STS-107
Report #06 
Monday, January 20, 2003 - 6:00 p.m. CST 
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas 
 
Columbia's astronauts conducted scientific studies ranging from the behavior of 
granular materials in weightlessness to the effects of microgravity on fungi, and 
filmed the sprites associated with thunderstorms across the globe as their scientific 
research flight continued in its fifth day.

Red team members Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla and 
Laurel Clark and Israeli Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon conducted additional data 
takes with the Mechanics of Granular Materials experiment located in the Spacehab 
Research Module in Columbia's cargo bay. The MGM experiment is providing information 
on the behavior of saturated sand when exposed to confining pressures in microgravity. 
The experiment could provide engineers valuable data for strengthening buildings 
against earthquakes.

The Red team is working what amounts to the day shift on orbit, while the Blue 
team --- Pilot Willie McCool, Mission Specialist Dave Brown and Payload Commander 
Mike Anderson --- is working the overnight shift. The division of the two teams 
into 12-hour shifts assures that scientific research is conducted round-the-clock.

One of the host of experiments in the Spacehab science lab --- the Microbial 
Physiology Flight Experiment --- was monitored by Clark as she studied how specific 
fungi react to the absence of gravity for long periods of time.

Additional data was acquired by Anderson and Ramon with an experiment in the 
Combustion Module in the Spacehab --- the study of Laminer Soot Processes (LSP) 
--- designed to gain a better understanding of soot formation, oxidation and 
radiative properties within flames. Two other experiments studying flame properties 
in space in the large Spacehab furnace are to be conducted throughout the course 
of the flight.

Work was also accomplished with a series of biomedical experiments studying the 
human body's response to weightlessness --- particularly dealing with protein 
manufacturing in the absence of a gravity environment, bone and calcium production, 
the formation of chemicals associated with renal stones and how saliva and urine 
change in space relative to any exposure to viruses. The crewmembers also continued 
periodic blood draws to study how their bodies are adapting to the microgravity 
environment.

Experiments continued with the MEIDEX cameras in the cargo bay observing thunderstorms 
to capture images of sprites, which are associated with discharges from the tops of 
thunderclouds into the Earth's upper atmosphere, and with the SOLSE experiment, 
studying the amount of ozone in the Earth's upper atmosphere by using a special 
imaging spectrometer in the payload bay to look across the limb of the Earth during 
specifically scheduled orbits.

Having been awakened just after 4 p.m. Central time, McCool, Brown and Anderson 
planned to continue the more than 80 experiments on board Columbia. The Red team 
will begin its eight-hour sleep period just after 8 p.m. Central time. 

This afternoon, flight controllers observed a minor electrical current spike in 
one of two systems designed to collect and distribute water produced from condensation 
buildup caused by the operation of the cooling system in the Spacehab Research 
Module in the cargo bay. 

An identical system sprung a leak under the floorboards of Spacehab last night 
and was shut down. The secondary system had been operating normally until the 
electrical spike was observed at around 1:15 p.m. A plan was implemented to 
reconfigure a valve in Columbia, allowing cool air from the shuttle to flow into 
the science module, thus enabling the module's temperatures to remain at a level 
that will not require the use of Spacehab's cooling system, while preventing any 
further buildup of condensation. Later, an air duct was routed from Columbia to 
the Spacehab to increase the flow of cool air into the science facility.

Flight controllers plan to continue their analysis of the Spacehab cooling issue 
throughout the night, with no impact expected to science operations.

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 6 Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight 
Engineer Nikolai Budarin and ISS Science Officer Don Pettit entered their third 
month in orbit today with a full complement of scientific research activities, 
exercise and routine ISS maintenance work.

The three ISS crewmembers conducted a number of cardiovascular tests, unloaded 
samples from a Zeolite Crystal Growth experiment in the Destiny laboratory that 
has completed its work for this Expedition. The Russian Vozdukh carbon dioxide 
removal system in the Zvezda Module, which shut down last week, is now operating 
normally following the weekend replacement of a valve. The U.S. segment CO2 removal 
system, which has been operating in place of Vozdukh, was powered down as a result 
of the Vozdukh revival.

All other station systems are operating normally as are all the systems aboard 
the shuttle Columbia, which, like the ISS, is orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes.

The next STS-107 mission status report will be issued Tuesday afternoon, or earlier, 
if events warrant.