NASA’S BUDGET APPROVED

As November drew to a close, Congress approved NASA’s budget request for FY2005. The final figure allocated was only $44 million short of that requested by President Bush when he announced the new Vision for Space Exploration. $4.3 billion was allocated to the Shuttle, but NASA was mandated to report back to Congress on a regular basis regarding the cost of returning the Shuttle to flight. The budget also included money to begin development of the CEV, which would replace the Shuttle.

SOYUZ TMA-5 RELOCATED

On November 24, Sharipov test-fired the thrusters on Soyuz TMA-5 in anticipation of its relocation to Zarya. During the test, controllers in Korolev noticed the same reduction in pressure in the fuel system that had been observed during the initial approach to the station. As the thruster problem had no effect on the future use of Soyuz TMA-5 it was decided to carry on with the relocation manoeuvre and a second test-firing of the thrusters during that manoeuvre was cancelled. Two days later, the crew reviewed the plans for the relocation manoeuvre and closed the hatches between Progress M-50 and Zarya. November 25 was the American Thanksgiving Day holiday and the Expidition-10 crew had a day off.

Having configured ISS for automatic operation, both astronauts sealed them­selves in the descent module of Soyuz TMA-5 on November 29. Sharipov undocked the Soyuz from Pirs at 04: 29, and backed away to a distance of 30 metres. He then flew the spacecraft 14 metres along the length of the station before rotating it through 135° and held it in position for 8 minutes of station keeping. Docking with Zarya’s nadir port took place at 05: 53. Following the standard leak and pressure checks the crew opened the hatches between the two vehicles, returned to ISS, and reconfigured it for occupied operation. The crew had November 30 and December 1 off. On November 30 the missing metal shim from the EMU pump drifted past Chiao, who was working inside Pirs. He recovered it, but pressure suit engineers decided not to use it, preferring to use a new shim, to be delivered on the next Progress. During the month the crew had carried out three audits of the food onboard, which showed that the previous Expedition crew had eaten into the current crew’s rations. New supplies would be launched on Progress M-51, but if the launch failed, or the spacecraft failed to dock, the food currently on ISS would run out in mid-January, requiring the crew to evacuate the station. As the food ran out the crew reduced the amount they were eating, until Sharipov told an interviewer, “We are short of food. We are eating less than half of our normal rations…’’

Returning to work on December 2, they swapped out the filter cartridges in the Elektron oxygen generator. The crew spent the next 3 weeks filling Progress M-50 with rubbish to be taken away when it undocked, on December 22. A laptop com­puter failed in Zvezda, and was replaced by one from Sharipov’s sleep station. Three new laptops would be in Progress M-51, to bring the Station Support Computer network back up to full capability.

The second week in December was spent preparing Destiny for additional experiment racks. Chiao worked with the ARIS experiment. He also photographed the BCAT experiment and worked with the in-space soldering experiment. Meanwhile, Sharipov donned the Chibis suit, which simulated forces on the musculo-skeletal system using suction as part of a study of the cardiovascular system. The crew also completed a range of housekeeping duties.

Sharipov and Chiao carried out a routine practice with the SSRMS and left it with both ends holding grapple fixtures on the exterior of the station. It was a precautionary measure, in case the food shortage, coupled with a failure of the Progress M-51 flight, led to the evacuation of ISS, during the week ending December 17. They installed cables and a switching unit for the docking system that would guide the European ATV to docking with Zvezda’s wake. The week was a busy one, with experiment periods using the ADUM. The crew also carried out an inventory of all items loaded into Progress M-50. At one point, the Elektron oxygen generator was deliberately turned off, to allow the last of the oxygen in Progress M-51’s tanks to be used. They also carried out maintenance on the ventilation system in Zvezda and replaced the batteries in the station’s heart defibrillator. A major task during the week was a top-to-bottom inventory of every item held in the Quest airlock. This was carried out in advance of three EVAs planned from Quest during the STS-114 Return to Flight mission. With their loading tasks complete, the crew closed the hatches between Progress M-50 and Zvezda. The Progress undocked at 14: 37, December 22, and backed away from Zvezda’s wake. A separation manoeuvre placed it in its own orbit before it was de-orbited to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.

On December 13, Sean O’Keefe announced his retirement as NASA Adminis­trator. He would remain in place until a replacement was named. The new Administrator would face the following tasks relating to human spaceflight:

• Return the Shuttle to flight.

• Complete ISS before the Shuttle was retired in 2010.

• Re-structure NASA to bring the Shuttle programme to an end.

• Downsize NASA as the Shuttle programme wound down.

• Develop Project Constellation.

• Define Project Constellation hardware.

• Restructure the NASA field stations for Project Constellation.