Melissa Mathews<br />Headquarters, Washington August 6, 2004<br />(Phone: 202/358-1272)<br /><br />INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION STATUS REPORT: SS04-025<br /><br /> Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 9 <br />Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA Flight Engineer and <br />Science Officer Mike Fincke resumed scientific <br />investigations, routine maintenance and preparations for the <br />arrival of a new cargo ship, after a successful spacewalk on <br />Tuesday.<br /><br />Padalka and Fincke replaced experiments on the outside of the <br />Zvezda Service Module and installed navigation aids for next <br />year's arrival of a European cargo craft.<br /> <br />Wednesday, the crew cleaned and stowed their spacesuits and <br />spacewalking tools, recharged batteries, and filled water <br />tanks for the suits' cooling units. They also conducted <br />debriefing sessions with Russian spacewalk specialists. Also <br />on Wednesday, ground controllers in Houston repressurized the <br />Station with nitrogen from the High Pressure Gas Tanks on the <br />Quest Airlock.<br /><br />Earlier today, the crew started assembling a cover that will <br />protect a new flex hose on the window of the Destiny <br />Laboratory to ensure it will not inadvertently be damaged by <br />crew activity in the research module.<br /><br />The crew wrapped up its week with Fincke conducting more <br />experiments with advanced ultrasound equipment. He also <br />updated software for the Station Acceleration Measurement <br />System, which collects information on the effect of crew <br />activity on delicate microgravity experiments housed on board <br />the complex.<br /><br />At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, final preparations <br />are under way for next Wednesday's launch of a new Russian <br />Progress cargo ship. It will transport almost three tons of <br />food, fuel, water and supplies for Padalka and Fincke, as <br />well as clothing and supplies for the Expedition 10 crew, <br />Commander Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander <br />Salizhan Sharipov. Chiao and Sharipov are scheduled to launch <br />to the Station Oct. 9 to replace Padalka and Fincke.<br /><br />The Progress craft, the fifteenth to visit the Station, is <br />scheduled to lift off at 1:03 a.m. EDT Wednesday for a three-<br />day trip to the Station. Docking is scheduled at 1:02 a.m. <br />EDT Aug. 14. NASA Television will provide live coverage and <br />commentary of the docking beginning at midnight Aug. 13.<br /><br />For information about NASA and agency missions on the <br />Internet, visit:<br /><br />http://www.nasa.gov<br /><br />Information about crew activities on the Space Station, <br />future launch dates and Station sighting opportunities from <br />Earth, is available on the Internet at:<br /><br />http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/<br /><br />Details about Station science operations are available on an <br />Internet site administered by the Payload Operations Center <br />at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., <br />at:<br /><br />http://scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov/