STS-107 MCC Status Report #13<br />Monday, January 27, 2003 -- 5:30 P.M. CST<br />Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas<br /><br />Some experiments have run their course aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia,<br />but there is more in store as STS-107 science continues around the clock in<br />the Spacehab Research Double Module.<br /><br />The Structures of Flame Balls experiment, looking at ways of improving<br />engine combustion efficiency, was shut down after a total of 39 tests using<br />15 different fuel mixtures. A total of 55 flame balls were ignited,<br />including the weakest and leanest flames ever burned. The longest-lived<br />flame burned in space for 81 minutes, part of a total burn time for all<br />flames of 6 1 /4 hours. Oscillating (shrinking and growing) flame balls,<br />which had been predicted theoretically, were observed for the first time.<br /><br />The Mechanics of Granular Materials test, looking for ways to better<br />understand and deal with soil movement associated with earthquakes,<br />completed its 10th and final run. The Microbial Physiology Flight Experiment<br />expended its eighth and final set of samples looking at yeast and bacteria<br />growth in microgravity. The Canadian-developed Osteoporosis in Orbit also<br />completed its operations.<br /><br />The Red team, or day shift - Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists<br />Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark and Israel Space Agency Payload Specialist<br />Ilan Ramon - took time out from microgravity experimentation about 11:30<br />a.m. CST to chat with the other three spacefarers on orbit - Commander Ken<br />Bowersox, NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit and Flight Engineer Nikolai<br />Budarin. At the time, the space station was some 240 miles above Southern<br />Russia while the shuttle was over northern Brazil.<br /><br />The Expedition Six crew aboard the station concentrated on loading new<br />software on the EXPRESS experiment racks, working with Russian and American<br />experiments and preparing the old Progress for its undocking this week to<br />make room for a new supply craft, scheduled to launch Feb. 2 from the<br />Baikonour Cosmodrome in Khazakstan and dock with the station Feb. 4.<br /><br />After a 2:39 p.m. CST wake-up to the sounds of "Slow Boat to Rio" by Earl<br />Klugh, the Blue team of astronauts - Payload Commander Michael Anderson,<br />Mission Specialist Dave Brown and Pilot Willie McCool was scheduled to enjoy<br />half a day of rest before resuming research activities concentrating on the<br />Mediterranean Israeli Dust Experiment, which yesterday captured its first<br />observations of dust over the Atlantic. Scientists with the Israel Space<br />Agency reported that preliminary data looks promising.<br /><br />The next STS-107 status report will be issued Tuesday afternoon, or as<br />events warrant.<br /><br /><br />###