International Space Station Status Report #03-8<br />4 p.m. CST, Friday, Feb. 21, 2003<br />Expedition Six Crew<br /><br />The Expedition 6 crew marked its 90th day in orbit today. Commander Ken<br />Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer Don<br />Pettit have been in orbit since their launch from the Kennedy Space Center<br />in Florida on Nov. 23.<br /><br />The crew began the week by taking samples of the station's water supply to<br />ensure its continued purity. Budarin also started a three-day process to<br />disinfect equipment in the Russian water supply system using materials<br />brought to the station aboard the latest Progress resupply craft. Both<br />activities are part of routine maintenance procedures aboard the station.<br /><br />During the week, the crew completed a variety of medical tests to ensure<br />their continued good health and to collect data on how the human body adapts<br />to microgravity. These included a Russian cardiovascular experiment and the<br />testing of urine and blood samples. Bowersox and Pettit also completed a<br />computer-based refresher training related to their duties as crew medical<br />officers. Station maintenance during the week included the removal and<br />replacement by Pettit of a remote power control module in the Destiny<br />laboratory, which contained a bad power switch that was responsible for<br />powering the video recorder in one of the robotics workstations. The<br />changeout was successful and the video recorder is now working. Bowersox<br />performed monthly maintenance on the cycle ergometer, which the crew uses to<br />maintain their aerobic fitness - the station's treadmill received its<br />periodic maintenance last weekend. On Thursday, Bowersox and Pettit<br />conducted an inventory of all the equipment in the Quest airlock to ensure<br />it matched the data in the station's Inventory Management System.<br /><br />The loading of new software on the station's command and control computers<br />was completed today, as was the loading of the new software onto the<br />guidance, navigation and control computers.<br /><br />On Monday, Bowersox and Pettit plan to don U.S. spacesuits without the help<br />of Budarin to practice techniques that could be used if only two crewmembers<br />are present aboard the ISS.<br /><br />Information on the crew's activities aboard the space station, future launch<br />dates, as well as station sighting opportunities from anywhere on the Earth,<br />is available on the Internet at:<br /><br />http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/<br /><br />Details on station science operations can be found on an Internet site<br />administered by the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space<br />Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., at:<br /><br />http://www.scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov/<br /><br />The next ISS status report will be issued on Friday, Feb. 28, or sooner, if<br />events warrant.