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More Details for 2003-07-18

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The Expedition 7 crew, Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu, prepared for a new science experiment and performed maintenance activities this week aboard the International Space Station.

Lu completed the installment of, and checkout procedures for the Coarsening of Solid-Liquid Mixtures 2 experiment in preparation for its first scientific run aboard the Space Station next week. The materials science payload is ready for data collection in the Microgravity Sciences Glovebox in the U.S. laboratory Destiny. The experiment will study a process called coarsening during which the strength of a material is reduced. This phenomenon is seen in high-temperature turbine blades and even in the material used in dental fillings.

Lu transferred the file server that houses information for the Station Support Computer (SSC) laptops to a Next Generation Laptop to increase the speed and memory of the Station network. The crew uses the six SSC laptops to access daily plans, procedures, the inventory management system and electronic mail. Ultimately all of the SSC laptops as well as the Portable Station Computers that perform command and control functions of the ISS will be upgraded to the Next Generation Laptops.

Malenchenko and Lu routinely inspected the Zvezda Service Module and Pirs Docking Compartment windows and took electronic images to downlink to engineers for analysis. Malenchenko also replaced a failed battery in Zvezda with a spare.

A troubleshooting procedure performed by Lu to recover the cooling capability in his spacesuit was unsuccessful. A third, larger spacesuit is available to be resized for Lu's use in the event a spacewalk is necessary. The cooling system in Lu's spacesuit did not function correctly during a practice run in the Quest Airlock at the beginning of this mission. The Expedition 7 crew is not scheduled to conduct a spacewalk, but had practiced getting into the U.S. spacesuits in case of emergency.

Earlier this week, the Johnson Space Center and the Mission Control Center remained at a concerned level of preparedness but there was no impact to mission operations during the arrival of Hurricane Claudette along Texas Coast. Lu was able to capture video and still images of the storm as it approached the coast on Tuesday.