:47 p.m. CST and will be awakened at 8:49 p.m. Red team members, Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark, and Israeli Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon, begin a 7-hour sleep period at 9:39 p.m.

Spacehab is a pressurized research module 20 feet long, 14 feet wide and 11 feet high. It houses equipment for 59 experiments, three of them mounted on its roof. Its activation marks the beginning of the major science activities of Columbia's mission.

All systems aboard Columbia continue to function flawlessly.

The shuttle is at an altitude of about 178 statute miles, in an orbit inclined 39 degrees to the equator. Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 6 crewmembers, Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit, received a live video uplink of the launch through the ISS Flight Control Room in the Mission Control Center at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Red Team members Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark and Israeli Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon were awakened at 4:39 a.m. CST. Following a handover with their Blue Team counterparts, they took over for Pilot Willie McCool and Mission Specialists Dave Brown and Mike Anderson, who began an eight-hour sleep period at 10:39 a.m. CST.

All SPACEHAB payloads are performing well and research activities continue on schedule. Specific experiment highlights so far include:

All Fast Reaction Experiments Enabling Science Technology Applications and Research, or FREESTAR, payloads have been activated and are performing well. One FREESTAR experiment that measures the amount of energy coming from the sun completed an initial observation, with the best sun pointing ever seen on any shuttle flight. Another experiment that will perform measurements of the Earth's ozone layer is operating nominally. The Mediterranean Israeli Dust Experiment, or MEIDEX, which will measure small particles called aerosols in the atmosphere over the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the Sahara desert, has been readied for initial observations.

The Bioreactor Demonstration System made its initial run. The NASA-developed bioreactor is being used to grow prostate cancer tissues to help scientists better understand how the cancer spreads into bones and to aid in the development of future treatment methods. In the first 20 hours of experiment operations, a significant aggregate of tumor tissue was grown.

The Critical Viscosity of Xenon-2 experiment has been working nominally. The instrument is cooling the xenon sample to begin calibration. A preliminary analysis of the flight data compares favorably with ground-based data. This research in fluid physics may be important to the production of paints, plastics, drugs, food and cosmetics.

The Blue Team will be awakened at 6:39 p.m. CST to continue work on the more than 80 experiments aboard Columbia. Scheduled activities include using MEIDEX, consisting of a radiometric camera and a video camera, to measure a Mediterranean dust plume north of the Gulf of Sidra. Human life sciences experiments also are scheduled to begin.

All systems aboard Columbia continue to function well.

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 6 Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit completed their eighth week in space. Today, they unstowed a rendezvous system from the Russian Progress 9 resupply ship in preparation for the Progress' undocking Feb. 1. That will clear the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module for the arrival of a new Progress cargo craft Feb. 4.

The Expedition 6 crew also conducted metabolic science experiments, exercised and prepared for a quiet weekend in orbit.

Red Team members Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark and Israeli Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon were awakened at 4:39 a.m. CST. Following a handover with their Blue Team counterparts, they took over for Pilot Willie McCool and Mission Specialists Dave Brown and Mike Anderson, who began an eight-hour sleep period at 9:39 a.m. CST.

Specific experiment highlights today included:

·A radiometric camera and a video camera were aimed at the Atlantic and the Mediterranean as part of the Mediterranean Israeli Dust Experiment. Although no dust was detected due to heavy cloud coverage, initial analysis showed that the two cameras are working well, supplying high-quality images. The cloud patterns imaged by the cameras showed remarkable details. The intent of the experiment is to help researchers better understand how dust particles in the atmosphere affect climate.

·An experiment that looks at the movement of calcium through the body to further understanding of bone loss in space began. Astronauts took oral calcium tracers that will be monitored over the course of the mission to examine how calcium metabolism changes in an astronaut's body during spaceflight.

·In the physical sciences, the second run of the Mechanics of Granular Materials was completed. The objective of the experiment is to improve and enhance science and technology in many disciplines including earthquake engineering and soil mechanics. Results may lead to answers concerning the consequences of earthquakes, such as damage to soils and foundations.

Shortly after 2 p.m. CST, Red Team members took time out from their experiment schedule to talk with reporters from CNN, CBS News and Fox News Channel. Asked about the importance of the flight to Israel, Ramon commented that he views the mission as an "opening for great science for our nation."

-more-

The Blue Team will be awakened at 5:39 p.m. CST to continue work on the more than 80 experiments aboard Columbia. Scheduled activities include initiation of experiments in the Combustion Module. It will be used to conduct three experiments that examine soot formation, lean combustion and fire suppression.

All systems aboard Columbia continue to function well.

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 6 Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit observed a milestone today as they presided over the final run of the Zeolite Crystal Growth experiment in the Destiny Lab. Experiment results may contribute to the technology used to make gasoline, products for the chemical industry and commercial film products.

The Expedition crew conducted a weekly planning conference with flight controllers in Houston and downlinked video of maintenance work performed this past week. Crewmembers have a light schedule of duties this weekend before resuming their full schedule of activities on Monday.

Red Team members Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark and Israeli Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon completed the first data collection sessions with the Combustion Module in the Spacehab research module housed in Columbia's cargo bay. One of three experiments housed in the Combustion Module --- the study of Laminar Soot Processes (LSP) --- is designed to gain a better understanding of soot formation, oxidation and radiative properties within flames.

Additional data was gleaned from the Mechanics of Granular Materials experiment (MGM) in the Spacehab module, which is providing information on the behavior of saturated sand when exposed to confining pressures in microgravity. The experiment could provide engineers with valuable data for strengthening buildings against earthquakes.

Work was also accomplished with a series of biomedical experiments studying the human body's response to weightlessness --- particularly dealing with protein manufacturing in the absence of a gravity environment, bone and calcium production, the formation of chemicals associated with renal stones and how saliva and urine change in space relative to any exposure to viruses.

Experiments continued with the MEIDEX cameras in the cargo bay observing dust storms in the Mediterranean region and with the SOLSE experiment, geared to studying the amount of ozone in the Earth's atmosphere by using a special imaging spectrometer in the payload bay to look across the limb of the Earth during specifically scheduled orbits.

Columbia's Blue Team science cadre --- Pilot Willie McCool and Mission Specialists Dave Brown and Mike Anderson --- planned to continue the more than 80 experiments on board Columbia following their wakeup call this afternoon. The Red team will begin its eight-hour sleep period just before 9 p.m. Central time.

Earlier today, TV cameras in the Spacehab research module captured Ramon conducting work with the Combustion Module. He reported that the materials science facility was operating perfectly as are all of the other experiment facilities aboard Columbia.

Aboard the International Space Station, Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and ISS Science Officer Don Pettit completed their second month in space by enjoying an off-duty day. The crew will return to a full complement of scientific research activities, exercise and routine ISS maintenance work on Monday. The ISS crew is working a schedule, which calls for them to be awakened every morning at 12:00 a.m. Central time and for their 8 1/2 hour sleep period to begin at 3:30 p.m. CST.

The ISS crew was informed that replacement parts for the Microgravity Science Glovebox will be ready for launch on the next Progress resupply vehicle to the ISS on February 2. With docking of that cargo ship to the ISS planned for Feb. 4, virtually all of the science planned for the facility during Expedition 6 will be accomplished as initially planned.

All systems aboard Columbia and the ISS continue to function well.

Red team members Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark and Israeli Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon conducted additional data takes with the Mechanics of Granular Materials experiment located in the Spacehab Research Module in Columbia's cargo bay. The MGM experiment is providing information on the behavior of saturated sand when exposed to confining pressures in microgravity. The experiment could provide engineers valuable data for strengthening buildings against earthquakes.

The Red team is working what amounts to the day shift on orbit, while the Blue team --- Pilot Willie McCool, Mission Specialist Dave Brown and Payload Commander Mike Anderson --- is working the overnight shift. The division of the two teams into 12-hour shifts assures that scientific research is conducted round-the-clock.

One of the host of experiments in the Spacehab science lab --- the Microbial Physiology Flight Experiment --- was monitored by Clark as she studied how specific fungi react to the absence of gravity for long periods of time.

Additional data was acquired by Anderson and Ramon with an experiment in the Combustion Module in the Spacehab --- the study of Laminar Soot Processes (LSP) --- designed to gain a better understanding of soot formation, oxidation and radiative properties within flames. Two other experiments studying flame properties in space in the large Spacehab furnace are to be conducted throughout the course of the flight.

Work was also accomplished with a series of biomedical experiments studying the human body's response to weightlessness --- particularly dealing with protein manufacturing in the absence of a gravity environment, bone and calcium production, the formation of chemicals associated with renal stones and how saliva and urine change in space relative to any exposure to viruses. The crewmembers also continued periodic blood draws to study how their bodies are adapting to the microgravity environment.

Experiments continued with the MEIDEX cameras in the cargo bay observing thunderstorms to capture images of sprites, which are associated with discharges from the tops of thunderclouds into the Earth's upper atmosphere, and with the SOLSE experiment, studying the amount of ozone in the Earth's upper atmosphere by using a special imaging spectrometer in the payload bay to look across the limb of the Earth during specifically scheduled orbits.

Having been awakened just after 4 p.m. Central time, McCool, Brown and Anderson planned to continue the more than 80 experiments on board Columbia. The Red team will begin its eight-hour sleep period just after 8 p.m. Central time.

This afternoon, flight controllers observed a minor electrical current spike in one of two systems designed to collect and distribute water produced from condensation buildup caused by the operation of the cooling system in the Spacehab Research Module in the cargo bay.

An identical system sprung a leak under the floorboards of Spacehab last night and was shut down. The secondary system had been operating normally until the electrical spike was observed at around 1:15 p.m. A plan was implemented to reconfigure a valve in Columbia, allowing cool air from the shuttle to flow into the science module, thus enabling the module's temperatures to remain at a level that will not require the use of Spacehab's cooling system, while preventing any further buildup of condensation. Later, an air duct was routed from Columbia to the Spacehab to increase the flow of cool air into the science facility.

Flight controllers plan to continue their analysis of the Spacehab cooling issue throughout the night, with no impact expected to science operations.

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 6 Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and ISS Science Officer Don Pettit entered their third month in orbit today with a full complement of scientific research activities, exercise and routine ISS maintenance work.

The three ISS crewmembers conducted a number of cardiovascular tests, unloaded samples from a Zeolite Crystal Growth experiment in the Destiny laboratory that has completed its work for this Expedition. The Russian Vozdukh carbon dioxide removal system in the Zvezda Module, which shut down last week, is now operating normally following the weekend replacement of a valve. The U.S. segment CO2 removal system, which has been operating in place of Vozdukh, was powered down as a result of the Vozdukh revival.

All other station systems are operating normally as are all the systems aboard the shuttle Columbia, which, like the ISS, is orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes.

Highlighting the investigations today for both the Blue and Red Teams were the SOFBALL (Structures of Flame Balls) and ARMS (Advanced Respiratory Monitoring System) experiments, although both teams continued to support other experiments with a variety of activities.

Mission Specialists Michael Anderson of the Blue Team and Kalpana Chawla of the Red Team initiated runs with the SOFBALL experiment, which is creating tiny ball-shaped flames using hydrogen as the fuel. The tiny flames, which are approaching some of the leanest and longest-lasting ever, are invisible to the human eye but visible to the crew and investigators on the ground through special video equipment. Dr. Paul Ronney of the University of Southern California and his team hope to discover new properties about combustion to improve engine efficiency and fire safety, as well as reduce emissions.

Mission Specialist Dave Brown of the Blue Team and Israeli Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon of the Red Team concentrated on the Advanced Respiratory Monitoring System. The European Space Agency experiment alternated experiments targeting the human lung and circulatory system and the human muscular system as it looked at changes brought on by weightlessness.

Commander Rick Husband, leader of the Red Team, and Pilot Willie McCool, leader of the Blue Team, adjusted Columbia's attitude relative to the Earth to support the different requirements of the experiments. They continued to manage the temperature inside the Spacehab Research Double Module in the wake of problems incurred with cooling systems. No experiments have or are expected to be affected by the cooling issue.

Red Team Mission Specialist Laurel Clark, a medical doctor, worked with the Bioreactor Demonstration System, which is growing tissue samples as part of a prostate cancer study. She also beamed down data from the Astroculture experiment growing roses and rice flowers for commercial fragrance development. Clark also worked with bacteria and yeast cultures being grown as part of a Microbial Physiology Flight Experiment that looks at the effect of microgravity on antibiotics.

In honor of the combustion experiments on this flight, the Blue Team's wake-up call this afternoon was "Burning Down the House," by the Talking Heads.

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 6 Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and ISS Science Officer Don Pettit spent their 61st day in space and their 59th day on the station practicing techniques with the Canadarm2 robot arm. This activity was in preparation for the March mission of Atlantis to the ISS that will involve a variety of uses for the space crane.

Columbia and the ISS are both operating in normal fashion, with the Shuttle orbiting at an altitude of 180 statute miles in an orbit inclined 39 degrees to either side of the equator and the station orbiting at an altitude of 240 statute miles in an orbit inclined 51.6 degrees to either side of the equator.

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 Red team of astronauts, working by day, and the Blue team, working by night, maintained a round-the-clock presence in the SPACEHAB Double Research Module, tending to dozens of experiments as scientists reported excellent results. Temperatures in SPACEHAB were maintained at a comfortable 73 degrees, despite the loss of two dehumidifiers earlier in the mission. All of the animals involved in life science experiments were reported to be in good shape along with SPACEHAB hardware.

Red team crewmembers Rick Husband, who is Columbia's Commander, Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark and Israeli Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon conducted more experiments involving the study of flames in space in a special Combustion Module in the SPACEHAB.

More investigations were conducted into the effect of dust storms on the atmosphere with multispectral cameras in Columbia's cargo bay. The MEIDEX experiment focused on plumes of dust in the Mediterranean region and in the Middle East as well as sprites in the targeted areas of interest. Science controllers reported the first successful digital downlink of imagery from the experiment as well as the observance of significant amounts of dust in the observed regions.

A suite of student experiments called STARS yielded the hatching of a fish in an aquatic facility and the successful emergence of a silk moth from its cocoon. STARS contains a half dozen student developed experiments ranging from the study of Australian spiders to the analysis of spaceflight's effects on carpenter bees from Liechtenstein.

The Biopack experiment involving the study of weightlessness on biological samples continued to produce what was described as excellent data for its team of researchers despite the loss of freezer and incubator capability for the storage of samples.

Blue team crewmembers Willie McCool, who is Columbia's Pilot, Payload Commander Mike Anderson and Mission Specialist Dave Brown were awakened for their night shift shortly after 2:30 p.m. Central time. They planned to conduct final combustion studies with the SOFBALL experiment tonight after which the Combustion Module will be reconfigured for the Water Mist experiment, studying fire suppression techniques in spaceflight.

The Blue team will spend some time refreshing water for 13 rodents in the Animal Enclosure Module in SPACEHAB. Data is being acquired on the effect of microgravity on the rodents' neurovestibular system. Now that SPACEHAB temperatures have cooled again, sound mufflers were reinstalled on the animal enclosure compartments.

More data will also be received tonight from the SOLSE experiment, which uses imaging devices in the shuttle's cargo bay to study the Earth's ozone layer. Earlier today, the crew downlinked digital video of the Middle East with breathtaking views of Israel, the Red Sea and the Sinai Peninsula. The video also contained scenes of life and work on orbit involving the seven astronauts. Columbia's systems continue to function perfectly as the shuttle orbits at an altitude of about 180 statute miles.

Flying slightly higher, the Expedition 6 crew aboard the International Space Station is now in its 10th week in space. Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit spent a quiet Sunday, enjoying the views of Earth from orbit while conducting a minor maintenance procedure involving a hatch window in the Unity module. Station systems are also functioning normally.

The space travelers aboard Columbia and the ISS will have a chance to talk to one another Monday in a brief ship-to-ship hookup scheduled at 11:34 a.m. Central time. At the time of the ship-to-ship call, Columbia will be orbiting over northern Brazil, while the ISS sails over southern Russia.

The Structures of Flame Balls experiment, looking at ways of improving engine combustion efficiency, was shut down after a total of 39 tests using 15 different fuel mixtures. A total of 55 flame balls were ignited, including the weakest and leanest flames ever burned. The longest-lived flame burned in space for 81 minutes, part of a total burn time for all flames of 6 1 /4 hours. Oscillating (shrinking and growing) flame balls, which had been predicted theoretically, were observed for the first time.

The Mechanics of Granular Materials test, looking for ways to better understand and deal with soil movement associated with earthquakes, completed its 10th and final run. The Microbial Physiology Flight Experiment expended its eighth and final set of samples looking at yeast and bacteria growth in microgravity. The Canadian-developed Osteoporosis in Orbit also completed its operations.

The Red team, or day shift - Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark and Israel Space Agency Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon - took time out from microgravity experimentation about 11:30 a.m. CST to chat with the other three spacefarers on orbit - Commander Ken Bowersox, NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit and Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin. At the time, the space station was some 240 miles above Southern Russia while the shuttle was over northern Brazil.

The Expedition Six crew aboard the station concentrated on loading new software on the EXPRESS experiment racks, working with Russian and American experiments and preparing the old Progress for its undocking this week to make room for a new supply craft, scheduled to launch Feb. 2 from the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Khazakstan and dock with the station Feb. 4.

After a 2:39 p.m. CST wake-up to the sounds of "Slow Boat to Rio" by Earl Klugh, the Blue team of astronauts - Payload Commander Michael Anderson, Mission Specialist Dave Brown and Pilot Willie McCool was scheduled to enjoy half a day of rest before resuming research activities concentrating on the Mediterranean Israeli Dust Experiment, which yesterday captured its first observations of dust over the Atlantic. Scientists with the Israel Space Agency reported that preliminary data looks promising.

Commander Rick Husband, Pilot Willie McCool, Mission Specialists Dave Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Michael Anderson and Laurel Clark, and Israeli Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon wrapped up final experiment runs, taking a final look at electrical activity above thunderstorms with the Mediterranean Israeli Dust Experiment (MEIDEX). They also shut down the Bioreactor Demonstration System where prostate cancer and bone cells were grown during much of the mission. Tonight the crew will deactivate the Spacehab Research Double Module in the cargo bay. The SPACEHAB will be closed for the final time early Saturday.

This morning, Husband, McCool and Chawla checked out the flight control surfaces of Columbia after activating one of the orbiter's three auxiliary power units in a routine pre-landing test of the Shuttle's systems. A little later, the crew test-fired the reaction control system jets that will regulate Columbia's attitude as it begins its fiery re-entry through the Earth's atmosphere. Opposing jets were fired simultaneously to avoid affecting the spacecraft's orientation.

Two Kennedy Space Center landing opportunities are available to Columbia on Saturday. The first, on orbit 255, would see a deorbit burn at 7:15 a.m. CST and a landing at KSC at 8:16 a.m. to wrap up a flight of 6,649,757 statute miles. A second landing opportunity is available at KSC on the subsequent orbit. That would see the deorbit burn beginning at 8:50 a.m. and a landing at 9:50 a.m.

Florida weather is forecast to be excellent on Saturday. Columbia has enough consumables to remain aloft for several additional days, if necessary.

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 6 crewmembers, Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit, completed loading the Russian Progress supply vehicle for a planned undocking from the Zvezda Service Module Saturday at 9:59 a.m. Central time (1559 GMT). A new Progress bringing fuel, equipment and supplies to the station will be launched from Kazakhstan Sunday and will dock with the station on Tuesday.

Communications were lost with Columbia and its crew at around 8:00 a.m. CST, while the shuttle was traveling about 18 times the speed of sound at an altitude of 207,000 feet. Columbia was 16 minutes from landing at the Kennedy Space Center when flight controllers at Mission Control lost contact with the vehicle. Columbia was returning from a 16-day scientific research mission, its 28th flight, which launched on January 16.

Aboard Columbia were Commander Rick Husband, completing his second flight, Pilot William McCool, wrapping up his first mission, Mission Specialists Dave Brown, also completing his first mission, Kalpana Chawla, on her second flight, Laurel Clark, a first-time space traveler, Payload Commander Mike Anderson, ending his second flight, and Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon of the Israel Space Agency, on his first flight.

Prior to the loss of communications with Columbia, the shuttle's return to Earth appeared perfectly normal. After assessing some wispy fog near the shuttle's three-mile long landing strip at KSC before dawn, Entry Flight Director LeRoy Cain gave approval for the firing of the shuttle's braking rockets to begin its descent from orbit.

Husband and McCool began the deorbit burn to allow Columbia to slip out of orbit at 7:15 a.m. CST. There was no indication of anything abnormal with Columbia's reentry until the last communications between Mission Control and the crew.

At Columbia's intended landing site, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and Associate Administrator for Space Flight William Readdy met with the families of the astronauts to offer their condolences, vowed to uncover the cause of the accident and press ahead with the Shuttle program.

"This is indeed a tragic day for the NASA family, for the families of the astronauts who flew on STS-107, and likewise is tragic for the nation," said O'Keefe.

"We have no indication that the mishap was caused by anything or anyone on the ground," O'Keefe added.

In a briefing, Chief Flight Director Milt Heflin said that around 7:53 a.m. CST, just minutes before communications were lost with Columbia, flight controllers detected indications of a loss of hydraulic system temperature measurements associated with Columbia's left wing, followed three minutes later by an increase in temperatures on the left main gear tires and brakes. At 7:58 a.m., flight controllers noted a loss of bondline temperature sensor data in the area of the left wing followed a minute later by a loss of data on tire temperatures and pressures for the left inboard and outboard tires.

After several attempts to try to contact Columbia, Cain declared a contingency, whereby flight controllers began preserving documentation regarding the entry phase of the flight. Recovery forces fanned out from Texas to Louisiana to try to recover debris that will be pertinent to the mishap investigation.

Space Shuttle Program Manager Ron Dittemore said several teams have been organized to gather data for analysis and will report to an external investigation board that was appointed by Administrator O'Keefe. Dittemore added that no specific orbiter debris or crew remains have been positively identified at this time, and that there is no leading theory for the cause of the accident.

Ditte