Kaleri Credit - www.spacefacts.de

Personal: Male, Married, One child. Born in Yurmala, Latvia. Korolev Design Bureau Civilian Engineer, Energia NPO

Astronaut Career

Astronaut Group: Energia Engineer Group 7 - 1984. Active Entered space service: 15 February 1984. Number of Flights: 4.00. Total Time: 609.91 days. Number of EVAs: 5.00. Total EVA Time: 0.97 days.

ALEXANDER YURIEVICH KALERI
TEST COSMONAUT OF THE ENERGIA ROCKET/SPACE CORPORATION (RSC)

PERSONAL DATA: Born May 13, 1956, in Yurmala, Latvia. He is married to the former Svetlana L. Nosova. They have one child, a son. Alexander enjoys running, reading, and gardening. His mother, Antonina Petrovna Kaleri, resides in Sevastopol, the Ukraine. His father, Yuri Borisovich Kaleri, is deceased.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Moscow Institute of Mechanical Physics in 1979.

SPECIAL HONORS: Hero of the Russian Federation; holds the title of pilot-cosmonaut of the Russian Federation.

EXPERIENCE: In 1979 Kaleri came to work at the Energia Rocket/Space Corporation. He participated in developing design/technical documentation and full-scale tests of the Mir orbital station. Selected as the Energia RSC cosmonaut candidate in April 1984, Kaleri completed basic training and evaluation at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (1985-1986). In 1987 he was qualified for flight assignment as a test pilot. He has logged 22 flight hours piloting the L-39 training aircraft.

April 1 to December 9, 1987, Kaleri took a training course for a spaceflight aboard the Mir orbital station as a backup crew flight engineer of the Mir-3 long-duration mission. January to April, 1991, he took a training course for a spacceflight aboard the Mir as a backup crew flight engineer of the Mir-9 long-duration mission. October 8, 1991 to February 25, 1992, Kaleri was training as a primary crew flight engineer for the Mir-11 long-duration mission.

March 17 to August 10, 1992, he participated in a 145-day flight aboard the Soyuz-TM transport vehicle and the Mir orbital station. The program included an eight-day joint flight with German cosmonaut Klaus-Dietrich Flade (Mir-12 Program) and a twelve-day joint flight with French cosmonaut Michel Tognini (Antares program). Kaleri performed two space walks.

Kaleri

August 17, 1996 to March 2, 1997, Kaleri participated in a 197-day flight aboard the Soyuz-TM transport vehicle and the Mir orbital station as the Mir-22 mission flight engineer. The program included joint flights with NASA-2, 3 and 4 astronauts, a French astronaut and a German astronaut.

April 4 to June 16, 2000, Alexander Kaleri performed his third spaceflight aboard the Soyuz-TM-30 transport vehicle and the Mir orbital station as the Mir-28 mission flight engineer.

On his fourth spaceflight, October 18, 2003 to April 29, 2004, Kaleri served as Flight Engineer aboard the International Space Station. Mission duration was 194 days, 18 hours and 35 minutes, and included one EVA of 3 hours and 55 minute duration.

Alexander Kaleri has logged 610 days in space and 5 EVAs.

APRIL 2004

• 17 March 1992 Flight: Mir EO-11. Flight Up: Soyuz TM-14. Flight Back: Soyuz TM-14. Flight Time: 145.59 days.

• 17 August 1996 Flight: Mir EO-22. Flight Up: Soyuz TM-24. Flight Back: Soyuz TM-24. Flight Time: 196.73 days.

• 4 April 2000 Flight: Mir EO-28. Flight Up: Soyuz TM-30. Flight Back: Soyuz TM-30. Flight Time: 72.82 days.

• 18 October 2003 Flight: ISS EO-8. Flight Up: Soyuz TMA-3. Flight Back: Soyuz TMA-3. Flight Time: 194.77 days.

15 February 1984 - Energia Engineer Cosmonaut Training Group 7 selected..

On Feb 7 at 16:28:01 GMT the EO-22 crew and American astronaut Linenger undocked the Soyuz TM-24 ferry from the front docking port, flew it around to the far side of the complex and redocked at the rear Kvant port at 16:51:27 GMT. This cleared the forward port for the arrival of the EO-23 crew, who brought with them German astronaut Reinhold Ewald on Feb 12.

Through a series of meetings, ISS partners announced that near-term station crew rotations will involve two-person crews flying to the International Space Station in Russian Soyuz spacecraft, beginning with the previously scheduled launch in late April or early May. Expedition 6 will return to Kazakhstan in early May in the Soyuz currently docked to the station. Smaller crews will mean a reduced demand for on-board supplies, which can be delivered only on Russian Progress ships until the shuttles are cleared for flight. One Progress arrived at the station early this month, and the next is due to launch in June.

U.S. astronauts Mike Foale and Ed Lu, and Russian cosmonauts Yuri Malenchenko and Alexander Kaleri, all of whom were previously named to various ISS expedition crews and who have many months of preparation for ISS missions under their belts, are training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia.

Specialists at the Payload Operations Control Center, at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., continue troubleshooting the Microgravity Sciences Glovebox in the station's Destiny laboratory module. The MSG, developed by the European Space Agency with scientists at MSFC, provides an enclosed space for experiments involving fluids or flames. This week Pettit did troubleshooting for the ground-based team looking for the cause of the failure of two power controller boxes on the facility last November, and this month's tripping of a circuit breaker on the facility shortly after the installation of new power boxes delivered on the recent Progress resupply ship. Additional hands-on tests are being planned for next week.

Tuesday morning the crewmembers answered questions about their mission and human spaceflight from middle school science students from Pettit's old junior high school, Mark Twain Middle School in Silverton, Ore. During the event -- staged at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland, Ore. -- Pettit spoke with the teacher, who was his own science teacher in junior high school. On Friday the crewmembers conducted interviews with USA Today and KPTV-TV in Portland, Ore.

Today's activity, with Lu working with flight controllers in Houston, began a little after 3 a.m. CDT. It was a feasibility study. Lu performed task the ground cannot yet do - operating the latching end effector and initiating joint motion, for example. The task was completed successfully before 7 a.m. Results will be used in validation of the concept and in determining software, hardware or procedural changes that would be needed for arm control from the ground.

Lu also spent some time working with the Coarsening in Solid Liquid Mixtures (CSLM) experiment's sample processing units (SPUs) in the Microgravity Science Glovebox of the U.S. laboratory Destiny. One unit Lu installed was found to be distorted, so he reinstalled the previous SPU. The CSLM experiment was delayed from early in the week because of internal humidity and dew point concerns. The experiment is expected to begin next week. It will study "coarsening" during which the strength of a material is reduced. This phenomenon is seen in many materials, including water droplets in rain clouds and dental fillings. It can weaken high-temperature turbine blades. Meanwhile, Malenchenko worked for more than two hours to load discarded items into the Progress 10 unpiloted cargo craft docked at the rear of the Zvezda Service Module.

Last Monday the crew focused on medical experiments and an inventory by Malenchenko of 44 Russian medical, food supplement and ointment kits, about a two-hour task. Tuesday saw additional medical tests and Mission Control Moscow continued testing a new satellite navigation system antenna. Both crewmembers took time to answer questions from elementary, middle and high school students relayed to them by educators at Kennedy Space Center.

After Soyuz descent training and continued work with the week-long process of space suit batteries conditioning Wednesday, Lu and Malenchenko on Thursday prepared for today's robotic operations and Malenchenko continued participation in a Russian study of bioelectrical heart activity while at rest.

Throughout the week both crewmembers continued regular maintenance activities on the Station, and performed their daily exercise sessions, designed to ward off the effects of lengthy exposure to the microgravity environment of the orbiting laboratory.

NASA announced on Friday that astronaut Michael Foale and Cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri will be the Expedition 8 crew of the International Space Station. They are scheduled to launch on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft with European Space Agency astronaut Pedro Duque of Spain on Oct. 18. Duque will return to Earth with the Expedition 7 crew, which arrived at the station April 28. Their Soyuz is scheduled to land in Kazakhstan Oct. 28.

On Tuesday, the crew marked the 1,000th day of human occupancy of the Station with a downlinked video message and a call from the heads of the five global space agencies that represent the 16 nations of the ISS Program.

During the week, Lu worked with the Coarsening in Solid Liquid Mixtures (CSLM) experiment in the Microgravity Science Glovebox in the Destiny Laboratory. That experiment will be continued next week. CSLM is being used to study a physical process called "coarsening" that can reduce the strength of metals, such as those in jet engine turbine blades. Lu also performed a functional check of the Biotechnology Specimen Temperature Controller, which will be used in a fluid dynamics experiment later in the Expedition 7 mission.

Throughout the week, Malenchenko took part in various Russian medical studies to continue gathering data on the effects of microgravity on the human body during a long-duration spaceflight. He also worked with the Russian/German Plasma Crystal-3 (PK-3) experiment, which is being used to examine fine particles inside an evacuated work chamber that have been charged and excited by radio frequencies.

Both crewmembers also took time from their schedules to answer questions from TV Globo's "Fantastico" show in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and from teachers participating in the NASA Explorer Schools Program at Ames Research Center, Calif.

Throughout the week, Malenchenko and Lu continued regular maintenance activities on the Station and performed daily physical exercises to minimize the long-term effects of living in microgravity.

The Expedition 7 crewmembers, who arrived at the station April 28, are scheduled to return to Earth in their Soyuz TMA-2 spacecraft on Oct. 28. They will be replaced by the Expedition 8 crew, U.S. astronaut Michael Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri. Foale and Kaleri are scheduled to launch to the Station Oct. 18 aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, along with European Space Agency astronaut Pedro Duque of Spain. Duque will then return to Earth with the Expedition 7 crew after completing more than a week of science activities aboard the Station.

On Monday, the crewmembers passed the 100-day mark on orbit since their launch to the Station April 26. The crew is scheduled to return to Earth in late October aboard the same Soyuz vehicle they arrived in. The Expedition 8 crew, U.S. astronaut Michael Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri, will replace the Expedition 7 crew. Foale and Kaleri are scheduled to launch to the Station Oct. 18 aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, along with European Space Agency astronaut Pedro Duque of Spain. Duque will then return to Earth with the Expedition 7 crew after completing more than a week of science activities aboard the Station. Foale, Kaleri and Duque will talk to reporters about their upcoming mission during a news conference at 3 p.m. EDT, Thursday, Aug. 14, at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, which will be broadcast on NASA TV.

Throughout the week aboard the ISS, Lu worked with a run of the Coarsening of Solid-Liquid Mixtures-2 (CSLM-2) experiment in the Microgravity Science Glovebox. CSLM-2 is studying how the strength of metals, such as those used in jet engine turbine blades, is reduced during a process called coarsening. Malenchenko worked with Earth observation experiments and wrapped up a Russian agriculture experiment studying the growth of plants in space. He saved the data from the Rasteniya-2 experiment in preparation for its return to Earth.

Tuesday, the Station operating system briefly shifted into "survival mode" when the on-board computers did not recognize both thermal system loops in the Russian segment. Nonessential systems were automatically turned off, but flight controllers and payload controllers worked with the crew to reactivate the operating and payload systems without major impacts to operations or science.

Lu and Malenchenko resized a spare U.S. spacesuit to fit Lu. Malfunctions in Lu's original suit were found during a test earlier in the mission and the larger modular-designed suit was easily adjusted to fit Lu in the event he needs to conduct a U.S. airlock-based spacewalk. Initially, during the fit check of the suit, the cooling system did not function correctly but began working later in the test. Spacesuit experts will continue to troubleshoot the issues with both spacesuits.

This week, Malenchenko used oxygen from the Progress cargo vehicle docked to the aft of the Zvezda Service Module to repressurize the Station. The extra oxygen is being used before the spacecraft is undocked later this month to make room for a new Progress resupply craft scheduled for launch to the Station Aug. 28 (U.S. time).

Lu talked with former Station Science Officer Don Pettit to help locate hardware for the Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation (PFMI) that Lu installed in the Microgravity Science Glovebox Monday. Lu was scheduled to begin science operations with PFMI this week, but was unable to locate an essential cable to complete the installation. Pettit's ideas as to where he left the cable were fruitful. With the cable now installed, Lu can begin a run of the experiment next week.

Troubleshooting continued this week with the two U.S. spacesuits experiencing cooling system issues onboard. Lu and Malenchenko executed a procedure to closely inspect valves and filters for water circulation in the system of the first suit Lu tried on during the mission. Investigations of the cooling system of the spare suit he re-sized last week are still underway. Even though they are not scheduled to conduct a spacewalk during this mission, Lu and Malenchenko could use the Russian Orlan spacesuits to conduct a spacewalk, if needed, since Lu does not currently have a working U.S. spacesuit to wear.

This week, Malenchenko continued to use oxygen from the Progress cargo vehicles docked to the aft of the Zvezda Service Module and to the Pirs Docking Compartment to repressurize the Station. The extra oxygen is being used before the two spacecraft are undocked, taking with them trash and used supplies to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. The Progress docked to Zvezda will undock Aug. 27 to make room for a new Progress resupply craft scheduled for launch to the Station Aug. 28 (U.S. time). The Progress docked to Pirs will undock Sept. 4 to make room for the Soyuz TMA-3 spacecraft scheduled to arrive Oct. 20 with the Expedition 8 crew and European Space Agency astronaut Pedro Duque.

Expedition 8 Commander Michael Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri, will replace the Expedition 7 crew. Foale and Kaleri are scheduled to launch to the Station Oct. 18 aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, along with Duque who will return to Earth with the Expedition 7 crew after completing more than a week of science activities aboard the Station on Oct. 28.

Today marked the crew's 118th day on orbit. Sample processing for the Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation (PFMI) concluded today after beginning Wednesday inside the U.S. laboratory Destiny and the protective environment of the Microgravity Science Glovebox. Processing of the first Expedition 7 sample had been postponed from the previous week due to a missing data cable. Lu found the cable after he talked with former Station Science Officer Don Pettit via cell phone. Plans call for Lu to process seven more samples.

Malenchenko participated in his fifth session with a Russian heart experiment, Study of the Bioelectric Activity of the Heart at Rest, with Lu assisting as crew medical officer and administering the electrocardiogram. Lu also performed periodic health tests with a portable clinical blood analyzer.

"The crew is in great spirits and looking forward to a busy week of departures and arrivals next week," said Expedition 7 Lead Flight Director John McCullough.

As the crew exhausted the supply of oxygen from the Progress 10 cargo vehicle docked to the back of the Zvezda Service Module to repressurize the Station, they continued filling it with trash and worn-out equipment. The old Progress is scheduled to undock from Zvezda at 5:43 p.m. CDT Aug. 27, and later will be commanded to re-enter and burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. That undocking will vacate a port for the Progress 12 vehicle that is scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 8:48p.m. CDT Aug. 28, and dock to Zvezda at 10:43p.m. CDT Aug. 30. Progress 12 will deliver about 1,000 pounds of food, supplies and equipment for use on the Station.

Early next month, the Progress 11 resupply craft will depart its Pirs docking compartment moorings to make room for the Soyuz TMA-3 spacecraft that will ferry the Expedition 8 crew and European Space Agency astronaut Pedro Duque of Spain to the Station on Oct. 20. Expedition 8 Commander Michael Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri will replace the Expedition 7 crew, which will return to Earth Oct. 28 with Duque after he completes more than a week of science activities.

The Progress 10 craft, which arrived at the Station in early February, departed from the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module at 5:48 p.m. CDT (2248 GMT) after hooks holding the Progress to Zvezda had been commanded to unlatch. As the Progress undocked, the ISS was flying 240 statute miles over eastern China. The Progress was filled with items no longer needed on the Station and trash. The Progress will automatically fire its engines later this evening to drop out of orbit and will burn up in the atmosphere.

Aboard the ISS, Expedition 7 NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu was asleep at the time of undocking, but ISS Commander Yuri Malenchenko was allowed by flight controllers to remain awake to monitor the autonomous operation.

The departure of Progress 10 sets the stage for tomorrow's scheduled launch of a new Progress resupply ship to the ISS. Progress 12 is due to liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Thursday at 8:48 p.m. CDT (148 GMT Aug. 29). It will dock to the Zvezda aft port on Saturday night at 10:45 p.m. CDT (345 GMT Aug. 31).

The new Progress will carry a half ton of food, fuel, supplies and water for Malenchenko and Lu and science gear for European Space Agency astronaut Pedro Duque of Spain, who is scheduled to launch October 18 from Baikonur on the Soyuz TMA-3 craft with Expedition 8 Commander Mike Foale and Expedition 8 Soyuz Commander and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri. Duque will spend eight days aboard the ISS conducting science experiments under a commercial contract between ESA and the Russian Aviation and Space Agency. Duque will return to Earth on Oct. 28 with Malenchenko and Lu.

The new Progress is also filled with personal items and hardware for Foale and Kaleri, who are scheduled to spend almost 200 days aboard the ISS.

Another Progress vehicle currently docked to the Pirs Docking Compartment will undock from the ISS on September 4 to clear the way for the arrival of Foale, Kaleri and Duque in the Soyuz TMA-3 on October 20.

The Progress 12 craft lifted off right on time from its Central Asian launch pad at 8:48 p.m. CDT (148 GMT Aug. 29) as the ISS sailed over the south Atlantic Ocean east of South America at an altitude of 240 statute miles. Less than 10 minutes later, the Progress settled into its preliminary orbit and its solar arrays and navigational antennas were successfully deployed.

Aboard the ISS, Expedition 7 Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu were already in their sleep period as the Progress climbed to orbit.

The new Progress is scheduled to dock to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module on Saturday night at 10:45 p.m. CDT (345 GMT Aug. 31). Another Progress ship that arrived at the ISS in February filled with discarded items and trash was undocked yesterday and commanded to deorbit, burning up in the Earth's atmosphere.

Progress 12 is loaded with supplies for Malenchenko and Lu and science gear for European Space Agency astronaut Pedro Duque of Spain, who is set to launch October 18 from Baikonur on the Soyuz TMA-3 craft with Expedition 8 Commander Mike Foale and Expedition 8 Soyuz Commander and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri. Duque will spend eight days aboard the ISS conducting science experiments under a commercial contract between ESA and the Russian Aviation and Space Agency. Duque will return to Earth on Oct. 28 with Malenchenko and Lu.

Among the supplies aboard the Progress is a satellite phone and Global Positioning System locator hardware which Malenchenko, Lu and Duque would use in the unlikely event they land off-course, as did the Expedition Six crew back in May.

The new Progress also carries personal items and hardware for Foale and Kaleri, who are scheduled to spend almost 200 days aboard the ISS.

Another Progress vehicle currently docked to the Pirs Docking Compartment will undock from the ISS on September 4 to clear the way for the arrival of Foale, Kaleri and Duque in the Soyuz TMA-3 on October 20.

The Progress 12 vehicle automatically linked up to the aft end of the Zvezda Service Module at 10:40 p.m. CDT (0340 GMT), two days after its launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. As the Progress neared the Space Station for docking, Expedition 7 Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu were inside Zvezda, monitoring its approach. At the time of contact and capture, the Station was flying over Central Asia at an altitude of 240 statute miles. After conducting leak checks to insure a tight seal between the Progress and the ISS, Malenchenko and Lu will open the hatch to the ship and then begin unloading the supplies.

Stowed in the Progress are replacement parts for Station systems, tools, a satellite telephone and Global Positioning System hardware, next generation laptop computers, educational demonstrations, science experiment gear and office supplies. The Progress also carried to the ISS science equipment for European Space Agency (ESA) Astronaut Pedro Duque of Spain, who is set to launch Oct. 18 from Baikonur on the Soyuz TMA-3 craft with Expedition 8 Commander Mike Foale and Expedition 8 Soyuz Commander and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri. Duque will spend eight days aboard the Space Station conducting science experiments under a commercial contract between ESA and the Russian Aviation and Space Agency. Duque will return to Earth on Oct. 28 with Malenchenko and Lu.

The new Progress also carries personal items and hardware for Foale and Kaleri, who are scheduled to spend almost 200 days aboard the ISS.

Another Progress vehicle currently docked to the Pirs Docking Compartment will undock from the ISS on Sept. 4, to clear the way for the arrival of Foale, Kaleri and Duque in the Soyuz TMA-3 on Oct. 20.

Just a week after a twin vehicle was cast away from a different Station port, the ISS Progress 11 craft, which arrived at the Station in mid-June, departed the Pirs Docking Compartment at 2:42 p.m. CDT (1942 GMT) following the unlatching of hooks holding the Progress to Pirs. As the Progress undocked, the ISS was flying 240 statute miles over eastern China. The Progress was filled with items no longer needed on the Station and trash.

Aboard the ISS, Expedition 7 Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu monitored the autonomous operation and kept tabs as the Progress backed away from the Station.

For the next month, Russian flight controllers will conduct several scientific experiments with the Progress, using its television cameras to capture imagery of sites of ecological interest to Russian researchers while maintaining a safe distance away from the Station. Once those experiments are completed, the Progress will automatically fire its engines to drop out of orbit and burn up in the atmosphere.

A new ISS Progress 12 vehicle arrived at the ISS late Saturday night, U.S. time, ferrying food, fuel, water and supplies for the Station's current inhabitants and those to follow.

The departure of ISS Progress 11 sets the stage for next month's arrival of the Soyuz TMA-3 vehicle to the Pirs Docking Compartment delivering the next resident crew to the ISS along with European Space Agency astronaut Pedro Duque of Spain.

Expedition 8 Commander Mike Foale, Expedition 8 Soyuz Commander and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri, and Duque are scheduled to be launched October 18 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, headed for a docking to Pirs on October 20. Duque will spend eight days aboard the ISS conducting science experiments under a commercial contract between ESA and the Russian Aviation and Space Agency. Duque will return to Earth on Oct. 28 with Malenchenko and Lu. Foale and Kaleri will spend almost 200 days on the Station.

The ISS Progress 12 unpiloted cargo vehicle arrived Saturday with about 5,000 pounds of food, water, equipment and fuel for the ISS. Its docking port had been vacated a week earlier by ISS Progress 10. It re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and burned shortly after its Aug. 27 undocking.

The ISS Progress 11 spacecraft left its Pirs berth Thursday at 2:42 p.m. CDT for another month alone in orbit, as part of a Russian scientific experiment. It will then be deorbited with its load of station refuse and burn in the Earth's atmosphere. The docking port it occupied will in October welcome the Soyuz TMA-3 spacecraft with Expedition 8 Commander Mike Foale and Cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri aboard. With them will be Spaniard Pedro Duque a European Space Agency astronaut who will spend eight days aboard the orbiting laboratory. He will return to Earth with the Expedition 7 crew.

The spacesuit work today by Lu and Malenchenko involved what amounted to annual maintenance. The work is called a mid-term checkout and included emptying and refilling the suit's water tank and loops, cycling relief valves, checking sensors and collecting data, a leak check and running the suit's fan for two hours to lubricate it. Such maintenance is required no more than 369 days after the last spacewalk, previous maintenance or a checkout on the ground.

Other activities during the week included successful completion by Lu of two more runs of the Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation experiment in the Microgravity Science Glovebox of the U.S. laboratory Destiny. The experiment involves melting a transparent material to see how bubbles form in the molten material and how they interact with one another. Researchers hope to gain understanding of molten materials and the potentially weakening bubbles that can form in them.

Malenchenko and Lu also continued regular station maintenance activities and their daily exercise sessions scheduled to mitigate some of the physiological effects of their extended stay in micorgravity.

Malenchenko and Lu powered up the Station's 60-foot Canadian robotic arm, named Canadarm2, on Tuesday for some in-flight training and tests. The conducted a series of maneuvers that moved part of the arm into sunlight to characterize how a force and moment sensor on the arm might work differently in sunlight than in shade. Later in the week, they performed systems checks and maintenance work on the two Russian spacesuits aboard the Station. The activities verified that the gear remains in good condition, although there are no plans for Malenchenko and Lu to use the suits. The next Station spacewalk is tentatively scheduled for the next crew, Expedition 8 Commander Mike Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri, in late February or early March 2004.

Science activities this week included a final Expedition 7 run of the Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation in the Microgravity Science Glovebox. The experiment studied how air bubbles can weaken metals, crystals and other materials as they form in space. Lu also worked with the Fluid Dynamics Investigation to optimize operations of the Cellular Biotechnology Support System bioreactor equipment that grows three-dimensional tissue samples for biological research. Malenchenko participated in a Russian experiment to improve the equipment and routines used to stay in good physical condition during long-duration spaceflight. Biological readings were taken while Malenchenko exercised on a stationary bicycle and performed weight lifting exercises. For the third part of the experiment, Malenchenko provided blood samples for analysis.

In a separate task, Malenchenko used an ultrasound device in the Destiny Lab's Human Research Facility to take echocardiograph measurements of Lu while Lu exercised on a stationary bicycle. The operations were the first time such measurements had been attempted while exercising aboard the station and helped ground medical personnel verify that the equipment could be used for diagnostic purposes if needed.

Expedition 8's Foale and Kaleri, along with European Space Agency Astronaut Pedro Duque of Spain, will hold a prelaunch press conference next week at Russia's Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center outside Moscow. The press conference will be replayed on NASA TV at 8 a.m. CDT Wednesday. The trio is scheduled to launch at 12:37 a.m. CDT Oct. 18. Duque, who is flying under a commercial contract between ESA and the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, will return to Earth Oct. 28 with Malenchenko and Lu.

Lu spent much of his time inside the U.S. Destiny laboratory setting up and performing science investigations. He installed a protein crystal growth experiment in the Microgravity Science Glovebox that will be operated by European Space Agency Astronaut Pedro Duque of Spain, who will arrive at the Station Oct. 20 with the oncoming Expedition 8 crew. Duque, who is flying to the Station on a Soyuz spacecraft under a commercial contract between ESA and the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, will return to Earth Oct. 28 with Malenchenko and Lu.

A soldering experiment that is providing insight into how solder connections in space can be improved and an automated Earth observation camera system were also set up by Lu in the lab. This week, Lu worked with the Fluid Dynamics Investigation, which scientists believe will help alleviate problems with mixing samples for tissue growth experiments. Those samples are housed in a bioreactor, which allows three-dimensional tissue cells, like those in the human body, to grow.

As part of an educational project to help inspire the next generation of explorers, Lu used well-known objects to videotape center-of-mass demonstrations. Using a screwdriver, a compact disc player, a cassette tape and a ruler, he showed how these objects behave differently without gravity. The video will be distributed to science centers across the country for use in lesson plans and future exhibits.

Malenchenko conducted science experiments in the Russian segment of the Space Station. They included biomedical studies of the human body in microgravity as well as observations of thunderstorm activity, the world's ocean biology and studies of how space-based predictions of man-made disasters could be made.

The maintenance activities onboard the Station included Malenchenko inspecting fire sensors in the Zarya control module and checking systems in the Pirs Docking Compartment. Both Lu and Malenchenko did monthly maintenance on the treadmill and resistive exercise equipment.

Lu also configured the U.S. laptop computers so the Expedition 8 crew can begin using them when it arrives. The oncoming resident crew, Commander and NASA ISS Science Officer Mike Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri, along with Duque, are set to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:37 a.m. CDT Oct. 18.

Flight controllers in Houston and Moscow began inserting about an hour a day into the crew's timeline to concentrate on preparations for their return to Earth on Oct. 28. Malencheno and Lu will ride home in the Soyuz that delivered them to the Station and is docked to a port on the Zarya control module.

Thursday, the duo put on their Sokol launch and reentry suits and measured how well they fit into their custom seat-liners, which help absorb shock during the reentry and brake rocket-aided landing. The fit check is required because astronauts gain additional height during long-duration stays on orbit as the absence of gravity allows their spines to stretch slightly.

Similar fit checks were under way at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, for Expedition 8 Commander and Science Officer Michael Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri. Along with Spaniard Pedro Duque, who is flying to the Station under a commercial contract between the European Space Agency and the Russian Aviation and Space Agency. The trio is making final preparations for launch aboard another Soyuz at 12:37 a.m. CDT Oct. 18 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Friday, the two crews had an opportunity to converse by teleconference about the upcoming week of joint operations, handover activities and scientific investigations. The Expedition 7 crew also reviewed computer training lessons on the operation of the Chibis lower body negative pressure device that will be used by Malenchenko as part of his Russian protocol for return to gravity.

Lu spent time inside the U.S. Destiny laboratory checking out acceleration sensor systems and monitors, and making electrical connections as part of the In Space Soldering Investigation, or ISSI. That experiment is designed provide information useful to future Station assembly and maintenance work, as well as fundamental scientific information about the role surface tension plays in soldering on Earth. He also exchanged ideas with Dr. Joshua Zimmerberg from the National Institutes of Health about a Fluid Dynamics Investigation, about how to alleviate problems with mixing samples for tissue growth experiments in the Station's bioreactor, which allows three-dimensional tissue cells, like those in the human body, to grow.

Late in the week, one of the remote power controller modules that is used to route electricity and data throughout the station experienced a failure in one of its circuits. The affected circuit is for the Destiny Laboratory's video switching unit. The failure poses no serious obstacles for the crew or the upcoming Soyuz rendezvous and docking, but does disable a camera port in Destiny and eliminate some redundancy on board. Flight controllers are working on a plan to troubleshoot the failure and possibly replace the module.

Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu worked to prepare their ISS Soyuz 7 spacecraft for their voyage home, checking out its systems and related station equipment, gathering their personal possessions and beginning to pack the spacecraft. They also checked out instrumentation that will be used to dock the ISS Soyuz 8 capsule bringing Expedition 8 Commander and Science Officer Michael Foale and Cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri to the station, along with European Space Agency Astronaut Pedro Duque of Spain.

Duque is flying to the Station under a commercial contract between the European Space Agency and the Russian Aviation and Space Agency. He will return home with the Expedition 7 crew after about a week of conducting science experiments.

The Expedition 8 crew and Duque are scheduled to launch at 12:38 a.m. CDT Saturday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Their spacecraft will dock to the Station at about 2:17 a.m. CDT on Monday. Hatches between the two spacecraft should open about 5:14 a.m. CDT.

On Oct. 27 at about 5:20 p.m. CST, Malenchenko, Lu and Duque are to undock Soyuz 7 and perform a burn to drop out of orbit at about 7:40 p.m. CST. A landing in Kazakhstan will follow at about 8:35 p.m. CST (8:35 a.m. Oct. 28 Kazakhstan time).

Malenchenko and Lu continued to work with scientific experiments. On Wednesday, Lu successfully removed and replaced a Remote Power Controller Module (RPCM) in the U.S. laboratory Destiny. The device routes electricity and data throughout the station. One of its circuits had failed. The replacement RPCM is functioning well.

Another highlight of the week was the launch of China's first human space mission. Lu took some time on Wednesday to welcome the single crewmember of the Shenzhou V spacecraft into orbit. Lu, speaking in Chinese and English, wished him a successful mission and a safe return home.

On Friday, Lu spent several hours taking a water sample from the cooling system in the U.S. airlock Quest. The system provides cooling to spacesuits. Officials want to confirm the quality of the water with the samples that will be returned with the Expedition 7 crewmembers. Meanwhile, Malenchenko was prepared a workspace for Duque and his scientific experiments.

ISS Expedition 8 Commander and NASA ISS Science Officer Mike Foale and Expedition 8 Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri are accompanied by European Space Agency Astronaut Pedro Duque aboard the ISS Soyuz 8 spacecraft. The trio plan to dock Soyuz 8 to the Station at about 2:17 a.m. CDT on Monday, Oct. 20, and hatches between the Station and Soyuz 8 are to be opened at about 5:14 a.m. CDT. Foale and Kaleri are bound for a six-month stay aboard the international research complex. Duque, flying under a commercial agreement between Rosaviakosmos and the European Space Agency, will spend a week aboard the Station conducting a series of scientific studies.

Foale and Kaleri will relieve Expedition 7 Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu, who have flown aboard the Station since late April. Malenchenko, Lu and Duque will depart the station on Oct. 27 aboard the ISS Soyuz 7 craft en route to a landing hours afterward in Kazakhstan.

The week ahead will include a variety of joint activities for the five station crew members as they hand over activities onboard. The plans include an interview by ABC News and the Houston Chronicle at 8:45 a.m. CDT Tuesday, Oct. 21; an interview by CNN and CBS News at 9:25 a.m. CDT Wednesday, Oct. 22; a crew news conference at 10 a.m. CDT Thursday, Oct. 23; and a formal change of command ceremony at 1:20 p.m. CDT Friday, Oct. 24. Undocking of the Soyuz 7 carrying Duque and the Expedition 7 crew home is planned for 5:20 p.m. CST on Oct. 27 leading to a touchdown in Kazakhstan at 8:36 p.m. CST.

With Soyuz Commander and Expedition 8 Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri at the controls, the Soyuz vehicle softly linked up to the Pirs Docking Compartment as the two spacecraft flew 240 miles above central Asia. The docking followed Saturday's launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Joining Kaleri are Expedition 8 Commander and NASA ISS Science Officer Mike Foale and Pedro Duque of Spain.

Foale and Kaleri will spend more than six months living on the Station while Duque, who is flying under a commercial contract between ESA and the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, will conduct an eight-day research mission before returning October 27 with Expedition 7 Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu, who monitored the new crew's arrival from onboard the ISS. Today marked 177 days in space for Malenchenko and Lu, and 175 days on the ISS.

After docking, clamps were affixed to the interface between the Soyuz and Pirs, and leak checks in the small tunnel connecting the two craft was underway. The hatches will be opened at about 5:15 a.m. Central time signaling the start of eight days of joint operations. Foale, Kaleri and Duque are the first visitors for Malenchenko and Lu, who have overseen operations and been in orbit since late April.

On the scene at the Russian Mission Control Center in Korolev outside Moscow are NASA Associate Administrator for Space Flight William Readdy and International Space Station Program Manager William Gerstenmaier.

Greeting them on the station were Expedition 7 Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu, who are 177 days into their six months in space. The two crews will conduct eight days of joint operations and research before Expedition 7 and Duque return home on October 27.

Among those observing the on orbit arrival of Expedition 8 to the station were NASA Associate Administrator for Space Flight William Readdy and International Space Station Program Manager William Gerstenmaier. Both talked to the five station crew members delivering best wishes for the mission.

The plan for the two crews includes eight days of handover activities and scientific experiments carried out by Duque for Spanish and other European scientists under a commercial contract between ESA and the Russian Aviation and Space Agency.

After lunch, the new crewmembers will receive a safety briefing from Malenchenko and Lu and install a seat liner for Duque in the Soyuz earmarked for landing Oct. 27 (U.S. time) and then begin setting up a host of Duque's equipment previously launched on Russian Progress resupply spacecraft.

The crews are scheduled to go to bed about 3 p.m. CDT today and wake up at midnight to begin their first full day of joint operations. Expedition 8 officially will take control of Station operations October 27 when Malenchenko, Lu and Duque close the hatches between their returning Soyuz and the station. Foale and Kaleri will remain on board until late April 2004.

Ready to take over is the Expedition 8 crew, which has spent the last week in space "cramming" for its role as prime station crew effective Monday afternoon when the hatches close between the station and returning Soyuz spacecraft, signaling the official change of command. A ceremonial "Change of Command" ceremony took place Friday afternoon.

Flight controllers in the U.S. and Russia have been closely monitoring the predicted effects of the recent solar activity and anticipate no change to any of the landing plans. NASA flight control personnel have determined that no additional radiation exposure to the ISS crew is expected as a result of the solar activity. Increased solar activity is forecast for the next few weeks, and the control team will continue to monitor the progress of events with support from the NOAA Space Environment Center.

Since arriving early Monday morning at their home for the next six months, Expedition 8 Commander Mike Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri have spent the week familiarizing themselves with real-time station operations from departing Expedition 7 Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu.

Among the handover activities conducted this week were robotic training for Foale on the station's remote manipulator system, called Canadarm2. He will serve as the incoming NASA ISS science officer also, and spent a great deal of his handover activities in the Destiny laboratory where most of the experiment work will take place during his six months aboard. Meanwhile, Kaleri and Malenchenko devoted their attention to operational handover in the Russian segment of the station, which will be overseen by Kaleri throughout the increment.

The weekend will be devoted almost exclusively to Soyuz stowage activities for the Expedition 7 crew's return to Earth along with European Space Agency astronaut Pedro Duque, who has spent the last eight days conducting a host of science experiments in support of a commercial contract with the Russian Aviation and Space Agency.

The station crews will wake up Monday about 1 a.m. CST and the hatch to the Expedition 7 crew's Soyuz is set to be closed around 2 p.m. Undocking is planned for 5:18 p.m. followed by the deorbit burn at 7:47 p.m. and landing at 8:41 p.m.

Expedition 7 Commander Yuri Malenchenko, NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu and European Space Agency astronaut Pedro Duque undocked from the Station at 5:17 p.m. today, leaving behind the eighth resident Space Station crew, Commander Michael Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri. Duque flew to the Station with the Expedition 8 crew, launching on October 18.

A formal change of command ceremony between the Expedition 7 and 8 crews occurred this afternoon, just before Malenchenko, Lu and Duque climbed aboard their Soyuz spacecraft for the return trip home. After final farewells, hatches between the Station and the ISS Soyuz 6 were closed at 2:14 p.m. Foale and Kaleri are beginning a planned six-month stay on board the ISS. About three hours later, a command was issued to release latches, with undocking occurring at 5:17 p.m.

A 4-minute, 17-second deorbit burn began at 7:47 p.m. CST. About 8:17 p.m., the orbital and instrumentation/propulsion modules separated from the crew's descent module, the only one of the three modules intended to return to Earth. Minutes later, that module began to feel the effects of the upper atmosphere. About 8:25 p.m. the first of a series of parachutes deployed to slow the module's rate of descent, with six small rocket engines firing just before touchdown to further slow the capsule.

Helicopters with U.S. and Russian ground support personnel retrieved the crew shortly before 9 p.m. CST. NASA officials and flight surgeons reported Malenchenko, Lu and Duque were in excellent condition. Following brief medical exams, the crew will return to Star City, near Moscow, site of the Russian space center where they will be reunited with their families and begin their formal rehabilitation regimen. Malenchenko and Lu are expected to return to the Johnson Space Center in Houston in approximately two weeks.

Video of the crew's arrival will air on NASA Television at 5 a.m. EST Tuesday.

Kaleri spent much of the day setting up, working with and then stowing the Russian PILOT experiment, which looks at psychological and physiological changes in crew performance during long-duration spaceflight. The subject uses two hand controllers to make inputs for the experiment. Foale did inspections of the emergency lighting power supply in the U.S. laboratory Destiny and the Unity Node modules of the Station.

The crew's workweek began with the Monday departure of its Expedition 7 predecessors, Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu, along with European Space Agency astronaut Pedro Duque in their ISS Soyuz 6 spacecraft. Duque had come to the Station with the Expedition 8 crew Oct. 18. He flew under a European Space Agency contract with the Russian Aviation and Space Administration. After about eight days of intensive and very successful science activity, he landed with the Expedition 7 crew in Kazakhstan at 8:41 p.m. CST Monday.

That crew is resting and debriefing at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center at Star City near Moscow. Malenchenko and Lu are expected to return to Johnson Space Center in mid-November.

Tuesday was a quiet day for Foale and Kaleri aboard the ISS, with a chance to rest a little after intensive handover activities and moving in with equipment and supplies. They got another half-day off on Wednesday, followed by a training drill on emergencies. Both crewmembers performed maintenance and Station configuration activities.

Thursday was a full day for the crew, including exercise and maintenance and inspection of exercise devices and work with medical experiments. Both crewmembers had an hour of Station familiarization, as they do each day early in their increment.

Commander and NASA ISS Science Officer Michael Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri began their week by making room inside the habitable volume of the Station. After equalizing pressure with the Destiny Laboratory, they opened Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 (PMA2) and stowed a variety of supplies and equipment that will not be needed on short notice. They then closed the hatch to PMA2 and depressurized the module.

Foale slipped on a specially instrumented glove as part of an Italian scientific investigation into how hand and arm muscles are used differently for reaching and grasping in microgravity. The Hand Posture Analyzer also will attempt to quantify muscle fatigue associated with long-duration space flight. Measurements taken with a Posture Acquisition Glove on the hand, an Inertial Tracking System on the wrist and Hand Grip and Pinch Force Dynamometers will be compared with those taken before and after flight.

Foale and Kaleri also began taking either potassium citrate pills or placebos and recording their food, water and medication intake as part of the Renal (Kidney) Stone Risk During Spaceflight experiment. Previous on-orbit experiments have shown an increased risk in the development of kidney stones during and immediately after space flight, and the experiment is testing a proven Earth-based remedy in space.

Finally, Foale set up the Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle Schools digital camera in Destiny's optical-quality window so that students in grades six through eight could take photos of the Earth and downlink them for analysis by the student science team.

Meanwhile, Expedition 7 Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu are at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, continuing their immediate post-flight medical evaluations and debriefings. They are expected to return to Houston on Nov. 18. They landed on Oct. 27 after spending 183 days aboard the Station. Joining them on the returning ISS Soyuz 6 spacecraft was European Space Agency astronaut Pedro Duque of Spain, who conducted eight days of intensive research after launching with the Expedition 8 crew.

Crewmembers are scheduled to do fit check work with the Russian spacesuits on Monday. On Tuesday they are to practice various spacewalk procedures, including boarding the ISS Soyuz 7 at the station in pressurized spacesuits. That would become necessary if they were unable to repressurize the Pirs Docking Compartment after a spacewalk.

Today Foale spend almost two hours working with the Cellular Biotechnology Operations Support System (CBOSS) and its Fluid Dynamics Investigation (FDI) experiment. He was preparing for operations with the experiment, which focuses on growth of three-dimensional cell cultures. Meanwhile Kaleri worked with the Russian Profilaktika experiment, which looks at some long-duration spaceflight effects and how to combat them.

After a relatively quiet weekend, the crew began the week with body mass measurements moments after they were awakened. Crewmembers also stowed the EarthKAM experiment, which last week completed 750 requested Earth pictures for students in 41 middle schools. Foale and Kaleri also took time to talk with former Skylab astronauts gathered at the Marshall Space Flight Center on the 30th anniversary of the launch of the last crew to the first U.S. space station.

On Tuesday crewmembers did a periodic hearing assessment, inspected the Treadmill Vibration Isolation System (TVIS) and checked out batteries for the Station's defibrillator.Wednesday they worked to organize equipment and supplies and stowed much of the material in the Zero-G Stowage Rack in the U.S. laboratory Destiny. One object of the activity, which will continue next week, is to assure that fire ports in the Station's Unity Node are unobstructed in the unlikely event fire should break out behind the panels through which the ports provide access for fire extinguishers.

Foale responded to flight controllers' questions about the TVIS and inspected the device before exercising on the treadmill Thursday. He also replaced a battery in the Space Acceleration Measurement System. The crew changed out 10 smoke detectors.

Foale and Kaleri also continued taking potassium citrate pills or placebos and recorded their food, water and medication intake as part of the Renal (kidney) Stone Risk During Spaceflight experiment. Previous experiments in space have shown an increased risk ifor development of kidney stones during and immediately after flight, and the experiment is testing a proven Earth-based remedy in space.

The first Station component, the control module Zarya, was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on Nov. 20, 1998. Thirty-seven launches later, the Station now has a mass of more than 412,000 pounds and an interior volume of 15,000 cubic feet, as large as a three-bedroom house. More than 100 different space travelers from five space agencies and nine countries have visited the complex.

To assist planners as they evaluate a potential spacewalk early next year, Expedition 8 Commnader Mike Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri spent the first part of this week working with Russian Orlan spacesuits. They evaluated how to get into the Soyuz spacecraft docked to the Station's Pirs compartment while wearing the bulky suits. Such a procedure could be necessary if they were unable to repressurize Pirs, which is used as an airlock to begin and end Russian spacewalks, and had to board the Soyuz.

The potential February spacewalk would exchange samples in exterior experiments and prepare an aft Station docking port for the European Space Agency's Automated Transport Vehicle, a new, uncrewed station cargo vehicle targeted for launch late next year.

In anticipation of the crew's first use of the Station's Canadarm2 robotic arm, Foale spent time Friday going through a computer-guided refresher on arm operations. Their first use of the arm, a training session, is planned for early next week.

On Friday, Foale completed alterations to an instrumented suit for use in next week's work with the Foot/Ground Reaction Forces During Spaceflight (FOOT) experiment. The Lower Extremity Monitoring Suit (LEMS), a customized pair of Lycra cycling shorts outfitted with 20 sensors, will measure forces on Foale's feet and joints and gauge his muscle activity while completing his normal activities in the Station. The experiment's researchers hope to learn more about the reasons for bone and muscle loss by astronauts in orbit, insight that may lead to better countermeasures for astronauts.

Engineers are analyzing the effects of a possible gyroscope failure in the Station treadmill's vibration isolation system. The analysis began after the crew reported hearing unusual noises from that system. While the analysis is under way, the crew has been asked not to use the treadmill and instead to use a stationary bicycle and other exercise equipment.

The Expedition 7 crewmembers returned to Houston this week after more than three weeks of medical checkups and debriefings with Russian specialists. Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu, who completed a 185-day spaceflight with a landing in Kazakhstan in a Soyuz spacecraft on Oct. 27, will continue their postflight operations with checkups and debriefings at the Johnson Space Center.

Expedition 8 Commander Mike Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri enjoyed a day off Thursday for the holiday, listening to music, watching movies and eating a Thanksgiving chicken and rice dinner. NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe placed a phone call to the crewmembers to wish them well.

On Monday, the crew ran on the exercise treadmill without its Vibration Isolation and Stabilization (VIS) system activated. U.S. and Russian engineers wanted to gather data about what kind of vibrations would occur when using the treadmill without the VIS activated. After analyzing the data, engineers gave the okay for the crew to resume using the treadmill over the weekend in this modified configuration. The work-around is in response to a gyroscope failure in the VIS that continues to be investigated by engineers.

On Wednesday, the crew heard a metallic noise during morning activities in the Russian Zvezda Service Module. Foale said it was a sound similar to shaking a thin sheet of metal so that it bent concave and then convex. All Station systems were checked by ground controllers and found to be operating normally. Exterior television cameras on the robotic arm and the Station truss were used to inspect the exterior of Zvezda and nothing unusual was identified.

In support of microgravity science experiments, Foale set up video cameras inside the Destiny laboratory to document the Fluid Dynamics Investigation. This experiment is being conducted to help improve the use of the Cellular Biotechnology Operational Support System (CBOSS), which grows human tissue cells in a unique three-dimensional form in microgravity. The CBOSS provides an unprecedented environment for research on various types of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and AIDS.

Friday, Foale installed equipment in the Microgravity Sciences Glovebox for the Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation (PFMI). This experiment studies how bubbles form in metal and crystal samples, thus deteriorating the samples' strength and usefulness in experiments. Investigators will watch a transparent material melt and observe how the bubbles form and interact.

This week, Foale completed final alterations to an instrumented suit for the Foot/Ground Reaction Forces During Spaceflight (FOOT) experiment. The Lower Extremity Monitoring Suit (LEMS), a customized pair of Lycra cycling tights outfitted with 20 sensors, will measure forces on Foale's feet and joints and gauge his muscle activity while completing his normal activities in the Station. Foale will wear the shorts next week. The experiment's researchers hope to learn more about the reasons for bone and muscle loss by astronauts in orbit, insight that may lead to better countermeasures.

Kaleri completed the first run of the Russian Plasma Crystal-3 experiment on Thursday, after preparations on Monday and experiment setup on Tuesday. The largely automated experiment studies crystallization of plasma dust subjected to high-frequency radio waves in a vacuum chamber.

On Tuesday, Foale spent much of his day in instrumented biking tights for the Foot/Ground Reaction Forces During Spaceflight (FOOT) experiment. The Lower Extremity Monitoring Suit, the cycling tights outfitted with 20 sensors, measured forces on Foale's feet and joints and muscle activity while he went about his scheduled activities. Investigators believe the experiment will provide additional information on reasons for bone and muscle loss by people in space. That knowledge could lead to better ways to minimize such problems.

Also completed during the week was spacesuit battery maintenance - discharging and recharging the batteries, reloading of laptop computers, continued participation by crewmembers in the Renal Stone experiment, regular maintenance and standard crew exercise sessions.

On Thursday crewmembers did an inspection of the Treadmill Vibration Isolation System, the treadmill in the Zvezda Service Module mounted on a sophisticated system that minimizes transmissions of vibrations created by exercising crewmembers. Both also ran on the treadmill with its Vibration Isolation and Stabilization turned off. Instruments they had set up earlier in Zvezda and the Unity node monitored vibrations produced. Crewmembers have approval to use the TVIS in a modified configuration.

They are scheduled to spend at least four hours on Tuesday and four hours on Wednesday removing the TVIS from its housing for inspection and possible repair of a stabilizing gyroscope. Today Foale talked with TVIS experts at Johnson Space Center in preparation for next week's work with the treadmill.

The TVIS and several other exercise devices aboard the ISS are used about 21/2 hours each day by each crewmember. The exercise is designed to mitigate some of those negative effects of long-term spaceflight.

On Tuesday Foale and Kaleri talked with CBS' "Osgood Files" and with reporters from CBS Radio. Foale spent more than 15 minutes on Thursday chatting with Sir David Frost for the BBC's "Breakfast with Frost" program.

The workweek began with a U.S. milestone being recognized when Commander Mike Foale surpassed the astronaut cumulative time in space record of 231 days. During a special phone call Monday, Carl Walz, the previous record holder, called Foale to congratulate him on the milestone and discussed life on the Station and future endeavors in space.

Tuesday and Wednesday Foale - joined by Flight Engineer Cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri - dismantled the high-tech exercise treadmill and identified the cause of a problem preventing its use in the motorized mode. A bad bearing associated with its gyroscope assembly was determined to be the culprit and a replacement will be shipped to the Station on the next Progress resupply vehicle in late January. Until that time, the treadmill is usable for exercise without the stabilization system active.

Thursday Foale, also the onboard NASA ISS Science Officer, "flew" the Station's robotic arm for the first time through a survey of various modules and components of the complex. The survey had two-purposes: To continue investigating the source of an unusual noise heard by the crew a couple of weeks ago while in the Zvezda Service Module and to check for any other changes outside the station, a check normally handled by a Space Shuttle upon undocking and flyaround. This survey detected no abnormalities.

Foale and Kaleri discussed their mission with news organizations from ABC and the website SpaceflightNow.com. The crew also enjoyed a lengthy question-and-answer period with schoolchildren at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in North Carolina, as celebrations are ongoing in advance of the 100th anniversary Dec. 17 of powered flight.

Foale did a leak check early this week of ventilation valves that are part of the hatchway between the Station's Unity connecting module and the U.S. Quest Airlock. The valves had been disassembled and reassembled earlier this year during troubleshooting by previous Station crews. For the check, the hatch between Quest and the rest of the Station was shut and the air pressure inside the airlock decreased by about five pounds per square inch. The hatch remained shut overnight so any leakage through the valves could be measured. No leakage was detected.

While Foale worked on the leak check, Kaleri began work to replace a faulty heat exchanger in the Zvezda living quarters module's air conditioning system. After removing the old unit, Kaleri had trouble aligning connections on the new exchanger and securing it. Russian flight controllers are evaluating the problem and may continue the work next week. The primary air conditioning system is operating well, and the replacement is for a backup system.

Russian flight controllers also have been monitoring operation of the Elektron unit in Zvezda, a system that recycles wastewater aboard the Station by converting it into oxygen for the Station atmosphere. The Elektron has been operating only intermittently, shutting down when air gets into pumps that help separate liquid and gas. The problem is believed to be one that is sometimes experienced as membranes in that unit age. A replacement is onboard, but flight controllers plan to continue operations as they are for as long as possible before using the new equipment.

Oxygen also is being provided to the cabin air from tanks aboard the Progress cargo craft that to the complex. The oxygen in those tanks must be used in the next few weeks to prepare for the undocking of that supply craft in January. With the Progress oxygen being used, continuous use of the Elektron is not necessary.

Foale and Kaleri took time out on Wednesday to mark the 100th anniversary of powered flight. They spoke with schoolchildren in North Carolina and Ohio, displaying a model of the Wright Flyer, flown by Wilbur and Orville Wright in 1903. On Friday, the crew sent down Christmas greetings and displayed some of the presents from friends and families. The crew shared their plans for the holiday, showing off decorations, which include Christmas trees and stockings. Foale and Kaleri will have Christmas Day off, and will visit with their families via two-way videoconferences.

Also on Friday, Foale sent down data he has gathered as part of the Foot/Ground Reaction Forces During Space Flight experiment, a study that gathers information on the loads experienced by Station crewmembers on their lower bodies and their muscle activity as they work. The information is gathered via an instrumented pair of pants worn by Foale. Earlier in the week, Foale removed a sample from the Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation experiment that had been in processing when a circuit breaker tripped, stopping the investigation. Troubleshooting of the experiment is planned next week.

On Wednesday, the crew's 68th day in space, Kaleri spent some time working with the Russian air conditioning system. He had replaced a filter for condensate water on Tuesday. When the air conditioner was restarted sensors indicated tanks to which the water is supposed to flow were full. Kaleri had established water flow through the new filter by Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile Foale spent more than three hours gathering and organizing clothing, some of it from previous crews, and stowing it in the Station's Unity node.

Flight controllers in Moscow continue to monitor the oxygen-generating Elektron unit in Zvezda. The Elektron converts water to oxygen, for the Station's atmosphere, and hydrogen, which is vented overboard. The Elektron had shut down several times, apparently because air had gotten into pumps that help separate liquid and gas. The unit was operating normally Wednesday afternoon.

Foale and Kaleri talked with reporters from KNX Radio in Los Angeles and National Public Radio on Tuesday. Representatives of both asked about Christmas on the International Space Station. Foale and Kaleri showed the interviewers their two Christmas trees, one embroidered on a blanket and the other a small artificial tree.

The crew also shared their plans for the holiday in a video sent down to Houston's Mission Control Center and shown on NASA television. They filmed and talked about decorations, including their Christmas trees, and stockings with gifts sent up long in advance. Foale and Kaleri will have Christmas Day off, with only minimal tasks and physical exercise scheduled. They are scheduled to visit with their families in private two-way videoconferences.

On Monday, after a quiet weekend, Foale did troubleshooting involving the Pore Formation & Mobility Investigation (PFMI) experiment. A circuit breaker tripped earlier this month when the experiment was in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG). Foale removed the MSG's thermal chamber and sent down video and descriptions of what he saw. Engineers in Houston are working on a fix for a binding gear in the chamber. Both crewmembers spent more than two hours doing an Inventory Management System audit and sorting items for disposal on the unpiloted Progress cargo spacecraft docked to the back of the Zvezda Service Module. Both crewmembers began Monday with medical experiments involving body mass and calf volume measurements.

Tuesday morning Kaleri set up three acoustic dosimeters in Zvezda to take sound level measurements for 16 hours. He also did troubleshooting on an antenna for a Russian satellite navigation system. Foale spent several hours working with the Fluid Dynamics Investigation on the Cellular Biotechnology Support System. The investigation and the system are designed to grow cell cultures in three dimensions.

Foale worked with the Cellular Biotechnology Operations Support System (CBOSS), a bioreactor apparatus capable of growing cell cultures in three dimensions, an advantage over the two-dimension cultures typically grown on Earth. Meanwhile, Kaleri uploaded software into station computers.

This afternoon Kaleri, helped by experts at Mission Control Moscow, made adjustments to the Elektron oxygen generator in the Zvezda Service module, which has been operating intermittently. He also successfully activated two Solid-fuel Oxygen Generator (SFOG) canisters to enrich the station's atmosphere. On Wednesday two other SFOGs were activated, primarily as a test to set expiration dates for the more than 140 SFOG candles on board. Each SFOG can provide oxygen for one crewmember for one day.

Additional oxygen is available on the Progress unpiloted cargo vehicle docked to Zvezda. Some of it was introduced into the Station atmosphere on Thursday, and more is being added Saturday. More oxygen is stored in two high-pressure tanks attached to the Joint Airlock Quest.

On Monday, Kaleri spent three hours removing no-longer-needed attitude control equipment from the Zarya module. Much of it will be discarded in the Progress, for destruction on re-entry in late January. He also began the 48-hour regeneration of the two beds of the Russian harmful impurities removal system, which helps purify the Station's atmosphere. Foale continued his review of CBOSS experiments.

Both crewmembers took time on Tuesday for a news interview with the Internet site space.com. Foale also worked with the soldering in space experiment and repacked the station's medical kit with fresh medications from the Progress. The following day both crewmembers did the required hour-long emergency medical training, and both performed daily exercise and station maintenance activities.

Thursday, New Year's Day, was a day off. Their only activity was exercise, necessary station maintenance and science activities. Both crewmembers talked with family members on Earth via private video conferences.

The pressure decay poses no threat to the crew's safety or to the continued operation of the Station and its systems, but Russian and U.S. engineers are conducting a thorough investigation of the decrease, which appears to have begun about Dec. 22. The decline occurs at a rate so small, only a few hundredths of a pound per square inch (psi) of pressure per day, that it is difficult to detect.

This week, Foale and Kaleri checked a variety of valves and seals throughout the Station using an ultrasonic leak detection system and found no leaks. Today, Kaleri checked a Russian system, called Vozdukh, that removes carbon dioxide from the cabin as well as several other Russian systems for leaks and found none.

To continue the effort to diagnose the source of the pressure decay, flight controllers in Russia and the U.S. plan to ask the crew to shut off portions of the Station periodically in coming days. In the next few days, hatches will be closed for periods ranging between 12-24 hours to seal off various modules to check if any element within them could be the source of a leak. Those modules may include the Progress cargo vehicle, the Pirs Docking Compartment and Soyuz spacecraft, and the Quest airlock.

If those steps do not detect the source of the leak, then the crew may be asked to move into the Russian living quarters module for several days and shut hatches separating the Russian living quarters and other modules from the rest of the station for several days. Those actions would likely not take place any earlier than Wednesday. Engineers are continuing to work on potential plans for those steps to diagnose the leak and to review the number of hatches that would be closed at that time.

The decay in pressure over the past few weeks aboard the station has amounted to a decrease from the normal pressure of 14.7 psi, a pressure equivalent to sea level on Earth, to a pressure today of about 14 psi, a pressure equivalent to the normal air pressure in Oklahoma City. The changes in pressure do not present a concern for the health of the crew. Also, plentiful supplies of air, oxygen and nitrogen, are aboard the station -- enough that the current rate of decay could be sustained for six months without further supplies aboard if required. However, engineers are confident they will identify and correct the source of the decay as they continue the diagnostic work onboard.

Flight controllers may feed more nitrogen into the Station atmosphere late Sunday or Monday to increase the overall air pressure and maintain the cabin atmosphere in the optimal range for the operation of equipment aboard the complex. Russian flight controllers also are continuing to evaluate the possible replacement of parts of the Station's oxygen-generating Elektron system. The Russian system generates oxygen by recycling wastewater aboard the complex. It has failed, but spare parts are aboard that engineers are confident can bring it back to full operation and they are developing plans to perform that work possibly next week. While the Elektron failure is being evaluated, the crew has used Solid Fuel Oxygen Generators, canisters that are heated to produce oxygen, to replenish oxygen on the Station.

Despite the leak detection activities, engineers are not certain the fluctuation and slight decline in pressure aboard the Station is the result of a leak from the complex. Evaluations continue to determine if it instead could result from or be significantly contributed to by troubleshooting and intermittent Elektron operation, SFOG oxygen generation activities, recent changes in temperature and sun angles, the accuracy of various pressure measuring systems, or other factors.

After extensive pressure checks on Saturday and Sunday in the Russian Progress resupply ship, the Pirs Docking Compartment, the Soyuz return vehicle and the U.S. Quest Airlock revealed no leaks, the crew used an ultrasound leak detector device for a second time at the Lab window, and detected an audible hissing noise emanating from the flex hose. That hose is hooked up to quick disconnect devices as part of a system designed to vent into space any condensation between the panes of glass to maintain the window's optically pristine quality.

Foale said he couldn't hear any hissing noise from the flex hose during a previous leak check last week because of other ambient noise generated by operating payload racks in Destiny. Sunday, those racks were shut down for a short time and the hissing noise was obvious. Foale reported that as soon as the flex hose was disconnected, the noise stopped. While additional evaluation is needed for confirmation, the pressure in the Station appears to have stabilized since the removal of the flex hose.

Although the leak may now be fixed, flight controllers are planning to ask the crew to close several hatches aboard the station this weekend, dividing the complex into three sections to allow further leak checks and to gather additional baseline data on normal air pressure fluctuations in portions of the Station. Flight controllers will monitor the pressure in each section during the weekend to gather air pressure data. All of the hatches are planned to be reopened Sunday night. The isolated sections will include the U.S. Destiny Lab; the Zarya Control Module, Quest Airlock and Unity Node; and the Zvezda Service Module, Pirs Docking Compartment, Soyuz rescue vehicle and Progress resupply vehicle. While the hatches are closed, the crew will remain in the section that includes the Zvezda living quarters module. To prepare, they will begin moving some additional equipment into the living quarters on Friday. Foale normally sleeps in the Destiny Lab while Kaleri normally sleeps in Zvezda.

Foale and Kaleri repaired the Russian Elektron oxygen generation system today and are scheduled to press ahead with repairs to the Vozdukh carbon dioxide removal system in the next week or so. In preparation for the Elektron repair work, the pressure in the ISS was increased late Sunday to about 14.2 pounds per square inch, using remaining oxygen in the Progress resupply ship tanks. The Progress will be discarded in about two weeks in advance of the launch of a new resupply vehicle on Jan. 29 carrying food, fuel and supplies for the crew.

Foale and Kaleri will spend most of the weekend in a smaller portion of the station than usual, primarily the Zvezda living quarters module. Foale and Kaleri floated into the Zvezda shortly after 2 p.m. Central time, closing several hatches behind them. Flight controllers will monitor air pressure in the station modules during that time to verify that the pressure aboard is stable and to gather baseline data on normal air pressure fluctuations in the complex.

For the data gathering session, the Station cabin has been divided into four sections. The one where the crew is staying includes Zvezda, the Soyuz spacecraft, the Pirs docking compartment and the Progress cargo vehicle. Another section includes the Unity connecting node and the Quest airlock. A third section is the Zarya control module and Pressurized Mating Adapter 1. The fourth section is the Destiny laboratory.

All of the hatches will be reopened Sunday afternoon.

On Jan. 11, Foale tracked down the probable cause of a slight pressure decay that had been detected aboard the station since late December. Foale found a leaking flex hose that is part of a system that prevents fogging within Destiny's window. The hose was removed and the leak stopped. Engineers are evaluating plans to launch a replacement hose on the next Progress supply vehicle on Jan. 29.

Earlier this week, Kaleri replaced a liquid separation unit for the Russian Elektron oxygen generation system, restoring that system to full function. The week also included a number of science and medical experiment activities for the crew. Kaleri performed an assessment of the effects of weightlessness on the inner ear using a special Russian suit and collected air samples as part of another Russian program designed to help assess the microbial environment aboard the ISS.

Foale conducted his second session with the Foot/Ground Reaction Forces During Spaceflight (FOOT) experiment, gathering several hours of additional data. For the experiment, Foale dons a special pair of instrumented leggings that allow researchers to measure forces on the feet, joint angles and muscle activity. Foale also participated in a Hand Posture Analyzer investigation, which uses a special glove to assess the changes in how humans reach, grasp, manipulate and transport objects during long periods in weightlessness.

Foale and Kaleri spent much of this week packing up trash to be jettisoned from the International Space Station in an old supply ship to make room for a new Progress cargo craft. They packed the unneeded equipment aboard the ISS Progress 12 resupply vehicle and prepared it for undocking from the Station at 2:36 a.m. CST Wednesday. The next resupply vehicle, ISS Progress 13, is planned to launch at 5:58 a.m. Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Progress 13 is scheduled to dock with the Station at 7:18 a.m. Jan. 31. The cargo includes fresh food, clothes, spare parts and other equipment

Following the discovery and removal of a leaky vent hose two weeks ago that was part of a window system in the U.S. Destiny Lab, the Station's air pressure has been steady. A replacement for the hose will be launched aboard Progress 13.

Also this week, Kaleri followed up his replacement last week of a liquid separation unit for the Russian Elektron oxygen generation system by replacing the electronics package associated with the system. The crew noted a rattling noise in an air filter component on the Elektron, and an additional pressure regulator for the Elektron will be added to the Progress 13 cargo to address that noise.

The pair also conducted several Russian routine medical evaluations this week and continued their regimen of exercise on a variety of pieces of training equipment.

Last weekend, Foale and Kaleri spent two days in the Russian living quarters of the Station in a test to gather data on pressures in sections of the complex. Foale and Kaleri floated into the Zvezda living quarters module shortly after 2 p.m. CST Jan. 16, closing several hatches behind them that divided the station into four sections. They reopened the hatches about 11 a.m. Sunday. Flight controllers in Houston and Russia monitored air pressure in the sections of the Station during the weekend.

As the Station flew over the Red Sea, the ISS Progress 13 craft lifted off its Central Asian launch pad right on time at 5:58 a.m. CST (1158 GMT), and less than 10 minutes later, settled into orbit and deployed its solar arrays and navigational antennas. Its computers are loaded with preprogrammed commands for engine firings and rendezvous maneuvers that will lead it to an automated linkup to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module on Saturday morning at 7:15 a.m. CST (1315 GMT).

The Progress 13 docking to the ISS will be broadcast live on NASA Television on Saturday beginning at 6:30 a.m. CST (1230 GMT).

The launch of the new resupply vehicle occurred a little over 24 hours after an identical Progress ship departed the ISS. The ISS Progress 12 undocked Wednesday from Zvezda at 2:36 a.m. CST (0836 GMT) and was later commanded to plunge back into the atmosphere where it burned up. The old Progress was filled with trash and other items no longer needed on board the Station.

The new Progress is loaded with spare parts, fresh food and fuel for Expedition 8 Commander and NASA Science Officer Mike Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri, who are in the fourth month of a planned 61/2-month mission on the ISS. The Progress is also carrying scientific equipment for European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers of the Netherlands, who is scheduled to be launched April 19 with the new Expedition 9 crew to the ISS. Kuipers will spend a little over a week conducting an independent science program under a commercial contract between ESA and the Russian Aviation and Space Agency. Kuipers will return to Earth in late April on a Soyuz vehicle with Foale and Kaleri.

The crew had a busy week, focusing on packing the Progress 12 with trash from the Station. Crewmembers also performed scientific experiments and regular station maintenance.

On Monday, Foale worked to set up the EarthKAM (Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle Schools) experiment in the Zvezda Service Module. More than 50 schools in Europe, Asia and South America, participated in an Earth observation session beginning Tuesday, requesting photos of specific locations and receiving those photos via the Internet to study geography, geology, botany and Earth science.

Also on Tuesday, the crew closed the hatch to the Progress 12 vehicle for the final time, and took a few minutes to talk to National Football League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue during his tour of the Mission Control Center. Tagliabue is in Houston for Sunday's Super Bowl XXXVIII. On Wednesday, Foale chatted with members of the rock band Aerosmith during their tour of the control center. The band will perform during the Super Bowl pregame show, which will include a tribute to NASA and Columbia crewmembers on the anniversary of the shuttle accident.

With Expedition 8 Commander and NASA Science Officer Mike Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri looking on, the ISS Progress 13 docked to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module at 7:13 a.m. CST (1313 GMT) as the two craft flew 230 statute miles above Central Asia.

Foale and Kaleri were in Zvezda, prepared to take over manual control of the operation if it had been necessary, but the Progress craft automatically docked to the module through pre-programmed computer command with no problem.

The Progress was the first ship to arrive at the ISS since Foale and Kaleri were launched more than 100 days ago. They are well past the midway mark of a planned 6-1/2 month mission on the complex. The next ship to reach the Station will be the Soyuz TMA-4 capsule in April, carrying a new crew to replace Foale and Kaleri.

After leak checks are completed to insure a tight seal between Progress and the ISS, Kaleri will open up the ship's hatch later today so he and Foale can begin unloading its cargo on Sunday. The cargo includes spare parts for environmental systems and a new flex hose to help vent condensation and air from the Destiny Laboratory's optically pure viewing window. A small leak in an identical flex hose was found to have caused a slight pressure decay in the ISS earlier this month.

Expedition 8 Commander and NASA Science Officer Foale and Kaleri, the flight engineer, began unloading more than two and a half tons of supplies on Sunday, among them fresh food and clothes, spare parts and new experiments. The ISS Progress 13 cargo craft carrying the gear docked with the Station on Jan. 31.

Shortly after a test of the docked Progress craft's thrusters on Thursday, Foale and Kaleri saw a single, small, thin strip of material floating away from the Station. Viewing and photographing it through a window in the Zvezda living quarters module, they said the item did not appear to represent any hazard. They described it as about 8-10 inches long, appearing to be made of a soft, non-metallic material and moving very slowly away from the Station. The item drifted out of sight after a few minutes. All systems aboard the Station continue to function normally, and flight controllers in the U.S. and Russia are confident it does not pose a concern for the complex. However, they are continuing to evaluate possible sources of the material.

Also this week, Foale initiated an experiment in cell culture growth in weightlessness. The experiment, which grows cultures of yeast cells, arrived at the Station aboard the Progress craft and may provide insight to improve cell culture techniques of tissues on the ground and during future space experiments. The study is performed in conjunction with an investigator at Tulane University Medical Center.

Foale and Kaleri took time out today to speak with some of more than 700 teachers from around the world who are gathered in Houston. The teachers are attending the International Space Station Educators Conference to learn how they may use the excitement of space flight to motivate students in math and science.

Approaching four months in space, Commander and NASA Science Officer Mike Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri this week finished unloading their supply ship and performed some maintenance and repair work on the station's oxygen and air purification system and reviewed preliminary procedures for the first station-based spacewalk since spring 2003.

The spacewalk is set to begin about 3 p.m. CST on Feb. 26 with a scheduled duration of 51/2 hours. The crew begins shifting its sleep schedule this weekend to accommodate the start time of the spacewalk and to optimize near continuous communications with the crew through both U.S. and Russian communications resources.

Earlier this week, Foale moved the robotic arm - Canadarm2 - to a strategic position so that its cameras can provide the best video coverage of the spacewalk. Additionally, the arm operations provided Foale some proficiency training from the workstation within the Destiny laboratory.

Foale this week also prepared the lab's window for installation of a new flex hose used to prevent condensate buildup between panes of the high fidelity optical window. The new hose was delivered in the Progress after the previous hose was determined to be the cause of a small pressure degradation aboard the station a few weeks ago. In advance of the installation of the hose, which has not been scheduled, the inner panes of the window will be vented this weekend to remove residual condensation that has built up over the past few weeks.

Foale and Kaleri Thursday joined school children in California for a long-distance "interview" answering questions ranging from how a yo-yo works in space, to the engineering challenges of keeping the ISS and its systems updated over its lifetime.

The week wrapped up with the two crewmembers preparing for their spacewalk by reviewing detailed procedures with flight controllers at the Russian Mission Control Center in Korolev, outside Moscow. The spacewalk, or Extravehicular Activity, will begin and end from the Russian Pirs Docking Compartment with the crew wearing Orlan spacesuits.

Next week the crew focuses more intently on the spacewalk by checking out the spacesuits and procedures in addition to continuing to slowly adjust their sleep/wake schedule to match the time of the EVA.

This week, the crewmembers worked closely with specialists at the Russian Mission Control Center in Korolev, near Moscow, as they unpacked their Russian Orlan spacesuits, tested them, demonstrated their ability to enter the Soyuz spacecraft from Pirs while wearing the suits, and completed a thorough review of the spacewalk plan. Foale and Kaleri are now shifting their daily schedule to maximize communications with Russian flight controllers through Russian ground stations during Thursday's excursion.

The tasks planned during the five and a half hour long spacewalk include the retrieval of a set of retroreflectors from the aft end of the Zvezda Service Module. Retrieval of the retroreflectors will assist the preparation of navigational data for next year's maiden arrival of a new European supply ship. While outside the Station, the spacewalkers also will deploy an experiment test bed designed to study the radiation environment and change sample packages in a Japanese materials exposure experiment. They also will change sample packages in a Russian apparatus that is used to study the residue created from Station thruster firings.

All systems on board the Station are in good condition, including the Elektron air-generating system, which was shut down for part of the week. The Elektron separates oxygen out of water to supply breathing air for the Station crewmembers. It shut off unexpectedly on Tuesday. After evaluation, the Elektron was restarted Friday morning and has been running fine since. Spare parts for Elektron are on board ISS along with other plentiful backup sources of oxygen for the crew if required.

This week, Russian specialists positively identified a piece of debris seen floating by the Station's port side on Sunday. Photographs taken by Foale and Kaleri through a window in the Zvezda module showed a bolt and an accompanying washer. From a part number that was visible in the picture, the items were identified as coming from a mechanism that held the Progress ship's starboard solar array in place during launch. Those items, which served no purpose after the array was deployed prior to its arrival at ISS, drifted slowly away from the Station and pose no danger. Russian specialists are studying how to prevent similar bolts on other ships from coming loose in the future. Plans described in prior reports for Foale to vent residual condensation from the inner panes of the main window in the Destiny laboratory module last weekend were put on hold due to spacewalk preparations. Venting that moisture, and installing a new flex hose to prevent condensate buildup between those panes in the future, is expected to be assigned to the crew's task list in early March.

The spacewalk by Expedition 8 Commander Mike Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri was proceeding smoothly and problem-free for almost three hours until Kaleri reported that drops of water were beginning to form inside his helmet visor and that his suit temperature was a little warm. Within minutes, Russian flight controllers reported an apparent failure of the system that provides cooling for Kaleri's suit. Initially, Russian suit specialists surmised that the problem existed with the suit's sublimator device, which provides cooling and dehumidifying capability and directed the crew to end the spacewalk. Despite the problem, Kaleri was never in any danger and suit temperatures never rose to uncomfortable levels.

Back inside the Pirs Docking Compartment from which the spacewalk was staged, Foale removed his suit after Pirs was repressurized so he could conduct an inspection of Kaleri's suit.

Foale quickly detected a kink in one of the tubes in Kaleri's liquid cooling garment that provides the flow of water throughout the suit. The kink was straightened out and water began to flow once again normally in Kaleri's suit.

Earlier today, after configuring systems, closing module hatches and buttoning up the Station in the unlikely event a problem would prevent them from returning inside, Foale and Kaleri depressurized Pirs and opened the hatch to begin their spacewalk at 3:17 p.m. CST (2117 GMT). It was the first time the Station had not been occupied during a so-called "extravehicular activity". U.S. and Russian technical teams had worked for months on procedures to insure the safety of the crew and the complex and reviewed all contingencies to mitigate possible risks with no one inside to respond to potential problems.

All Station systems operated flawlessly in their autonomous configuration during the abbreviated spacewalk.

Once outside the Pirs, Foale and Kaleri quickly set up tools and tethers to guide them during the spacewalk that was focused on the exterior of Zvezda. Their first task was the replacement of a cassette container on the Docking Compartment airlock housing sample materials for the study of the harsh effect of long-duration exposure of those materials to the space environment. Foale replaced one of two similar cassettes housed on the outside of Zvezda as the spacewalk drew to a premature close.

Foale and Kaleri then removed one of two suitcase-size pallets of Japanese experiments from a bracket on Zvezda and moved a similar experiment package to that bracket. The Micro-Particle Capturer and Space Environment Exposure Devices (MPAC / SEEDS) had been in their current location since October 2001 when they were first installed outside Zvezda to measure micrometeoroid impacts on material specimens.

Moving smartly through their tasks, Foale and Kaleri turned their attention to the installation of a Russian experiment called "Matryoshka" onto handrails outside Zvezda. The "Matryoshka" is a torso-like device housed in a container comprised of material simulating human tissue. It is designed to collect data on the absorption of radiation by crews living aboard the Station for long periods of time.

As Foale and Kaleri completed their work to install the Matryoshka, Kaleri reported his suit problem, at around 6 p.m. CST (0000 GMT).

Foale completed the installation of Russian material science experiment container on the Zvezda Service Module as Kaleri made his way back to Pirs. He and Foale closed the hatch to Pirs at 7:12 p.m. CST (0112 GMT) bringing the spacewalk to a close after 3 hours, 55 minutes.

It was the 52nd spacewalk in support of Station assembly and maintenance, the 27th staged from the Station itself, the fourth for Foale in his career and Kaleri's fifth.

Once they are back inside the Station's living quarters, the crew will reopen all of the hatches and prepare the Station for regular operations. Foale and Kaleri are scheduled for several days of off-duty time through early next week.

Foale, with help from Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri, completed a procedure to remove any condensation that might have accumulated between the glass panes during removal a damaged flex hose used to keep the area between the window panes at vacuum. The procedure began about 9:20 a.m. CST, and was complete by noon. The final remaining steps in the repairs are construction of a cover to protect the hose against inadvertent contact and installation of a new jumper hose that was delivered by the resupply ship Progress 13.

Kaleri continued to troubleshoot intermittent failures of the Elektron oxygen generation system in the Zvezda service module. That system, which pulls oxygen from water, is one of several mechanisms used to provide breathing air. Today, Kaleri and flight controllers in Moscow restarted the system repeatedly in an effort to eliminate bubbles in the system. While repairs are ongoing, the Station's atmosphere has been repressurized using oxygen from the Progress spacecraft. Oxygen-generating canisters also are available, but are not being used at this time.

The first part of the week consisted of time off and light duty for Foale and Kaleri after last week's first-ever two-person spacewalk without a crew member inside the Station. The pair completed almost three-quarters of the tasks planned before Kaleri reported that drops of water were beginning to form inside his helmet visor and that his suit temperature was a little warm. After cutting short the spacewalk, the pair quickly detected a kink in one of the tubes in Kaleri's liquid cooling garment. The kink was straightened out and water began to flow normally.

The crew also worked with several science experiments, notably the PromISS protein crystal growth experiment. Wednesday, they stowed the experiment sample in the Aquarius incubator after a successful 30-day growth cycle.

In Thursday's regularly scheduled ISS Mission Management Team meeting, U.S. and Russian managers discussed the status of a minute pressure decay in the two helium systems that pressurize the Soyuz 7 vehicle's propellant tanks and lines. The pressure decay was first noted on System 2 when the Soyuz arrived at the Station in October, and was confirmed on System 1 during a thruster test in preparation for last week's spacewalk. Russian flight controllers have concluded that the decay poses no concern. The decay was extremely small and there are no plans to change normal entry and landing procedures.

Meanwhile, flight controllers in Houston reported seeing slight momentary increases in electrical current and vibration readings from one of the Station's Control Moment Gyroscopes (CMG) earlier this week. The readings were seen on CMG 3, one of three operating CMGs on the Station, following normal steps taken as part of a Station altitude reboost performed Tuesday using thrusters on the docked Progress cargo craft. All three CMGs continue to function well now with normal current indications, although flight controllers continue to evaluate the readings seen in recent CMG operations. Powered by electricity generated by the Station's solar arrays, the CMGs provide continuous orientation control of the Station without using the Station's limited fuel supply.

Foale and Kaleri spent the better part of three days working closely with Mission Control-Houston to take the treadmill out of its well, remove a gyroscope, replace a bearing within that gyro and put all the pieces back together. Thursday the crew began exercising on the treadmill again. The treadmill has operated properly since, but flight controllers are continuing to monitor its performance during initial exercise sessions with the gyroscope both activated and deactivated.

The crew has been able to exercise on the machine without the Vibration Isolation and Stabilization (VIS) system activated, for the last three months. The VIS system keeps the rigorous movement of the crew on the treadmill from affecting delicate microgravity science experiments.

The crew heard noises coming from the treadmill in November, which engineers determined was a failed bearing in the gyroscope that stabilizes movement in the roll direction. A repair kit was sent to the Station in January aboard a Progress resupply spacecraft. After this week's repair work, Foale reported the noises had stopped.

Repair work will continue onboard the Station this weekend as Kaleri works through troubleshooting procedures on the oxygen-generating Elektron system. Friday he began systematically checking its parts to help determine what may need replacing. There is a full complement of spare parts aboard the Station for the Elektron system.

Russian oxygen-generating canisters will be used to supplement the Station's oxygen beginning Saturday. The final repressurization using Progress oxygen tanks was completed this week. The next Progress vehicle is scheduled to arrive in May. The Station has plentiful supplies of oxygen aboard - enough to last more than four months - if needed. However, the Elektron is expected to be fully operational once the current troubleshooting and necessary repairs are completed.

Friday, Foale completed the third of four sessions with the Foot/Ground Reaction Forces During Spaceflight, or FOOT, experiment. By doing so, he gathered additional data about how he uses his legs differently in microgravity, which will help scientists develop countermeasure techniques for future long-duration spaceflights.

Foale also completed a familiarization session with the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity, or ADUM, experiment. The training involved working with a computer-based training program that will help him perform an ultrasound examination on Kaleri next week. The ADUM experiment is studying how minimally trained Station crewmembers can perform advanced ultrasound examinations using the computer-based program and guidance from doctors in Mission Control.

Foale and Kaleri spent two days replacing a liquids unit and a water flow system in the Russian Elektron oxygen-generation device in the Zvezda Service Module after weeks of troubleshooting efforts failed to coax it back into service. The Elektron produces oxygen for the Station atmosphere through electrolysis - the separation of hydrogen and oxygen from water that flows through a series of pumps and valves. The hydrogen is vented overboard.

Russian specialists spent several weeks trying to track down the most probable cause for repeated shutdowns of the system after just a few minutes of operation each time. They concluded that particles of potassium hydroxide electrolytes - a by-product of the electrolysis process - that created air bubbles in the liquids unit, resulting in the unit's repeated shutdowns, were the most probable cause of the