EXPEDITION-8

Foale and Kaleri spent their first week in space completing experiments and familiarising themselves with ISS. Their experiment programme included 42 Russian experiments, 38 of which had been used on previous Expedition occupations. They quickly established a daily routine of briefings, exercise, experiments, and maintenance. October 28 was a light work day for the new crew, offering them a chance to rest after the intensity of their Soyuz flight and the hand-over week. Kaleri donned a compression cuff on his upper thigh as part of the Russian Braslet-M/ Anketa microgravity adaptation experiment. He also donated blood for the Hematokrit experiment. At the start of the new week they performed well in an emergency evacuation drill, before performing maintenance and station configura­tion tasks. The day after that was a full workday, with both men performing their own countries’ medical experiments, and an inspection of the station’s exercise devices, and maintenance.

After a quiet weekend the crew began work with the Body Mass Measurements experiments before stowing the EarthKam. Foale spoke to former Skylab astronauts who were meeting at MSFC, in Huntsville, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the launch of Skylab-4, the final crewed flight in that programme. During the week a series of solar flares erupted from the Sun, sending radiation towards Earth, where the planet’s magnetic field directed some of it into the upper atmosphere, causing aurorae. At various times the two astronauts sheltered in Zvezda and the third sleep station in Destiny as the station passed close to areas of high activity within Earth’s ionosphere. Korolev made it clear to the public that ISS orbited between 1,000 km and 2,000 km below the areas of highest activity in Earth’s atmosphere, and that the station’s radiation shielding was sufficient to protect the crew. Despite this and the fact that broken radiation-monitoring equipment had been part of the general deterioration of ISS complained about before the Soyuz TMA-3 launch, radiation levels outside and inside the station were carefully monitored.

Throughout all of this the crew continued to perform their experiments, with Kaleri performing Russian medical and physiological experiments in Zvezda, while Foale worked on American experiments in Destiny. On October 31, the Russian veloergometer, a vital exercise machine mounted in Zvezda, failed. Engineers in Korolev began an investigation into what had happened and how to repair it. The veloergometer was part of the crew’s daily exercise routine to ward off the effects of prolonged microgravity, so its speedy repair was important to them. On November 2, ISS passed its third year of permanent occupation.

Both men continued with their national experiment programmes, while also spending time trying to find suitable storage for all of the items on the station. This even included pressurising PMA-2, which was normally kept in a vacuum state, opening the hatch between Destiny and the PMA, and mounting items around its internal walls, before closing the hatch once more. Foale installed the EarthKam in Destiny’s nadir window and activated the Protein Crystal Growth experiment. He also used a special glove to measure hand muscle action in microgravity. The Hand Posture Analyser was an Italian experiment flown by ESA in an attempt to “quantify muscle fatigue associated with long-duration spaceflight.”

Foale had discussed some of the experiments during his pre-launch interview:

“we have… one experiment that looks at the melting and then the re-solidifica­tion of metal analogues in the glovebox facility in the Destiny Laboratory Module. We have a very interesting experiment that looks like it’s straight out of Star Wars called SPHERES… And this experiment is, the set of spheres— actually polyhedrons—that manoeuvre themselves in relation to each other and fly in formation to each other. We do this inside… the Node [Unity], and I’ll be doing that at different times during the mission. And then we have experiments that are life science-oriented. There’s an experiment that measures how I move in space… for a number of days I’ll be wearing some pretty fancy, expensive tights that are fully instrumented with instrumentation that measure how my muscles are moving, how the nerves that are triggering my muscles are firing, and indeed, the actual resulting position of my leg. It’s called FOOT. Although, actually it’s not only the foot that it’s studying, it’s studying the whole leg. And so that will then bring data back on basically how a human being adjusts, or just naturally assumes a neutral position in space during a normal workday.’’

In mid-November Kaleri reconfigured the TORU cabling inside Zvezda. Meanwhile, spikes in the current vibration lasting approximately 30 minutes were noted in CMG-3, on November 8. Three gyroscopes, mounted in the Z-1 Truss, were used to control the Station’s attitude, but were taken off-line when large manoeuvres were required. The fourth gyroscope had been taken off-line in 2002, following a malfunction, and a replacement gyroscope was waiting in Florida for the Shuttle to resume flying, because it was too big to fit in Progress.

November 11 saw the crew completing periodic hearing tests, while inspecting the Thermal Vibration Isolation System (TVIS) and checking the batteries for the station’s defibrillator. The following day they worked on reorganising equipment on ISS. November 12 was spent changing ten smoke detectors in the station and inspecting equipment at the request of mission control. The crew ended the week by commencing a course of potassium citrate pills, or placebos, in advance of a study of renal (kidney) stone development, an ongoing problem in long-duration spaceflight. Foale prepared the CBOSS experiment and its Fluid Dynamics Investigation experi­ment for later operations when it would be used to grow three-dimensional cell cultures. At the same time Kaleri worked with the Russian Profilakita experiment to study the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body. The week ended

Figure 43. Expedition-8: Alexander Kaleri demonstrated transferring from the Pirs airlock to a docked Soyuz spacecraft while wearing an Orlan suit. This was an emergency procedure to be used if the astronauts could not open the hatch between Pirs and Zvezda at the end of a period of extravehicular activity.

with the crew making preparations for the following week’s rehearsal for the Stage EVA that was planned for February 2004.

Both men spent the beginning of the week evaluating emergency procedures to be used if Pirs failed to pressurise at the end of the planned EVA. In that event they would have to move directly from Pirs to Soyuz TMA-3 while still wearing their Russian Orlan suits. On November 18, Kaleri donned an Orlan EVA suit and attempted to make the transfer through the hatch from Pirs to the orbital module of Soyuz TMA-3. Clearances between the suit’s Life Support System and the hatch rim were minimal and, even with the unsuited Foale pushing him from behind, the attempt took much longer than expected and was abandoned with Kaleri only partway through the hatch.

November 20 was the fifth anniversary of Zarya’s launch. Representatives from all 16 countries participating in the ISS programme celebrated the launch of the first element. Foale completed a computer-guided refresher course on the use of the SSRMS on November 21. He also completed alterations to the instrumented suit that was part of the FOOT experiment.

At one point the crew heard an unusual noise from the treadmill’s Vibration Isolation System (VIS). They were told to stop using the treadmill while the noise was investigated. The cause was later established as a possible gyroscope failure within the treadmill. They began running the treadmill with the VIS powered off a few days later, as part of a Russian experiment to see exactly what vibrations were present and how they affected the station’s other experiments. Following this, the crew were given permission to use the treadmill, with the VIS powered off, for their daily exercises over the weekend.

At 02: 59, November 26, both Foale and Kaleri heard what they initially believed to be an external impact on the aft end of Zvezda. Foale later explained how he had been immediately sure that ISS had not been ruptured because his ears had not popped, due to a drop in internal air pressure, as they had when he was onboard the Russian Mir station and a Progress vehicle had collided with one of its modules. The SSRMS was used to scan the area, but no signs of an impact were found. Internal pressure readings and the coolant system were monitored both on the ground and in space, but no leaks were discovered. The crew ultimately went back to work, while Houston and Korolev continued to investigate the noise. In the wake of the STS-107 investigation and the criticism that they had received on that occasion, NASA asked the Pentagon to turn a reconnaissance satellite’s cameras on ISS, to image the area where the impact was thought to have taken place.

Foale set up video cameras in Destiny to document the Fluid Dynamics Investigation, as part of the CBOSS experiment. He also installed equipment in the MSG for the PFMI experiment. Finally, he completed the alterations to the FOOT experiment’s instrumented suit. November 27 was American Thanksgiving Day. The crew enjoyed a light workload and some free time to listen to music and watch films. NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe spoke to both men by telephone.

Foale spent much of December 2 participating in the FOOT experiment. He had to wear the Lower Extremities Monitoring Suit which was fitted with 20 sensors to measure the wearer’s daily activities. During the same day Kaleri worked on the veloergometer, stripping it down and reassembling it. Although the device worked normally after reassembly, Kaleri found no cause for the earlier malfunction. The exercise machine malfunctioned again six days later. On December 4, Kaleri completed the first run on the Russian Plasma Crystal-3 experiment, after spending the earlier part of the week setting it up. The automated experiment studied crystallisation of plasma dust subjected to high-frequency radio waves in a vacuum chamber. Both men also inspected the TVIS on the treadmill in Zvezda, before they both ran on the treadmill with its Vibration Isolation Stabilisation turned off. Instruments in Zvezda and Unity measured the resulting vibrations.

On that day NASA announced that, due to the malfunction of one CMG in the Z-1 Truss and the recent vibration experienced by a second, “ISS attitude hold and all attitude manoeuvres will be performed on Russian thrusters only, between now and mid-January.’’ During the week the crew also discharged and re-charged the batteries in the various pressure suits on the station, reloaded the station laptop computers, and participated in the ongoing Renal Stone Experiment.

December 8 saw Michael Foale set a new record for an individual American astronaut’s cumulative time in space, passing the previous record of 230 days 13 hours 3 minutes 38 seconds set by Carl Walz. Thirty Russian cosmonauts had spent longer cumulative times in space than Foale, including Kaleri, who had spent 415 days in space, even before commencing his Expedition-8 flight to ISS. The Russian record was held by Sergei Avdeyev’s cumulative time of 748 days. Carl Walz, the previous holder of the American record telephoned Foale to pass on his congratula­tions. The following two days were spent stripping down the treadmill and confirmed that a bearing in one of its gyroscopes was the cause of the problem. A replacement would be carried up to ISS on Progress M1-11, due for launch in January 2004. The following day the Elektron oxygen generator’s prime and back-up pumps failed, causing the machine to shut down. Engineers suggested that an air bubble had caused the problem, and Elektron was later powered on for 10 hours to clear it. Foale used the SSRSM on December 9 to continue the inspection of the station’s exterior following the crew’s report of an external sound earlier in the flight. Its cameras were also used to inspect the exterior of the station to search for any changes, a task usually carried out by Shuttle crews during their post-undocking fly-around of the station.

NASA announced four new ISS Expedition crews on December 17, 2003. The details released at the time were

	Expedition-9
Prime crew Back-up crew To be launched on	McArthur and Tokarev, with Kuipers as visiting astronaut Padalka and Fincke, with Thiele backing up Kuipers Soyuz TMA-4, on April 19, 2004

	Expedition-10
Prime crew	Padalka and Fincke
Back-up crew	Onufrienko and Tani
To be launched on	Soyuz TMA-5, on October 9, 2004

	Expedition-11
Prime crew	Sharipov, Phillips, and Kononenko
Back-up crew	Pettit and two Russian cosmonauts to be named
To be launched on	STS-121, on November 15, 2004

	Expedition-12
Prime crew	Chiao, S. Williams, and a Russian cosmonaut to be named
Back-up crew	To be named
To be launched on	STS-116, on April 14, 2005

The Shuttle launch dates were subject to the Shuttle returning to flight following the loss of STS-107.

When McArthur was temporarily medically disqualified, Chiao was teamed with Tokarov on Expedition-9. In time McArthur returned to flight status and the original pairings were reinstated with Padalka, Fincke, and Kuipers being teamed up on Expedition-9, Chiao and Sharipov on Expedition-10 and McArthur and Tokarev slipped to Expedition-11, giving McArthur time to catch up on lost training.

Prior to the STS-107 tragedy, the Expedition-9 and Expedition-10 crews had

December 17 was the 100th anniversary of powered flight. Foale and Kaleri were given the day off, although they did talk to schoolchildren at the Wright Brothers’ Memorial at Kitty Hawk. Some aerospace journalists had expected President Bush to make an announcement regarding the future of the American human spaceflight programme during the day, but he did not do so. The ISS crew ended the week by sending down the results from some of their experiments. Their weekend of light duties was interrupted by the Elektron shutting down a further three times. The unit was turned down to the lowest power setting, reducing atmospheric pressure on the station. The atmosphere was supplemented with oxygen from tanks in Progress M-48. NASA announced:

“The Elektron has been operating only intermittently, shutting down when air gets into pumps that help separate liquid and gas. The problem is believed to be one that is sometimes experienced as membranes in that unit age. A replacement is onboard, but flight controllers plan to continue operations as they are for as long as possible before using the new equipment. Oxygen also is being provided to the cabin air from tanks aboard the Progress craft that is docked to the complex. The oxygen in those tanks must be used in the next few weeks to prepare for the undocking of that supply craft in January. With the Progress oxygen being used, continuous use of the Elektron is not necessary.’’

Two days later Foale and Kaleri completed their ninth week in space. Foale began the week by performing a leak check on the seal between Quest and Unity. The connecting hatch was sealed and the airlock’s internal pressure reduced and left overnight. No leaks were detected. At the same time Kaleri worked to replace a faulty heat exchanger in Zvezda’s back-up air-conditioning system. He successfully removed the old unit, but then experienced difficulty aligning the new one. The work was left while controllers in Korolev diagnosed the problem. The primary system
continued to function flawlessly. Troubleshooting also took place on Zvezda’s Elektron system.

The two days before the Christmas holidays were spent repairing various experiments and taking sound level measurements in Zvezda. On December 24, Christmas Eve, Kaleri worked on the Elektron system in Zvezda, replacing filters, but the system failed to restart at the end of his efforts. The sensors in the tanks that were supposed to fill with water indicated that they were full when they were in fact empty. Meanwhile, Foale stowed clothing in Unity, including many items that had been used by previous crews and would not be used again. Both men had the holiday period off, although they had to perform their daily exercises, and routine house­keeping and maintenance on the station. They had a smoked turkey dinner, received a call from Sean O’Keefe, and Foale spoke to his family. On December 26, it was back to work, carrying out routine maintenance on the station.

Kaleri spent three hours on December 29, removing no longer needed attitude control equipment from Zarya; the equipment would be discarded in Progress M-48 in late January. He also worked with the Russian Harmful Impurities Removal System, which helped to purify the station’s atmosphere. Foale spent the day working with the CBOSS experiment. The following day, Foale completed some soldering and repacked the ISS medical kit with fresh supplies from Progress M-48. On December 31, both men completed 1 hour of emergency medical training. They also turned off the Elektron and activated their first SFOG candle, in an attempt to use up those candles that were approaching their use-by date. NASA explained:

“Each candle releases 600 litres of O2, enough for one person per day. There are

142 SFOGs on board, and the certified lifetime of all of them expires today.

Russian formalities required for extending their lifetimes are being expedited as

much as possible.’’

The pair exchanged New Year greetings with each of their many control rooms as they passed around the planet. They celebrated New Year at midnight gmt.

As 2003 ended Sean O’Keefe made it clear that STS-114, the Shuttle Return to Flight mission, would not fly in 2004. He stated that the requirement to develop the OBSS, required to inspect the Shuttle’s TPS on each flight, and the requirement to develop a TPS repair kit, as demanded by the CAIB, were the principal causes of the delay. O’Keefe said that the cost of returning the Shuttle to flight had risen from the $280 million estimated in November 2003, to the present figure of $400 million.

January 1, 2004 was a day off for the crew. Both men spoke to their families and completed only vital technical maintenance and personal exercise. During the day, controllers noticed that ISS was suffering a slow pressure leak. Systems on the station were able to compensate for the leak, but the two men still began checking all valves that gave access to open space to ensure they were properly closed. They found nothing untoward. Both men had first-hand experience of leaks in space. Foale had been onboard Mir when it was struck by a Progress spacecraft in 1997, and Kaleri had been sent to Mir in 2000 to look for an unidentified slow leak on the station at that time.

The following day Foale returned to work on the CBOSS and Kaleri followed instructions that were radioed up from Korolev to adjust the Elektron oxygen generator in Zvezda. Kaleri also activated two SFOGs to enrich the station’s atmosphere. A further two SFOGs were burned the next day. Meanwhile, oxygen was also introduced to the station’s atmosphere from tanks in Progress M-48 on January 1 and again on January 3.

Two days later the crew were informed of a drop in internal air pressure registered in Houston. The leak had first been registered on January 1, and had grown steadily worse since then. They were told, “There’s no action for you at this time and no immediate concerns… We’ll continue to investigate this on the next shift and we may have some actions for you tomorrow.’’ Even so, the crew carried out some basic checks onboard ISS but they found nothing amiss. On January 6, they returned to the search for the cause of a pressure leak on the station. NASA’s Mike Suffredini explained, “We’re going to take a very measured and methodical approach to sort through this problem… If this was in fact a leak, which we’re not certain that it is, we have, oh, about a little over half a year’s worth of gas on board to feed it and so we’re in no particular hurry to overreact.’’

Foale finally identified the location of the leak on January 11. It was caused by a flexible cable called a vacuum jumper that was used to equalise pressure between the individual panes in Destiny’s main window, where it entered a steel harness at the edge of the window. The vacuum jumper would be capped off and replaced later, after relevant equipment had been lifted up to ISS on a future Progress. Both men had checked the window before, but their efforts to listen for the leak had been frustrated by the noise coming from a science experiment being run in the laboratory. NASA told journalists, “Foale reported that as soon as the flex hose was disconnected, the noise stopped. While additional evaluation is needed for confirmation, the pressure in the station appears to have stabilised since the removal of the hose.’’ Having identified the leak, the crew requested, and were given the remainder of the day off. At Houston’s request the crew ended the week by closing the internal hatches and spending the weekend in Zvezda. Controllers then monitored the internal press­ure in the various isolated modules of the station throughout the weekend. In Korolev, engineers were considering a total replacement of Zvezda’s Elektron unit, which continued to function intermittently.