PROGRESS Ml-10

Progress M1-10 was launched at 06:34, June 8, 2003 and docked to the station at Pirs’ nadir at 07: 15, June 11, after a standard approach. It carried food, drinking water, and equipment for the Expedition-7 mission as well as propellants for the thrusters on Zvezda. It also carried two experiments to be carried out by ESA astronaut Pedro Duque, who would spend a week on ISS during the Expedition – 7-8 crew changeover. Following pressure checks, the hatches between Pirs and Progress M1-10 were opened allowing Malenchenko and Lu to unload the cargo, a task that they commenced on June 13.

During the week, Lu continued to work on the InSPACE experiment based within the MSG. At one point, Lu was looking out of Destiny’s window when he saw a rectangular piece of metal, 5 cm long, drift away from the station. Controllers thought that it was most likely a metal label that had become detached from the exterior of the station. The following week was a busy one, with the two men continuing to unload the new Progress and overseeing the pumping of water and propellant from the cargo vehicle to ISS. Lu continued his work with the InSPACE experiment. A third series of InSPACE experiments also occupied Lu during his eighth week of living on ISS, while Malenchenko began loading rubbish into the now empty Progress M1-10.

Both men worked to replace the flexpacks in the canisters of the Resistive Exercise Device (RED). The flexpacks provided the resistance as the crew used the machine to exercise the major muscle groups of the body. The new flexpacks had been lifted into orbit on Progress M1-10. Lu also calibrated an ultrasound device in the HRF rack in Destiny, while Malenchenko replaced a pump in one of Zarya’s cooling loops. Lu also set up and calibrated the Portable Clinical Blood Analyser (PCBA), which they both used during their routine medical checks the following day. In his pre-launch interview Lu had discussed the importance of such exercises:

“I think that the most exciting results so far we’ve had on Space Station will be continued. And, that is that it does seem possible to reduce or even eliminate possibly the calcium loss in bones from astronauts. One thing that we’re doing differently on ISS than, say, on Mir or on Skylab is that we now [have] the capability to do heavy weight-bearing, weightlifting-type exercises that we did not have before. And, interestingly, on the first six increments thus far, we found that you can very, very much reduce the calcium loss in bones by doing heavy weightlifting things such as squats, dead lifts, exercises like that. We know on the ground, that to build bone and muscle mass, you need to do heavy weight­bearing exercises… To me this is by far the most interesting scientific thing we’ve found so far in the early stages of Space Station… We are changing our exercise protocols, and we will be switching to as many of these sorts of heavy weight­bearing-type exercises as we can… Because if you want to fly on long, extended missions across the solar system, as we do someday, you have to solve the problem of bone and muscle loss. And, we may have actually essentially solved that. Or, come very much of the way towards solving that.’’

On June, 17, Space Adventures and the RSA announced completion of an agreement reached on April 30, to secure positions for two spaceflight participants on Soyuz TMA flights to ISS in 2004-2005. Such flights had been stopped in the wake of Russia’s request to reduce the ISS Expeditions crews to just two people. With NASA preparing to begin work on bringing the Shuttle back into operations after the CAIB’s Final Report was published, probably in July, Space Adventures negotiated for the purchase of two positions on future Soyuz taxi flights. A NASA spokeswoman told the media that Russia had yet to clear the plan with the Americans:

“We’re expecting that the Russian Aviation and Space Agency will discuss with NASA and the other partners how this project can be conducted within the procedures that exist within the International Space Station partnership.’’

In Florida, six members of the CAIB visited the hangar where 84,000 individual pieces of debris from STS-107 were being investigated on June 17. Retired Admiral Harold Gehman, chairman of the Investigation Board, told the media:

“At this stage, the Board has not come across any show stoppers that in our mind would prevent the Shuttle from returning to flight… Now, how high is the stack of return-to-flight items when we get finished? I can’t tell you now, but right now, it looks manageable.’’

He continued,

“We get briefings continuously on what the debris and the metallurgy tells us. Many of us felt it was our duty to come down to see it for ourselves… We saw the things today which we believe are compelling pieces of evidence that tell us how the heat got into the vehicle and where the flaw started.’’

Meanwhile, some Republican politicians were calling for the 20-year-old Shuttle to be scrapped and replaced by the proposed Orbital Space Plane.

On June 24, the two men in ISS spoke to the six people of the Aquarius crew, inside NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO). Peggy Whitson, Expedition-5 Science Officer, was Commander of the 14-day underwater NEEMO mission.

In advance of the publication of the CAIB Final Report, then expected in July, NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe told a meeting of the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors and the Florida Press Association that NASA intended to establish an “Engineering and Safety Centre’’ initiative, to establish and assure high standards of safety on future Shuttle flights. He said:

“The effort we need to go through, the high bar we need to set for ourselves, ought to be higher than anything anybody else would levy on us… We’ve got to not only focus on the CAIB’s findings and recommendations, but beyond that, to correct everything we think might stand in the way of flying as safely as humanly possible.’’

As July began, the Expedition-7 crew were starting their third month on ISS. On July 1, Lu celebrated his 40th birthday. Hawaii, his home state, marked the occasion with “Edward Tsang Lu Day” and MCC-Houston held an “Aloha Day”, with members of the control room staff wearing Hawaiian shirts. NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe spoke to Lu during the day. As the week continued, Lu completed his work with the InSPACE experiment. The NASA website contained Lu’s letters from ISS in a series called “Greetings Earthlings”. These included simple explanations of the basic scientific principles governing life on ISS and a number of highly personal essays relating to Lu’s experiences on the station. They are all highly readable and informative.

Malenchenko and Lu also completed routine maintenance checks of the Pirs docking module. July 4 was an American holiday and a rest day for the crew, in addition to the weekend that followed it. Exercise and routine maintenance were the only activities that were allowed to interrupt their time off.

As June ended, NASA confirmed plans for the remainder of the Shuttle orbiter fleet. Prior to STS-107, Columbia, as the oldest orbiter, had undergone the first 2.5- year refit to update most of its aging systems and install a new “glass cockpit’’. With Columbia’s refit complete the plan had been for the remaining three orbiters to be removed from flight duties in turn to undergo a similar refit. NASA confirmed that despite the loss of one orbiter the refit schedule would be upheld, with Endeavour being next in line, followed by Discovery, and then Atlantis.