Whitson Credit - www.spacefacts.de

Personal: Female, Married. Born in Mt. Ayr, Iowa, USA.

Astronaut Career

Astronaut Group: NASA Group 16 - 1996. Active Entered space service: 1 May 1996. Number of Flights: 2.00. Total Time: 376.72 days. Number of EVAs: 6.00. Total EVA Time: 1.67 days.

NAME: Peggy A. Whitson (Ph.D.)

NASA Astronaut Candidate (Mission Specialist)

PERSONAL DATA:

Born February 9, 1960 in Mt. Ayr, Iowa. Married to Clarence F. Sams, Ph.D. She enjoys windsurfing, biking, basketball, water skiing.

EDUCATION:

Graduated from Mt. Ayr Community High School, Mt. Ayr, Iowa, in 1978; received a bachelor of science degree in biology/chemistry from Iowa Wesleyan College in 1981, and a doctorate in biochemistry from Rice University in 1985.

ORGANIZATIONS:

American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

AWARDS/HONORS:

Group Achievement Award for Shuttle-Mir Program (1996); American Astronautical Society Randolph Lovelace II Award (1995); NASA Tech Brief Award (1995); NASA Space Act Board Award (1995); NASA Silver Snoopy Award (1995); NASA Exceptional Service Medal (1995); NASA Space Act Award for Patent Application; NASA Certificate of Commendation (1994); Submission of Patent Disclosure for "Method and Apparatus for the Collection, Storage, and Real Time Analysis of Blood and Other Bodily Fluids (1993); Selected for Space Station Redesign Team (March-June 1993); NASA Sustained Superior Performance Award (1990); Krug International Merit Award (1989); NASA-JSC National Research Council Resident Research Associate (1986-1988); Robert A. Welch Postdoctoral Fellowship (1985-1986); Robert A. Welch Predoctoral Fellowship (1982-1985), Summa Cum Laude from Iowa Wesleyan College (1981); President's Honor Roll ( 1978-81); Orange van Calhoun Scholarship (1980); State of Iowa Scholar (1979); Academic Excellence Award (1978).

EXPERIENCE:

From 1981 to 1985, Whitson conducted her graduate work in biochemistry at Rice University, Houston, Texas, as a Robert A. Welch Predoctoral Fellow. Following completion of her graduate work she continued at Rice University as a Robert A Welch Postdoctoral Fellow until October 1986. Following this position, she began her studies at NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, as a National Research Council Resident Research Associate. From April 1988 until September 1989, Whitson served as the Supervisor for the Biochemistry Research Group at KRUG International, a medical sciences contractor at NASA-JSC. In 1991, Whitson was also invited to be an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and Department of Human Biological Chemistry and Genetics at University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas.

NASA EXPERIENCE:

From 1989 to 1993, Whitson worked as a Research Biochemist in the Biomedical Operations and Research Branch at NASA-JSC. In 1990, she gained the additional duties of Research Advisor for the National Research Council Resident Research Associate. From 1991-1993, she served as Technical Monitor of the Biochemistry Research Laboratories in the Biomedical Operations and Research Branch. From 1991-1992 she was the Payload Element Developer for Bone Cell Research Experiment (E10) aboard SL-J (STS-47), and was a member of the US-USSR Joint Working Group in Space Medicine and Biology. In 1992, she was named the Project Scientist of the Shuttle-Mir Program (STS-60, STS-63, STS-71, Mir 18, Mir 19) and served in this capacity until the conclusion of the Phase 1A Program in 1995. From 1993-1996 Whitson held the additional responsibilities of the Deputy Division Chief of the Medical Sciences Division at NASA-JSC. From 1995-1996 she served as Co-Chair of the U.S.-Russian Mission Science Working Group. In April 1996, she was selected as an astronaut candidate and, in August 1996, began two years of training and evaluation. Successful completion of initial training will qualify her for various technical assignments leading to selection as a mission specialist on a Space Shuttle flight crew.

• 5 June 2002 Flight: ISS EO-5. Flight Up: STS-111. Flight Back: STS-113. Flight Time: 184.93 days.

• 10 October 2007 Flight: ISS EO-16. Flight Up: Soyuz TMA-11. Flight Back: Soyuz TMA-11. Flight Time: 191.80 days.

24 May 2002 - ISS Status Report: ISS 02-25. The Expedition 4 crew of the International Space Station spent much of this week preparing for the arrival of Endeavour on STS-111 and their return home. They packed equipment and supplies for return to Earth aboard Endeavour. They also reconfigured and checked out spacesuits and the station's joint airlock in preparation for three spacewalks at the station by Endeavour mission specialists Franklin Chang-Diaz and Philippe Perrin.

Expedition 4 Commander Yury Onufrienko and astronauts Carl Walz and Dan Bursch were launched last Dec. 5 aboard Endeavour's STS-108 mission, and have been on the ISS since Dec. 7.

Endeavour is scheduled for launch on May 30. That would result in a docking with the station on June 1. Endeavour Commander Ken Cockrell, Pilot Paul Lockhart, and mission specialists Chang-Diaz and Perrin are bringing the Expedition 5 crew to the station. That crew is commanded by Valery Korzun and includes astronaut Peggy Whitson and cosmonaut Sergei Treschev.

The first two of the three spacewalks by Chang-Diaz and Perrin will focus on installation of a new Mobile Base System for the station's robotic arm, Canadarm2. It will allow the arm to move along the railroad-like tracks of station's main truss, eventually to reach a length of more than 350 feet. The third spacewalk is to change out the wrist roll joint of Canadarm2.

On Friday, Dan Bursch worked with the Biomass Production System, a plant growth experiment using wheat and a plant related to cabbage and radishes. Each crewmember was scheduled for an hour to pack personal possessions, as they have been for much of this week. On Thursday Walz and Bursch completed their final session with the PuFF (pulmonary function in flight) experiment, which looks at effects of microgravity on lung function.

Several experiments have been deactivated, including the Physics of Colloids in Space, which was shut down Tuesday and which will be returned to Earth on Endeavour. It is a study of fine particles suspended in a fluid. An example of such fluids is paint.

Major systems aboard the station continue to function well as the ISS orbits at an average altitude of about 243 statute miles.

• Bay 1-2: Orbiter Docking System - 1800 kg + 2 EMU spacesuits - 240 kg
• Bay 4: Mobile Base System (MBS) - 1600 kg. The Mobile Base System was made by MD Robotics of Brampton, Ontario. It was to be attached to the Mobile Transporter and used to mount the SSRMS Canadarm-2 arm and heavy payloads.
• Bay 6P: Adapter Beam / Wrist Roll Joint - 150 kg. The WRJ (Wrist Roll Joint) would be swapped with the broken one on the SSRMS arm.
• Bay 7-12: MPLM FM1 "Leonardo" - 10557 kg. The Leonardo module carried 8 Resupply Stowage Racks and 4 Resupply Stowage Plaftorms, with equipment to be transferred to the station. It also carried two science racks: the MSG (Microgravity Science Glovebox) and Express-3, which would be installed on Destiny. Leonardo, built by Alenia Spazio in Torino, also flew on STS-102 and STS-105.
• Bay 13P: ICAPC Beam / PGDF - 75 kg. The PGDF (Power-Data Grapple Fixture) would be installed on the P6 truss.
• Bay 13S: Adapter Beam / SMDP - 200 kg. The Service Module Debris Panels (SMDP) package contained 6 panels which would be stowed on PMA-1 until a later spacewalk attached them to the Zvezda module to protect it from space debris hits.
• Total: 14622 kg

Aboard Endeavour are Commander Ken Cockrell, Pilot Paul Lockhart, Mission Specialists Franklin Chang-Díaz and Philippe Perrin of the French Space Agency, CNES, along with Expedition 5 Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev. As Endeavour launched from Florida, the space station orbited 240 statute miles over the southern Indian Ocean west of Perth, Australia.

Aboard the ISS, Expedition 4 Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch are wrapping up their 182nd day in space, their 180th day on the station. Walz and Bursch will break the U.S. record for the longest single space flight - 188 days - set by astronaut Shannon Lucid in 1996. Another record was equaled today as Chang-Díaz became only the second human to fly in space seven times, tying a mark set in April by Jerry Ross on the STS-110 mission.

Less than nine minutes after launch, Endeavour and its crewmembers settled into orbit and work began to prepare the shuttle for its planned 12-day mission.

Endeavour is scheduled to dock to the station Friday afternoon, setting the stage for the handover between the Expedition 4 and Expedition 5 station crews. Three spacewalks are scheduled during the mission by Chang-Díaz and Perrin. The first two will help install and activate the Mobile Base System, a platform that will be mated to the Mobile Transporter on the S-Zero (S0) Truss. The new platform will allow the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm to "walk off" the Destiny Laboratory onto the Mobile Base System so it can be transported up and down the length of the ISS for future assembly tasks. On the third spacewalk, Chang-Díaz and Perrin will replace a faulty wrist roll joint on the station's robotic arm that has experienced an electrical problem in one of its two data and power channels.

The shuttle crew will go to sleep at 10:23 p.m., and will be awakened at 6:23 a.m. Thursday to begin its first full day in orbit.

Aboard Endeavour, Commander Ken Cockrell, Pilot Paul Lockhart, Mission Specialists Philippe Perrin and Franklin Chang-Díaz and Expedition Five Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev, were awakened at 6:23 a.m. Central time by the song "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It," by Will Smith. The song was played for Korzun, who will soon take command of the space station.

The Expedition Four crewmembers - Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch - are in their 183rd day in space, their 181st day aboard the ISS. They will return to Earth aboard Endeavour after six months in orbit on June 17.

In preparation for docking Friday, Perrin and Chang-Díaz will set up a centerline camera to help Cockrell with views of the station's docking mechanism during Endeavour's final approach tomorrow and will test the orbiter docking system ring. Cockrell and Lockhart will fire the shuttle's jets to raise the altitude of Endeavour and draw it closer to the station. The maneuvers will bring the shuttle about 46 statute miles behind the station by Friday morning.

Cockrell and Perrin will also activate the shuttle's robotic arm and use its cameras to survey the contents of the payload bay, including the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics cargo module, the Mobile Base System and the replacement wrist roll joint for the station's robotic arm, Canadarm2, as well as debris shields for the Zvezda Service Module. Chang-Díaz and Perrin will install these components during three spacewalks scheduled for the mission. Today, they will prepare their spacesuits for use out of the Quest Airlock on the station next week.

Later this morning, Cockrell and Chang-Díaz will participate in a live conversation with Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco and reporters from two Hispanic television networks. Costa Rican-born Chang-Díaz tied the human spaceflight record yesterday when he launched on his seventh mission. Astronaut Jerry Ross set the record in April during the STS-110 mission.

Commander Ken Cockrell, Pilot Paul Lockhart and Mission Specialists Philippe Perrin and Franklin Chang-Díaz, and Expedition Five Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev, were awakened just after 4:30 Central time this morning by "American Woman," by Lenny Kravitz, a song selected for Whitson.

At the time of the crew's wakeup call, Endeavour had closed to within 900 statute miles of the ISS, aiming for a linkup to the docking port at the forward end of the Destiny Laboratory at 11:17 a.m. Central time as the two vehicles fly off the northeast coast of Australia, south of New Guinea. On board the station, the Expedition Four crew, Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch, are spending the morning preparing for the arrival of Endeavour's astronauts and their Expedition Five replacements. Onufrienko, Walz and Bursch are in their 184th day in space, their 182nd day aboard the ISS.

A little less than two hours after Endeavour docks to the station, the hatches between the two spacecraft will open and Onufrienko, Bursch and Walz will greet their counterparts and conduct a safety briefing. Then, the ten astronauts and cosmonauts will begin transferring equipment, supplies and experiments between the two vehicles. The two Expedition crews will exchange their custom-made Soyuz return craft seat liners for the rescue vehicle currently docked to the station. Once the new Expedition Five crew conducts checks of their Russian entry suits, they will officially take over command of station operations, and Onufrienko, Walz and Bursch will become shuttle crewmembers.

All systems aboard Endeavour and the ISS continue to function in excellent shape.

At 2:08 p.m. central time, hatches between Endeavour and the station swung open, and the station's Expedition Four crewmembers-Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz-greeted their visitors-Cockrell, Lockhart, Mission Specialists Franklin Chang-Díaz and Philippe Perrin and oncoming Expedition Five Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev.

The 10 astronauts and cosmonauts immediately set to work transferring priority equipment, supplies and experiments between the two vehicles. Items moving to the station included two Extravehicular Activity spacesuits and EVA tools to be used during the mission's three scheduled spacewalks. The Expedition Five crewmembers' custom-made Soyuz return craft seat liners and their Russian entry suits were transferred from Endeavour to the station at 5:55 p.m. central time, marking the official start of the Expedition Five Increment. With that transfer complete, Onufrienko, Bursch and Walz formally concluded their 182-day stay as space station residents. Korzun, Whitson and Treschev now begin their tenure as the fifth resident crew to live and work on board the International Space Station.

Communications checks between the station's Quest Airlock and the EVA suits Perrin and Chang-Díaz will use also were completed today. The spacewalks will see installation of a new platform, the Mobile Remote Servicer Base System, on the station's railcar, the Mobile Transporter, and replacement of the wrist roll joint on the station's arm.

Late in the day, the Flash Evaporator System Primary B controller failed for an as-yet unknown reason. The system has three redundant controllers, Primary A, Primary B and Secondary, and the failure of one controller will have no effect on mission operations.

The Flash Evaporator System sprays excess supply water into the inside of a trash-can shaped vessel that is wrapped by Freon coils. The heat being carried in these coils causes the water to flash into vapor and be vented overboard, disposing of excess heat and excess supply water.

The newly arrived crewmembers of Expedition Five aboard the International Space Station - Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev - will continue settling into their new home today as they work with Endeavour's astronauts to move the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module from the shuttle's cargo bay to the Unity module of the complex in advance of the start of the transfer of almost 3 tons of equipment and supplies.

Commander Ken Cockrell, Pilot Paul Lockhart and Mission Specialists Philippe Perrin and Franklin Chang-Díaz, and the newest shuttle crewmembers - former Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch, were awakened at 4:23 Central time this morning by "I Have a Dream," by ABBA, a song selected for Treschev.

Using the shuttle's robotic arm, Cockrell and Perrin will reach into Endeavour's payload bay and latch onto Leonardo at mid-morning. The pressurized cargo module will be attached to the nadir berthing port on Unity. After Walz and Whitson perform pressure checks, the hatch to the cargo carrier will be opened. Leonardo contains equipment, supplies and experiments necessary for the fifth resident crew's 4 ½-month stay in orbit.

The six Expedition crewmembers will continue their handover conferences and the 10 cosmonauts and astronauts will review procedures for the first spacewalk of the flight tomorrow. Perrin and Chang-Díaz will step out of the Quest Airlock Sunday to begin installing the Mobile Base System, a new platform which will enable the station's robotic arm, Canadarm2, to ride a railway the length of the station for future assembly tasks. Two more spacewalks are scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday to complete the Mobile Base system installation and to replace an ailing wrist roll joint on the station's robotic arm.

The Expedition Five crew officially assumed command of station operations yesterday at 5:55 p.m. Central time, marking the end of the Expedition Four increment at 181 days. Onufrienko, Walz and Bursch are now considered part of Endeavour's crew, aiming for a homecoming on June 17.

Systems on Endeavour and the ISS are functioning normally as the two vehicles orbit the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 240 statute miles.

The Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) was unberthed from the payload bay early this morning by Commander Ken Cockrell operating the shuttle's robotic arm to move the module to the station's Unity module. Leonardo's installation proceeded perfectly with completion at 9:28 a.m. Central time. About 4:30 p.m. Central time, the MPLM's hatch was opened. Dan Bursch of Expedition Four called down at 4:52 pm that all crew members had entered the logistics module and were working to get the transfers rolling. The crew got a good start on the movement of more than 5,600 pounds of cargo to the station.

Early today, one of four control moment gyroscopes used in the station's attitude control system experienced a mechanical failure. Flight controllers turned it off and began using the remaining three gyros to maintain the station's attitude. It is believed that one of its spin bearings failed, causing it to seize. Flight Engineer Carl Walz reported that the crew could feel and hear "growling" vibrations as it failed. While the failure is a serious complication for the long-term space station operations, there are multiple backup systems for control of the station's attitude so it poses no threat to the safety of the shuttle or expedition crews. The situation is expected to require only minor changes to the STS-111 flight activities.

Franklin Chang-Díaz, and Perrin, with help from Paul Lockhart, readied their extravehicular mobility unit space suits and tools, and reviewed procedures for Sunday's spacewalk. The two first-time spacewalkers will install a Power and Data Grapple Fixture (PDGF) to the station's P6 solar array truss and temporarily store some Russian meteoroid/debris shields. They'll also remove thermal blankets from the Mobile Base System (MBS) in Endeavour's cargo bay, and support its unberthing. The MBS will be parked on the shuttle's arm near its installation point so that hardware temperatures can equalize before it is attached to the existing Mobile Transporter platform. At the end of the day, flight controllers will activate the MBS from the ground in preparation for the next day's operations. Chang-Díaz also will inspect and photograph the exterior condition of station's failed control moment gryoscope at the end of his spacewalk.

The combined STS-111 crew of Cockrell, Lockhart, Chang-Díaz, Perrin, Yury Onufrienko, Dan Bursch and Carl Walz will wake up at 4:23 am CDT Sunday, while new station Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev will arise at 4:53 am.

Commander Ken Cockrell, Pilot Paul Lockhart and Mission Specialists Philippe Perrin and Franklin Chang-Díaz, and the newest shuttle crewmembers - former Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch, were awakened at 4:23 Central time this morning by "I Have a Dream," by ABBA, a song selected for Treschev.

Using the shuttle's robotic arm, Cockrell and Perrin will reach into Endeavour's payload bay and latch onto Leonardo at mid-morning. The pressurized cargo module will be attached to the nadir berthing port on Unity. After Walz and Whitson perform pressure checks, the hatch to the cargo carrier will be opened. Leonardo contains equipment, supplies and experiments necessary for the fifth resident crew's 4 ½-month stay in orbit.

The six Expedition crewmembers will continue their handover conferences and the 10 cosmonauts and astronauts will review procedures for the first spacewalk of the flight tomorrow. Perrin and Chang-Díaz will step out of the Quest Airlock Sunday to begin installing the Mobile Base System, a new platform which will enable the station's robotic arm, Canadarm2, to ride a railway the length of the station for future assembly tasks. Two more spacewalks are scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday to complete the Mobile Base system installation and to replace an ailing wrist roll joint on the station's robotic arm.

The Expedition Five crew officially assumed command of station operations last night just before 6 p.m. Central time, marking the end of the Expedition Four increment at 182 days. Onufrienko, Walz and Bursch are now considered part of Endeavour's crew, aiming for a homecoming on June 17.

Systems on Endeavour and the ISS are functioning normally as the two vehicles orbit the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 240 statute miles.

With the help of Endeavour Pilot Paul Lockhart, who will help coordinate the spacewalk from inside Endeavour, Chang-Díaz and Perrin will leave the Quest Airlock this morning for a planned six-hour spacewalk to first install a Power and Data Grapple Fixture to the station's P6 truss for its future relocation. The two first-time space walkers will then temporarily park micrometeoroid debris shields on the Russian segment of the station. Expedition Five Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson and ISS Commander Valery Korzun will install the shields on the Zvezda Service Module during a spacewalk set for late July.

The final task of the spacewalk will involve the removal of thermal blankets from the Mobile Base System. That component will be mated tomorrow to the Mobile Transporter on the S0 (S-Zero) Truss of the ISS to enable the Canadarm2 robotic arm to "walk off" the Destiny Laboratory onto the station's railcar system for transport up and down the length of the complex. Chang-Díaz will be identifiable by solid red stripes on the legs of his spacesuit. Perrin will wear the pure white suit with no stripes.

Commander Ken Cockrell will use the shuttle robotic arm's cameras to monitor the activities outside. Whitson and Endeavour Astronaut Carl Walz will transport Chang-Díaz on the end of Canadarm2 during the spacewalk.

During the spacewalk, Chang-Díaz will conduct a visual and photographic inspection of one of the station's four control moment gyroscopes (CMGs) on the station's Z1 Truss. The gyroscope experienced a mechanical failure of its spin bearing yesterday and will no longer be able to be used to assist in station attitude control.

Three other CMGs are operating normally to provide full attitude control for the ISS. If necessary, station control can be maintained with only two functioning CMGs, with other backup attitude control systems also available. The CMG failure will have no impact on ISS operations. A substitute CMG is available on the ground and program managers are evaluating future replacement options. To accommodate the use of three CMGs and varying thermal conditions, the orientation of the shuttle and station will be altered slightly for today's spacewalk.

Once the protective blankets are removed from the Mobile Base System, Whitson and Walz will latch onto the platform in Endeavour's cargo bay with Canadarm2, remove it from its carrier, and maneuver it to a position just above the Mobile Transporter, which was installed on the S-Zero Truss in April. Canadarm2 will be left in a parked position overnight to thermally condition the Mobile Base System before it is mated to the Transporter railcar Monday.

At the start of their fifth day in space, Endeavour's crew was awakened at 4:23 a.m. Central time to the sound of "Drops of Jupiter" by Train, a tune selected for Cockrell.

Chang-Díaz and Perrin ventured outside the station's Quest airlock at 10:27 a.m. Central time. With the help of Endeavour Pilot Paul Lockhart, who guided the spacewalk from inside the shuttle, Chang-Díaz and Perrin first installed a Power and Data Grapple Fixture to the station's P6 truss. The fixture will be used to relocate the P6 truss structure to its final location on the station.

Attached to a foot restraint at the end of the station's robotic arm, Canadarm2, operated by Expedition Five Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson and ISS Commander Valery Korzun, Chang-Díaz gathered six micrometeoroid debris shields from the shuttle cargo bay and, with help from Perrin, temporarily stored them on Pressurized Mating Adapter-1 which links Unity to Zarya. Whitson and Korzun will install the shields on the Zvezda Service Module during a spacewalk set for late July.

Chang-Díaz then conducted a visual and photographic inspection of one of the station's four control moment gyroscopes on the station's Z1 truss, a task that was added to today's spacewalk after the gyroscope experienced a mechanical failure yesterday. The photos may help ground controllers better understand why the gyroscope failed.

Removal of thermal blankets from the Mobile Remote Servicer Base System or MBS was the final task of the spacewalk. At 5:21 p.m. Endeavour Commander Ken Cockrell commanded the release of latches that had secured the MBS to its carrier in the payload bay. Whitson and Carl Walz then latched onto the MBS with Canadarm2, removed it from its carrier, and maneuvered it to a position about three feet above the station's railcar, the Mobile Transporter. Canadarm2 will be left in a parked position overnight to thermally condition the MBS before it is mated to the railcar Monday.

Later, the Canadarm2 robotic arm will be commanded to "walk off" its position attached to the Destiny Laboratory onto a Power and Data Grapple Fixture atop the MBS. The arm will then be able to move up and down along the station truss for use in future assembly operations.

Following an inventory of the tools they used during the spacewalk, Perrin and Chang-Díaz re-entered Quest. Airlock repressurization began at 5:41 p.m. Central time, signaling the end of the spacewalk.

The MBS was attached to the Mobile Transporter on the Destiny Lab at 8:03 a.m. Central by Expedition Five Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson and Endeavour Astronaut Carl Walz. The two used the station's robotic arm, Canadarm2, to maneuver the MBS into position. Controllers on the ground then commanded latches on the transporter to close, securing the MBS in place. Eventually, Canadarm2 will "walk off" its current base location on the Destiny Lab onto the MBS. The MBS is an important part of the station's future Mobile Servicing System, which will allow the station's arm to travel the length of the station to perform future construction tasks.

The astronauts and cosmonauts on the Shuttle/Station complex, including STS-111 Commander Ken Cockrell, Pilot Paul Lockhart, Mission Specialists Philippe Perrin and Franklin Chang-Díaz, as well Expedition Four crew Yury Onufrienko, Dan Bursch and Walz, and Expedition Five crewmembers Whitson, Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev, continued their transfer of equipment and supplies to the station from the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module. As they began their Monday morning in space, the crewmembers already had transferred 73 percent of the equipment and supplies.

Though the Expedition Five crew has been in charge of station operations since Friday afternoon, an official change of command ceremony between the two Expedition crews took place this afternoon. The crew also reviewed procedures for tomorrow's second spacewalk of the mission by Chang-Díaz and Perrin in which the two astronauts will hook up cables between the Mobile Base System and the Mobile Transporter and firmly bolt the two components together.

At 4:53 p.m. today, Endeavour completed a one-hour reboost maneuver to increase the station's altitude by a little over a mile. This is the first of three such maneuvers that eventually will raise the station's altitude by six miles. Systems on both Endeavour and the station continue to function normally as they orbit the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 240 statute miles.

The Mobile Base System (MBS), parked overnight on the station's robotic arm about three feet from installation, has had a chance to receive the proper thermal conditioning to match the temperatures on the Mobile Transporter, the actual railcar on the truss itself. Operated by Expedition Five Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson and Endeavour Astronaut Carl Walz, the space station robotic arm will mate the MBS platform to the railcar and flight controllers on the ground will command latches to close to secure the platform in place. Eventually, the station arm will "walk off" its current base location on the Destiny Laboratory to the MBS and ride the railway to move up and down the entire length of the station.

The 10 astronauts and cosmonauts on the Shuttle/Station complex will also continue their transfer of equipment and supplies to the station from the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module.

Endeavour's crew - Commander Ken Cockrell, Pilot Paul Lockhart, Mission Specialists Philippe Perrin and Franklin Chang-Díaz, and former station residents Yury Onufrienko, Walz and Dan Bursch - were awakened at 4:23 a.m. Central time to "I Only Have Eyes for You" by the Flamingoes, from the American Graffiti soundtrack which was selected for Lockhart.

Although Expedition Five crewmembers Whitson, Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev have been in charge of ISS operations since Friday afternoon, an official change of command ceremony between Expedition crews will occur early this afternoon.

The crews will also participate late today in a review of procedures for tomorrow's second spacewalk by Chang-Díaz and Perrin to hook up cables between the Mobile Base System and the Mobile Transporter and to bolt the two components together. Systems on both Endeavour and the ISS continue to function normally as the two craft orbit the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 240 statute miles.

Working side by side, the Endeavour crew - Ken Cockrell, Paul Lockhart, Franklin Chang-Díaz, Philippe Perrin, Yury Onufrienko, Carl Walz and Dan Bursch - and the Expedition Five crew of Valery Korzun, Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev have transferred approximately 4,500 of the expected 4,665 pounds of material that will return to Earth inside the MPLM. All of the items slated to be moved from Endeavour's middeck to the station have been transferred and the astronauts are now restowing return items.

Also today, Endeavour's small steering jets were fired in a series of pulses to gently raise the station's orbit by another mile. This was the second of three scheduled reboost maneuvers designed to raise the station's altitude by a total of six miles.

The crewmembers also reviewed the plans for the third and final scheduled spacewalk of the mission. Thursday morning, at 9:43 a.m. Central, Chang-Díaz and Perrin will float out of the Quest airlock and begin work to replace a faulty wrist-roll joint on the space station's robotic arm, Canadarm2. The spacewalk is slated to last about seven hours.

This afternoon, the crews took a break from the stowage activities to discuss the progress of their mission with reporters in the U.S., France and Canada during a joint crew news conference.

Endeavour's payload bay cameras captured views of wildfires burning in Colorado about 4:40 p.m Central today. Smoke rising from the wildfires was clearly visible as the shuttle/station complex orbited 240 miles over the surface of the Earth.

The two crews are scheduled to go to sleep just before 8 p.m. today and will awaken just before 4 a.m. Thursday. All systems on both Endeavour and the International Space Station continue to function normally as the two craft orbit the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 240 statute miles.

At 1:55 a.m. Central time, Walz set a new U.S. record for most aggregate days spent in orbit, exceeding Shannon Lucid's record as he reached the 223 day mark accrued over five flights. Last night, Walz and Bursch also surpassed Lucid's U.S. single spaceflight endurance record of 188 days at 9:19 p.m. Central time.

Today, along with Expedition Five Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev, the 10 astronauts and cosmonauts will continue to transfer unneeded station equipment and supplies to the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to be returned to earth. Handover conferences will also continue between the two Expedition crews.

The crewmembers will also review the plans for the third and final spacewalk of the mission on Thursday. Chang-Díaz and Perrin will replace a faulty wrist roll joint on the space station's robotic arm, the Canadarm2.

Reporters in the U.S., France and Canada will also have a chance to question the two crews on the progress of the flight during a Joint Crew News Conference this afternoon.

The second of three reboosts of the station's altitude will be performed later today, using the shuttle jets to counter the natural effects of atmospheric drag on the station's orbit.

All systems on both Endeavour and the International Space Station continue to function normally as the two craft orbit the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 240 statute miles.

Canadarm2 experienced an electrical problem in March in one of two redundant power and data channels which command the operation of the seven-jointed apparatus. It was determined that a short created inadvertent commanding in the arm's primary channel which resulted in the unexpected activation of the arm's brakes. The backup commanding channel has functioned perfectly. Even though the arm has continued to operate flawlessly through a software modification, the replacement of the problematic wrist joint was added to the STS-111 mission.

Inside the shuttle, Pilot Paul Lockhart will choreograph the planned seven-hour spacewalk while Commander Ken Cockrell will use the shuttle's robotic arm to provide television views of the spacewalk activity. Inside the station, Endeavour Astronaut Dan Bursch and Expedition Five Commander Valery Korzun will conduct a checkout of the health of the arm once the new joint is installed. Expedition Five Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev will continue cargo transfer activities throughout the day.

Each joint of Canadarm2 is attached to the next joint by six bolts and an additional bolt that disconnects power, data and video connections. The first task for the spacewalkers is to remove the latching end effector (LEE), essentially the hand of Canadarm2, leaving the faulty wrist roll joint exposed. Next they will disconnect the wrist roll joint and Perrin will carry the failed unit to Endeavour's payload bay to temporarily store it next to the new joint. Chang-Díaz will assist in removing the new joint from its launch carrier and Perrin will bring it up to Canadarm2. The spacewalkers will align the new component with the wrist yaw joint at the end of the arm, tighten the six bolts and turn the final bolt to connect power, data and video lines. They will reinstall the LEE and power will be turned back onto Canadarm2.

Endeavour's astronauts - Cockrell, Lockhart, Chang-Díaz, Perrin, Bursch, Yury Onufrienko and Carl Walz - were awakened just before 4 a.m. Central time this morning to the song, "On the Road Again," by Willie Nelson, selected for Walz by his family. Walz is returning to Earth after a six-month stay in orbit.

All systems on both Endeavour and the International Space Station continue to function normally as the two craft orbit the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 240 statute miles.

Working with the International Space Station's Expedition Five crew, Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev, Endeavour's astronauts will deactivate the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module and will remove it from its location on the Unity node of the International Space Station. Using the shuttle's robotic arm, Cockrell will place the module back into Endeavour's cargo bay for its return to Earth.

About 5,600 pounds of equipment and supplies are being left behind on the ISS, including a new phone booth-sized rack to house delicate microgravity experiments and a glovebox to provide the Expedition Five crew future hands-on interaction with contained experiments. The cargo module is returning with 4,665 pounds of discarded equipment and supplies to Earth.

Last night, an initial attempt to provide power from the newly installed Mobile Base System platform to the space station robotic arm, Canadarm2, was not successful. Engineers believe that a minor software glitch is preventing commanding from the platform to reach the newly refurbished robotic arm so that the new platform, rather than the Destiny Laboratory, can provide power for the arm. This is not believed to be a serious problem, and should be corrected well before the arm "walks off" its base location on the Destiny to use the Mobile Base System as its formal platform for a ride down the length of the station's truss structure. Canadarm2 received a new wrist roll joint yesterday during the final spacewalk of the flight by Chang-Díaz and Perrin, and the arm itself has full functionality and redundancy.

Endeavour's steering jets are being used to raise the station's altitude a third and final time today prior to tomorrow's scheduled undocking. The three maneuvers are expected to raise the altitude of the ISS by around six statute miles.

Endeavour is scheduled to undock from the ISS Saturday morning at 9:32 a.m. Central time while the two spacecraft fly over western Kazakhstan, not far from Russia's primary launch site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Once Endeavour departs, ISS residents Korzun, Whitson and Treschev will begin their 4 ½ month mission in earnest, unpacking gear and settling in to their new home in orbit.

All systems on both Endeavour and the International Space Station continue to function normally as the two craft orbit the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 240 statute miles. Endeavour is scheduled to undock from the space station Saturday morning.

Endeavour astronaut Philippe Perrin completed the last major task of the STS-111 mission today when he successfully returned the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the shuttle's payload bay at 3:11 p.m. Central.

Leonardo brought a total of 8,062 pounds of supplies and equipment to the space station, including a new science rack to house microgravity experiments and a glovebox that will allow station crews to conduct experiments that require isolation. More than 1,000 pounds of equipment was also brought to the station on Endeavour's middeck.

In addition to carrying home the results of several science experiments, Leonardo is returning to Earth with 4,667 pounds of equipment and supplies that are no longer needed aboard the station. More than 1,000 pounds of equipment also will be returned to Earth in Endeavour's middeck.

Endeavour's steering jets were used today to raise the station's altitude by an additional four miles, the third and final reboost of the mission. Together, the three reboosts raised the altitude of the station by approximately six miles.

Early Saturday morning, about 6:30 central time, following final goodbyes, the hatches between the two spacecraft will swing shut. About three hours later, the crew of Endeavour - Ken Cockrell, Paul Lockhart, Franklin Chang-Díaz, Perrin, Dan Bursch, Yury Onufrienko and Carl Walz - will depart the space station, leaving the Expedition Five crew - Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev - to begin their 4½ -month mission of continued station growth and scientific research.

All systems on both Endeavour and the International Space Station continue to function normally as the two craft orbit the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 240 statute miles.

After final farewells and the closing of the hatches between the two vehicles, Endeavour will undock from the ISS at 9:32 a.m. Central time as the two craft fly over western Kazakhstan, not far from Russia's primary launch site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

The initial separation will be provided by springs that will gently push the shuttle away from the station. When Endeavour is about two feet away from the station and the docking devices are clear of one another, Pilot Paul Lockhart will fire Endeavour's steering jets to begin slowly moving away.

About 45 minutes after undocking, when Endeavour is 450 feet in front of the ISS, Lockhart will begin a one-hour flyaround of the station. After 1 1/4 laps of the complex, Lockhart will fire Endeavour's jets to move away from the station about 11:16 a.m. Once Endeavour departs the outpost for the final time, the new ISS crew will begin to unpack gear and prepare for its long duration stay on orbit.

Endeavour's astronauts - Lockhart, Chang-Diaz, Commander Ken Cockrell, Philippe Perrin, Dan Bursch, Yury Onufrienko and Carl Walz - were awakened just before 3:30 Central time this morning to the song, "Hello to All the Children of the World", prepared for Bursch by his son's classmates.

Endeavour is scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center just before noon Central time Monday, bringing Onufrienko, Bursch and Walz home after 194 days in space, which for Walz and Bursch will set a new U.S. single spaceflight endurance mark. Landing Monday will result in one more day in space for Onufrienko than he logged in 1996 as Commander of the former Russian Mir Space Station.

Endeavour and the ISS to continue to function normally as they orbit at an altitude of around 240 statute miles.

After final farewells among the STS-111 and Expedition Four and Five crews, the hatches between the spacecraft were closed at 7:23 a.m. Central today. Following a series of pressure and leak checks, Endeavour gently undocked from the Station at 9:32 a.m. as the two spacecraft flew over western Kazakhstan.

As Endeavour departed the station, Whitson rang the ship's bell on board, announcing "Expedition Four departing, Endeavour departing." Dan Bursch, who along with Yury Onufrienko and Carl Walz, spent 181 days aboard the station, responded with "smooth sailing, Peggy." After a 1 ¼ lap flyaround of the station, Pilot Paul Lockhart fired a final separation burn of Endeavour's engines at 11:15 a.m. and began its final departure from the station. The two spacecraft are now about 315 miles apart, with the gap widening by 40 miles every orbit.

Both crews will enjoy some well-deserved time off today to relax following a busy week of joint operations. Endeavour's crew will go to sleep at 7:23 p.m. today, waking at 3:23 a.m. Sunday. The Expedition Five crew began an extended sleep period about 3 p.m., shifting over to its standard daily wakeup time of 1 a.m. on Sunday.

The focus of activities aboard Endeavour on Sunday will include a checkout of the systems that will be used during Monday's planned landing at the Kennedy Space Center. Endeavour is scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center just before noon Central time Monday, bringing Onufrienko, Bursch and Walz home after 194 days in space.

Aboard the station, Korzun, Whitson and Treschev will begin unpacking some of the supplies and equipment transferred from Endeavour and set up house for their planned 4 ½ month stay on the station. They are scheduled for about four hours of off-duty time Sunday.

Today, Commander Ken Cockrell, Pilot Paul Lockhart and Flight Engineer Franklin Chang-Diaz activated one of three hydraulic power units on Endeavour, tested all of its aerosurfaces, and then test-fired Endeavour's steering jets. The remaining crew members - Philippe Perrin of CNES, and former Expedition Four crewmembers Yury Onufrienko, Carl Walz and Dan Bursch - continued packing up gear and hardware in anticipation of tomorrow's landing.

Endeavour has two opportunities to land at the Kennedy Space Center on Monday. The first begins with a deorbit burn of the Orbital Maneuvering System engines at 10:51 a.m., followed by a landing at 11:59 a.m. Central time (12:59 p.m. Eastern.) In the event weather prevents a landing on that first opportunity, there is a second opportunity, beginning with a deorbit burn at 12:30 p.m. and resulting in a 1:36 p.m. Central (2:36 p.m. Eastern) landing in Florida. Preliminary weather forecasts call for the possibility of clouds and rain showers within the vicinity of the three-mile long landing strip on Monday. The backup landing site at California's Edwards Air Force Base was not called up for support Monday. Endeavour has sufficient consumables to remain in orbit, if necessary, until Thursday.

Onufrienko, Bursch and Walz took a few minutes this afternoon to talk with Fox News, WOIO-TV of Cleveland - Walz' hometown, and WICZ-TV of Vestal, NY - Bursch's hometown. The crew extended their best wishes on this Father's Day and discussed their 193-day stay in space. With an on-time landing Monday, Onufrienko, Bursch and Walz will have spent 194 days in space.

Meanwhile, aboard the space station, the Expedition Five crew - Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev - spent today settling into their new home, unpacking some of the equipment and hardware carried to the station by Endeavour. They also enjoyed a few hours of off-duty time today.

Endeavour's crew will begin a scheduled eight-hour sleep period at 7:23 p.m. today, waking just before 3:30 a.m. Monday to prepare for a homecoming to the Kennedy Space Center.

Commander Ken Cockrell, Pilot Paul Lockhart, Mission Specialists Franklin Chang-Diaz and Philippe Perrin, and returning Expedition 4 crewmembers Yury Onufrienko, Carl Walz and Dan Bursch were awakened at 3:23 a.m. to "Where My Heart Will Take Me," the theme song from Star Trek: Enterprise, performed by Russell Watson.

Today, Cockrell, Lockhart and Chang-Diaz will test the reaction control system jets and flight control surfaces that will be used to guide Endeavour through the atmosphere Monday morning. Onufrienko, Walz, Bursch and Perrin will install their seats for re-entry on Endeavour's middeck. Perrin will help the Expedition 4 crewmembers into their seats Monday. Endeavour is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center in Florida Monday at 11:59 a.m. CDT.

Onufrienko, Walz and Bursch are coming back to Earth after 181 days aboard the International Space Station. If Endeavour lands on time, Walz and Bursch will set a new record of U.S. spaceflight endurance with 194 days in orbit. Astronaut Shannon Lucid held the previous record of 188 days, set on her mission to Mir in 1996.

The Expedition 4 crew will talk with media representatives from the Fox News Network and TV stations in Ohio and New York in a news conference beginning at 12:38 p.m.

Cockrell and Lockhart will fire Endeavour's orbital maneuvering system engines for 10 seconds today to allow sensors to observe the plume created by the burn to help improve models on the ground.

On board the space station, the Expedition 5 crew - Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev - was awakened at 1 a.m. The crew is unpacking and settling into its new home, preparing for a 41/2-month stay in orbit.

The crew of Endeavour will begin a scheduled eight-hour sleep period at 7:23 p.m. today. They are to be awakened just before 3:30 a.m. Monday to prepare for re-entry and landing of Endeavour, concluding a successful mission to the station.

Endeavour crewmembers, Commander Ken Cockrell, Pilot Paul Lockhart, and Mission Specialists Philippe Perrin and Franklin Chang-Diaz, and Expedition 4's Yury Onufrienko, Carl Walz and Dan Bursch, were given the word to back out of deorbit preparations about 10:30 a.m. today.

Endeavour has two landing opportunities at KSC Tuesday. The first begins with the firing of Endeavour's braking rockets at 9:47 a.m. and a landing at 10:55 a.m. CDT. A second opportunity for a Florida landing would see the deorbit burn at 11:24 a.m. and a landing at KSC at 12:31 p.m. CDT. Preliminary weather forecasts call for the possibility of clouds and rain showers in the area of the three-mile landing strip on Tuesday.

The Edwards Air Force Base landing site will be activated Tuesday, though KSC remains the preferred landing location. Forecasts for both KSC and Edwards called for questionable weather that could prevent a Tuesday landing. Endeavour has enough consumables on board to remain in orbit until Thursday.

The first of two Tuesday opportunities to land at Edwards would see a deorbit burn at 12:54 p.m. and a landing at 2 p.m. CDT. For the second opportunity, the deorbit burn would begin at 2:32 p.m. with a landing at 3:36 p.m. CDT.

Endeavour completed all major objectives of its STS-111 flight. It rotated station crews, brought more than 9,000 pounds of equipment and supplies to the station, and in three successful spacewalks gave the station's robotic arm, Canadarm2, a mobile base for future station assembly and maintenance work, and replaced its wrist-roll joint.

Crewmembers aboard Endeavour were scheduled to begin a sleep period at 6:23 p.m. and be awakened at 2:23 a.m. Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the ISS Expedition 5 crew - Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev - is still unpacking the supplies and equipment delivered by Endeavour to the station.

Endeavour completed all major objectives of its STS-111 flight. Expedition 5 crewmembers were taken to the station while Expedition 4 crewmembers are coming home. Tons of equipment and supplies were transferred between the two spacecraft and three spacewalks replaced the wrist roll joint of the station's robotic arm, Canadarm2, and gave the arm a mobile base for future station assembly and maintenance work.

Endeavour has two landing opportunities at KSC today. The first begins with the firing of Endeavour's braking rockets at 10:51 a.m. and a landing at 11:59 a.m. CDT. A second opportunity for a Florida landing would see the deorbit burn at 12:30 p.m. and a landing at KSC at 1:36 p.m. CDT. Preliminary weather forecasts call for the possibility of clouds and rain showers in the area of the three-mile-long landing strip on Monday. The backup landing site at California's Edwards Air Force Base was not activated today. Endeavour has enough consumables to stay in orbit until Thursday.

Endeavour Commander Ken Cockrell, Pilot Paul Lockhart, and Mission Specialists Philippe Perrin and Franklin Chang-Diaz, and Expedition 4 crewmembers Yury Onufrienko, Carl Walz and Dan Bursch were awakened at 3:23 a.m. by the "The Eyes of Texas," performed by the University of Texas Marching Band. Cockrell and Lockhart hold degrees from that university.

Meanwhile, aboard the ISS, the Expedition 5 crew - Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev - is still settling into its new home, unpacking the supplies and equipment delivered by Endeavour to the station.

Houston's Mission Control Center told Endeavour crewmembers, Commander Ken Cockrell, Pilot Paul Lockhart, and Mission Specialists Philippe Perrin and Franklin Chang-Diaz, and Expedition 4's Yury Onufrienko, Carl Walz and Dan Bursch, of the second of two wave offs about 9:35 a.m.

Similar inclement weather on Monday resulted in a wave-off of those landing opportunities. Wednesday offers two landing opportunities at KSC and three at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Forecasters are predicting improving weather at both sites. Endeavour has enough consumables on board to remain in orbit until Thursday, if necessary.

The first of the KSC landing attempts would begin with a deorbit burn at 8:44 a.m. and a landing at 9:53 a.m. CDT (10:53 a.m. eastern.) A second opportunity for a Florida landing would see the deorbit burn at 10:19 a.m. and a landing at KSC at 11:27 a.m. CDT (12:27 p.m. eastern.)

The first of the three subsequent opportunities at Edwards would begin with a deorbit burn at 11:50 a.m. and a landing at 12:58 p.m. CDT. The deorbit burn for the second attempt would be at 1:27 p.m. and a landing at 2:33 p.m. CDT. The third opportunity would see a deorbit burn at 3:06 p.m. and a landing at 4:11 p.m. CDT.

Crewmembers aboard Endeavour are scheduled to begin a sleep period at 5:23 p.m. and be awakened at 1:23 a.m. Wednesday.

All continues to go smoothly aboard the International Space Station in the early days of Expedition 5's residency. Commander Valery Korzun, and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev, are still unpacking the supplies and equipment delivered by Endeavour.

Rain and thundershowers in the area of the Kennedy Space Center landing site in Florida caused flight controllers to wave off both of Monday's opportunities to bring Endeavour home.

Endeavour crewmembers, Commander Ken Cockrell, Pilot Paul Lockhart, and Mission Specialists Philippe Perrin and Franklin Chang-Diaz, and Expedition 4's Yury Onufrienko, Carl Walz and Dan Bursch, have two landing opportunities at KSC today. The first begins with the firing of Endeavour's braking rockets at 9:47 a.m. and a landing at 10:55 a.m. CDT. A second opportunity for a Florida landing would see the deorbit burn at 11:24 a.m. and a landing at KSC at 12:31 p.m. CDT.

The Edwards Air Force Base landing site in California will be activated today, though KSC remains the preferred landing location. The first of two opportunities to land at Edwards would see a deorbit burn at 12:54 p.m. and a landing at 2:02 p.m. CDT. For the second opportunity, the deorbit burn would begin at 2:32 p.m. with a landing at 3:38 p.m. CDT.

Preliminary forecasts for both KSC and Edwards call for a chance of showers and thunderstorms in Florida and gusty winds in California that could prevent a Tuesday landing. Endeavour has enough consumables on board to remain in orbit until Thursday.

Endeavour's crew completed all major objectives of its STS-111 flight. It rotated station crews, brought more than 9,000 pounds of equipment and supplies to the station, and in three successful spacewalks gave the station's robotic arm, Canadarm2, a mobile base for future station assembly and maintenance work, and replaced its wrist-roll joint.

Meanwhile, the ISS Expedition 5 crew - Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev - is still unpacking the supplies and equipment delivered by Endeavour to the station and familiarizing themselves with their new home.

Endeavour touched down on Edwards' concrete runway at 12:58 p.m. CDT (10:58 a.m. PDT), concluding a record 196-day stay in space for Expedition 4 crewmembers Yury Onufrienko, Carl Walz and Dan Bursch. The STS-111 flight of Endeavour delivered the Expedition 5 crew - Commander Valery Korzun, Astronaut Peggy Whitson and Cosmonaut Sergei Treschev - to the International Space Station. In addition, the shuttle carried more than 9,000 pounds of equipment and supplies to the station and the crew conducted three spacewalks to expand the station's capabilities.

Endeavour traveled 5,781,115 statute miles since its June 5 launch from KSC's Pad 39A. Today's landing followed weather-related wave-offs on Monday, Tuesday and today because of rain showers, thunderstorms and cloud cover in the area of the Kennedy Space Center, the primary shuttle landing site.

The STS-111 and Expedition 4 astronauts will return to a welcoming ceremony at Ellington Field's Hangar 990 in Houston near the Johnson Space Center around 3 p.m. Central time Friday, June 21. The public is invited.

Meanwhile aboard the International Space Station, the Expedition 5 crew continues to settle into its new home with Whitson beginning investigations with a cell culture experiment today.

For a second day, rain, thundershowers and clouds around the Kennedy Space Center in Florida caused flight controllers to wave off Tuesday's opportunities to bring Endeavour and its crew home.

Similar weather Monday resulted in a wave-off of those landing opportunities. Wednesday offers two landing opportunities at KSC and three at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Forecasters are predicting improving weather at both sites. Endeavour has enough consumables on board to remain in orbit until Thursday.

The first of the KSC landing attempts would begin with a deorbit burn at 8:44 a.m. and a landing at 9:53 a.m. CDT (10:53 a.m. EDT.) A second opportunity for a Florida landing would see the deorbit burn at 10:19 a.m. and a landing at 11:27 a.m. CDT (12:27 p.m. EDT.)

The first of the three subsequent opportunities at Edwards would begin with a deorbit burn at 11:50 a.m. and a landing at 12:58 p.m. CDT (10:58 a.m. PDT). The deorbit burn for the second attempt would be at 1:27 p.m. and a landing at 2:33 p.m. CDT (12:33 p.m. PDT). The third opportunity would see a deorbit burn at 3:06 p.m. and a landing at 4:11 p.m. CDT (2:11 p.m. PDT).

All continues to go smoothly aboard the International Space Station in the early days of Expedition 5's residency. Commander Valery Korzun, and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev are activating equipment, initiating scientific experiments and getting used to the space station environment and routines.

Expedition 5 Commander Valery Korzun, astronaut Peggy Whitson and cosmonaut Sergei Treschev began their 4½-month tour of duty on June 5 when they launched on board space shuttle Endeavour, They arrived on the ISS June 7. Since the shuttle undocked from ISS on Saturday, the new crewmembers have spent time familiarizing themselves with the station and its systems while unpacking the gear that arrived on board with them.

This week the crewmembers started loading unneeded equipment and other trash into the Progress 7 supply ship docked to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module. That cargo ship is slated to undock from ISS at 3:23 a.m. CDT Tuesday and will be destroyed during entry into Earth's atmosphere. A new unpiloted capsule, Progress 8, loaded with food, fuel, clothing and other supplies for the station crewmembers, is targeted to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazahkstan at 12:36 a.m. CDT Wednesday, and will dock automatically to ISS early June 29. Korzun and Treschev are scheduled to spend time this weekend refreshing their knowledge of the station's backup approach and docking system in preparation for Progress operations next week.

This week Whitson completed operations with the StelSys experiment in the Biotechnology Specimen Temperature Controller (BSTC), which supports investigations in cell biology and tissue engineering in a weightless environment. The BSTC houses stationary bioreactors that maintain samples at a specified temperature in a controlled environment. The StelSys Liver Cell Research experiment, a Space Product Development investigation done under a licensing agreement with StelSys, Inc. of Baltimore, Md., seeks to compare the function of liver cells in microgravity with that of duplicate cells on Earth as a means of learning more about how to maintain the health of humans living and working in space. Whitson's tasks included analyzing the growth media in those bioreactors, replacing the media, preserving and photographing sample cultures, and purging the growth chamber with carbon dioxide to prepare it for its next use. The StelSys samples are stowed in a refrigerator/freezer in the Lab for return to Earth on the next space shuttle assembly mission, STS-112/9A, targeted for launch in August.

Each day station crewmembers are assigned time for physical exercise, using the station's treadmill, bicycle ergometer, or resistive exercise devices, to strengthen the muscles and cardiovascular systems which don't get the workout in weightlessness that they do on Earth. Along with their routine exercise this week, Korzun and Treschev completed two sessions of a Russian-Japanese experiment in which they shot close-up high-definition video of themselves while running on the treadmill. Researchers study the crewmembers' facial features as part of the medical evaluation of a crewmember on orbit.

The ISS Expedition 4 crewmembers --Commander Yury Onufrienko and astronauts Carl Walz and Dan Bursch--completed a 196-day mission when they and their STS-111 crewmates touched down at Edwards Air Force Base in California at 10:58 a.m. PDT Wednesday. Walz and Bursch are now the co-holders of the record for the longest single spaceflight in U.S spaceflight history, 196 days,and Walz' total of 231 days on orbit during his five missions makes him the American astronaut with the most cumulative time in space.

Russian flight controllers commanded the undocking at 3:23 a.m. CDT. Three minutes later, at 3:26 a.m., springs pushed the Progress 7 away from the aft port of the station's Zvezda Service Module. Expedition 5 crewmembers, Commander Valery Korzun, Astronaut Peggy Whitson and Cosmonaut Sergei Treschev monitored the undocking.

Progress engines did the first of two separation burns on command from Mission Control Moscow when it was about 50 yards from the station, at 3:29 a.m. The second was done at 3:35 a.m., with Progress 7 about 275 yards from the station.

Later this morning, at about 6:35 a.m., Russian flight controllers will command Progress 7 to fire its engines in a deorbit burn, which will send it to destruction with its cargo of trash and unneeded supplies and equipment. The spacecraft will feel the first effects of the atmosphere a little after 7:10 a.m. as it begins its fiery descent into the atmosphere.

The undocking clears the way for the arrival of a new Progress. Preparations are being completed at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for the launch early Wednesday of Progress 8, which will bring several tons of fuel, equipment and supplies to the space station. It is scheduled to dock with the ISS early Saturday.

The Progress 8 spacecraft lifted off on a Soyuz rocket at 12:37 a.m. CDT. About nine minutes later its solar rays and navigational antennas deployed in response to preprogrammed commands, and the umpiloted cargo carrier was safely in orbit.

Progress 8 is scheduled to dock with the space station early Saturday, where Expedition 5 crewmembers, Commander Valery Korzun, Astronaut Peggy Whitson and Cosmonaut Sergei Treschev, will begin unloading its cargo. The Progress can carry about 7,000 pounds into orbit, including fuel for the Zvezda Service Module's attitude control thrusters.

A series of rendezvous burns by the Progress 8 engines over the next three days will result in its docking to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module at about 1:25 a.m. CDT Saturday over Central Asia. That port was vacated Tuesday when the Progress 7 was undocked with its load of trash and deorbited to a fiery destruction in the Earth's atmosphere.

The Progress docked to the aft port of the station's Zvezda Service Module at 1:23 a.m. CDT as the two spacecraft orbited about 240 statute miles above Central Asia. Shortly after first contact, hooks and latches engaged between the Progress and Zvezda to lock the two together.

Expedition 5 crewmembers, Commander Valery Korzun, Astronaut Peggy Whitson and Cosmonaut Sergei Treschev, will do leak checks between the Progress and Zvezda before opening hatches at about 4:30 a.m. to gain access to the newly arrived vehicle. The crew will unload its cargo during the coming days.

Progress 8 replaces the Progress 7 cargo carrier at the space station. Progress 7 was undocked early Tuesday and deorbited later that morning. It burned in the Earth's atmosphere with its load of trash from the ISS.

This week, the crew continued to settle into its new home and conduct scientific experiments. Whitson and Treschev worked to activate the Zeolite Crystal Growth Furnace, and Korzun and Whitson performed their first of several monthly sessions with the Pulmonary Function experiment to test their lung capabilities while living in a microgravity environment. Whitson took the first samples from the Advanced Astroculture soybean plant growth experiment.

Expedition 5 Commander Valery Korzun, and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev had a relatively light week of work; with Sunday and Monday largely rest days after last Saturday’s docking of the Progress 8. July 4 was essentially a holiday in space for the crewmembers, thought they did some work off a generic task list.

Whitson spent much of this morning installing the SUBSA experiment in the glovebox, which has not yet been commissioned for operations. The SUBSA installation will be completed once the MSG is activated.

Earlier this week, crewmembers began unloading the Progress and cataloguing its contents into the computerized, barcode Inventory Management System of the space station. Whitson brought the Medium-rate Communications Outage Recorder (MCOR) in Destiny back to life on Wednesday, after a three-week outage. She checked its fans and replaced a computer docking station. The MCOR records payload data during periods when the station is out of communication with the ground and transmits the data once communications are restored. The outage had no impact on science operations.

Next Wednesday, Korzun and Whitson will be at the controls of the Canadarm2 robotic arm in Destiny, commanding the Canadian-built arm to “walk off” its grapple fixture on the laboratory so that its available latching end effector can grapple a power and data fixture on the recently installed Mobile Base System, the platform mounted on the station’s rail car on the S0 (S-Zero) truss. One end of the arm is already affixed to the Mobile Base System, but the “walk off” of the other end of the arm to the mobile platform will mark another first for station robotic operations. The rail car will eventually move down the truss to be placed in position for the installation of the S1 Truss on the starboard side of the ISS, planned for later this year.

U.S. and Russian timeliners have converged on Aug. 16 and 23 as the two dates for spacewalks planned by Korzun and Whitson, then Korzun and Treschev, to mount experiments on the outside of the station and to install micrometeoroid debris shields on Zvezda. Those are the only two spacewalks planned for the Expedition 5 crew.

On Wednesday, Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson commanded the Canadian-built robotic arm to "walk off" its grapple fixture on the Destiny laboratory and grapple a power and data fixture on the Mobile Base System on the S0 truss. The walk-off was the first time the Canadarm2 has been detached from Destiny since it was installed in April 2001. Korzun and Whitson also completed a dry run of the S1 truss installation. The S1 will be brought to the station during STS-112. On Friday, the duo maneuvered the Canadarm2 onto several other MBS grapple fixtures to give engineers on the ground the data they need to prepare for the installation of both the S1 and P1 trusses.

During the week, Korzun and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev also continued to unload the Progress 8 resupply craft and enter supplies it brought to the station into the Inventory Management System. Korzun and Treschev also spent time doing periodic maintenance activities and installing cargo enclosures in Zarya.

When not working with the Canadarm2, Whitson activated and checked out systems in the MSG and completed the first runs of the Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules experiment in that new facility. Processing in the Zeolite Crystal Growth furnace concluded Friday after 15 days of operations and a new science payload, the Microencapsulation Electrostatic Processing System experiment, will begin next week.

The crew congratulated the designer of the station's Zvezda service module today, the second anniversary of its launch.

Korzun and Whitson worked together for four hours on Monday and another four hours on Tuesday to replace the Desiccant/Sorbent Bed Assembly of the Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) in the U.S. laboratory Destiny. There are two such beds in CDRA. The one replaced had not functioned properly since its launch in Destiny on Discovery's STS-98 mission in February 2001 because a valve between the desiccant and sorbent sides had stuck in the open position. The second bed continued to function, and a carbon dioxide scrubber in the Russian segment also was available.

Whitson and Korzun overcame or worked around a series of minor difficulties during the removal and replacement. Engineers and flight controllers on the ground are reactivating the Atmosphere Revitalization Rack where the CDRA is situated. The CDRA will be turned on next Tuesday and operated for several days to verify the success of the replacement.

Crewmembers performed an emergency medical operations drill on Wednesday, designed to keep them sharp in emergency medical procedures and to ensure that equipment is optimally stowed and available.

Whitson also worked with a balky spacesuit battery recharger. Her inputs were valuable to engineers on the ground and flight controllers who devised procedures that should fix the problem, the failure of a battery in the device to discharge before receiving a new charge. She also regenerated one of the spacesuit Metox carbon dioxide removal canisters.

Scientific experiments performed by the crew included work with the Microencapsulation Electrostatic Processing experiment, enclosing a drug or drugs in microballoons. Crewmembers also tended the Advanced Astroculture experiment, which grows soybeans in space with an eye to improving their oil, protein or carbohydrate content. The Microgravity Science Glovebox was used in the Solidification Using a Baffle In Sealed Ampoules experiment, designed to understand the motion in melted fluids to improve semiconductors.

All three crewmembers participated on Tuesday in an Educational Outreach project called Toys in Space. They operated toys, among them a boomerang, a jump rope and marbles, to demonstrate scientific principles. The demonstrations were in conjunction with questions from children at the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Russian officials have decided to perform a reboost of the International Space Station on Aug. 1, to put it at an optimal altitude for arrival of the next Progress unpiloted Russian supply spacecraft, and the next Soyuz crew return vehicle this fall.

Microgravity research included a session with the semiconductor crystal-growing experiment known as Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules, or SUBSA. Whitson set up and activated the experiment in the Microgravity Science Glovebox inside the Destiny laboratory. In the experiment, semiconductor samples are heated to their melting point and allowed to cool and solidify. Whitson downlinked television pictures of the experiment, which thanks to a transparent furnace design allowed scientists to see the solidification of indium antimonide crystals in space for the first time. The objective is to develop techniques for making larger, purer semiconductors for a variety of computer and electronics applications on Earth.

Whitson also took electronic images of soybean plants growing in the Advanced Astroculture experiment package, which scientists on the ground used to confirm that the plants have begun to flower. Scientists hope to develop soybeans with improved oil, protein, or carbohydrate content as a result of this research, which will feature the first seed-to-seed grown of soybeans on orbit.

All three crewmembers worked with biological experiments associated with their upcoming spacewalks on Aug. 16 and 23. They took turns blowing into a tube attached to sensitive instruments on the Pulmonary Function in Flight, or PuFF, experiment, which looks at the effects of spacewalks and long-duration spaceflight on human lung function. They also took background radiation readings that will help to calibrate readings from sensors that will be placed in pockets on the liquid cooling underwear they'll use during the spacewalks.

Korzun and Whitson will make the first foray out of the Russian Pirs docking compartment and airlock to install panels designed to protect the Zvezda living quarters from space debris, as well as a new set of Russian materials samples to be exposed to the rarified atmosphere of atomic oxygen at the station's altitude of 242 statute miles. Korzun and Treschev will make the second excursion, installing similar samples in a Japanese experiment and two additional amateur radio antennas.

The workweek began with removal and replacement of remote power converter modules in the Quest airlock. The modules had been exhibiting signs of malfunction, and although recoverable, these signs led engineers on the ground to recommend their replacement. Korzun and Whitson completed the swap, and flight controllers in Houston confirmed that the new units appear to be working properly. The older units will be returned to Earth for detailed inspection and analysis.

Mission Control also followed up on repair work on the Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly by Korzun and Whitson. The pair had replaced one of two absorbent beds for the system last week. On Tuesday, flight controllers attempted to activate the replacement bed, which contains Zeolite crystals to absorb the excess carbon dioxide breathed out by the crew. But the replacement bed showed signs of leakage similar to that seen from the original bed, but at a lower rate. Life support systems engineers on the ground suspect there may be another leak elsewhere in the CDRA that was not corrected by the bed replacement, but are still studying the data and considering further options. They verified that the system can still function properly with just one bed in operation. In the meantime, scrubbers in the station's Russian segment continue to provide all of the carbon dioxide removal required by the Expedition 5 crew and visiting taxi crews.

On Thursday, the crew reported hearing "clattering" noises as they ran or walked in place on the Treadmill Vibration Isolation System. As a result, exercise on that equipment was suspended. Instead, the station inhabitants will use a variety of other stationary bicycles and resistive exercise devices to maintain their cardiovascular health and muscle tone. Treadmill experts on the ground are working to replicate the problem on a duplicate TVIS so that they can design an effective repair.

A full-up fire drill and checkout of emergency equipment such as fire extinguishers and portable breathing apparatus made sure that Korzun, Whitson and Treschev are ready to respond in the unlikely event of a fire inside the station.

The crew wrapped up its work week filming demonstrations for Toys in Space, an educational outreach project intended to inspire students to study science, engineering and mathematics so that they can become the next generation of space explorers. They operated toys, such as yo-yos, gyroscopes, soccer balls and a miniature hockey game, documenting the way the toys react in microgravity.

Russian officials conducted routine Progress thruster manifold tests in preparation for a reboost of the International Space Station about 11 a.m. CDT Aug. 1. The reboost will put the station at the best altitude to welcome the next unpiloted Russian Progress supply spacecraft and Soyuz crew return vehicle in September and October.

Scientific research in the Destiny lab this week focused on the Advanced Astroculture (ADVASC) and Solidification Using Baffle in Sealed Ampoules (SUBSA) experiments. The ADVASC plant growth chamber houses the first soybean plant growth experiment ever conducted in space. Photographs taken by Whitson show that the plants have developed flowers and seedpods. Tuesday Whitson performed the third nutrient exchange and gas sample procedure for the experiment. This microgravity research may result in soybeans with improved oil, protein, or carbohydrate content, as well as the secondary metabolites, such as phytoestrogen, of commercial value.

The SUBSA experiment, isolated inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG), is testing what causes motion in the melted fluids used to create semiconductors and a way to reduce the magnitude of that motion, potentially leading to a reduction in defects in semiconductors in space and on Earth. Wednesday ground controllers at the Payload Operations Center at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., sent a software patch to the MSG system to increase the allowed temperature of a furnace inside the box. The SUBSA samples are heated to their 1,490 degrees Fahrenheit (810 degrees Celsius) melting point. After a successful test run of the empty MSG, Whitson loaded the third set of samples into the experiment Thursday.

The crewmembers began a modified exercise routine this week after engineers decided they should not use the Treadmill Vibration Isolation System until it can be fixed. Investigations by the crew found a problem with one of the many rollers that the treadmill's belt runs along. A ball bearing for the rod supporting the roller has seized and the rod has rubbed against the frame of the treadmill. Engineers are working to develop a procedure and hardware to fix the treadmill that could be sent to the station on the next Progress resupply vehicle in September. The crew can use other various machines onboard including a cycle ergometer and a resistive exercise devise.

Korzun and Treschev worked on a procedure to bring the oxygen-generating Elektron system back to its full capabilities. The Elektron separates water into its oxygen and hydrogen components, venting the oxygen into the cabin for the crew to breathe and sending the hydrogen overboard. The original liquid unit in the system experienced a problem in April and the crew replaced it with a backup unit that has had to run in a manual mode requiring the crew to activate its valves. This week, the crew returned the original liquid unit into the Elektron, but that did not bring the system back online. The crew replaced the original with the backup unit again, restoring manual mode operations.

Operations to test the Mobile Servicing System were partially completed Thursday. Korzun and Whitson maneuvered the space station robotic arm, Canadarm2, into a position enabling cameras to look back on its Mobile Base System and the attached Payload Orbital Replacement Unit Accommodation (POA) grapple fixture. The POA was commanded to go through the motions of grasping a payload while cameras on the end of the robotic arm watched. During a test, the computer software thought the POA motors were running too quickly and put the robotic system in a safe mode. Flight controllers turned the POA on and off and restored Canadarm2's motion. A test run with the motors operating more slowly was successful and the arm was left in place until it will be moved next week into a position to use its cameras to view the first Expedition 5 spacewalk. The remaining checkout procedures will be rescheduled.

Korzun and Whitson will step outside of the Russian Pirs docking compartment and airlock Aug. 16 to install panels designed to protect the Zvezda service module from space debris, as well as a new set of Russian materials samples to be exposed to the harsh conditions of space. Live coverage of the spacewalk will begin on NASA Television at 2 a.m. CDT. Korzun and Treschev will make another spacewalk starting late Aug. 22, installing similar materials samples in a Japanese experiment and two additional amateur radio antennas.

The Progress spacecraft's engines boosted the station by about 5 statute miles to an average altitude of 246 statute miles Thursday. This sets the stage for the arrival of a new Progress and a Soyuz taxi crew, both scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan this fall.

This week the crewmembers spent time each day reviewing plans for the spacewalk and checking out the tools and equipment they will use. Next Friday at 2:40 a.m. CDT, Korzun and Whitson will open the hatch on the Russian Pirs docking compartment to begin a 5-hour, 55-minute excursion. They will install protective panels on the Zvezda service module and a new set of samples in a Russian experiment verifying the effectiveness of devices designed to protect the station's exterior from contamination by thruster firings. Live coverage of the spacewalk begins on NASA Television at 2 a.m.

On Thursday Whitson maneuvered the station's Canadarm2 into position for its cameras to capture images of the EVA, the third spacewalk of Korzun's career and the first for Whitson.

Korzun and Treschev will make the second spacewalk of this mission (the first for Treschev) starting late Aug. 22 CDT. They will retrieve samples in a Japanese materials exposure experiment, install two additional amateur radio antennas and inspect a condensate collector. All activities will be on the Zvezda service module.

In conjunction with the spacewalk, Korzun and Whitson today tested their lung function for a Human Life Sciences experiment called PuFF (Pulmonary Function in Flight). Station crewmembers use equipment at the Human Research Facility rack in the Destiny module to gauge their lung function before and after a spacewalk so scientists can judge if there are long-term effects from the time spent in the lower-than-normal air pressure environment of a spacesuit.

Wednesday Whitson reactivated the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) in the Destiny laboratory for a fourth run of the experiment SUBSA (Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules). The experiment, conducted inside a transparent furnace in the MSG, tests what causes motion in melted fluids used to create semiconductors. If that motion can be reduced, the experiment could help lead to reducing defects in semiconductors made in space and on Earth. The crewmembers' routine exercise sessions were scheduled on the bicycle ergometer and a resistive exercise device for most of this week while engineers developed a repair plan for the Treadmill Vibration Isolation System in the Zvezda module. Last week the crew found that a ball bearing for a rod supporting one of the rollers under the tread on that apparatus had seized, and the rod was rubbing against the frame of the treadmill. That rod has now been secured, and the crew is cleared to use the treadmill in a non-motorized, reduced speed mode. Plans are being developed to send repair parts to the station on the next Progress resupply vehicle, targeted for launch Sept. 20.

Tuesday morning all the crewmembers gathered in the Destiny laboratory to answer questions from students at the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore, at the completion of a conference on "Women in Science." The session focused on life in a weightless environment.

This week, Russian officials said the next Soyuz crew return vehicle will be launched to the space station Oct. 28. The three-member taxi crew will spend eight days on the ISS. That crew will return to Earth Nov. 7 on the Soyuz now at the station.

It was the first of two spacewalks for the Expedition Five crew, the third of Korzun's career and the first for Whitson. Today's excursion was the 42nd spacewalk in support of ISS assembly and maintenance and the 17th staged from the station itself. 25 spacewalks at the ISS have originated from visiting space shuttles. While Korzun and Whitson worked outside, Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev tended to station systems and choreographed the spacewalk from inside Zvezda.

After a 1 hour, 43 minute delay to the start of the spacewalk because of a misconfigured valve regulating the operation of the primary oxygen bottles in their Orlan spacesuits, Korzun and Whitson opened the hatch to Pirs at 4:23 a.m. Central time (923 GMT) as the ISS flew over the southern Atlantic Ocean east of the southern coast of South America at an altitude of 230 statute miles. Their first task was to set up tools and unfurl a telescoping crane called the Strela boom from the side of the docking module that is attached to the nadir port of Zvezda.

They pressed ahead to move six micrometeoroid debris shields from a temporary stowage location on the connecting module adapter between the U.S. and Russian segments of the ISS that were delivered in June during the STS-111 mission of the shuttle Endeavour.

One by one, the shields were affixed around Zvezda, designed to provide debris protection for the lifetime of the module. 17 additional shields will be flown to the ISS on future missions to complete the job.

Because of the late start to the spacewalk, Russian flight controllers decided to defer the refurbishment of an experiment on Zvezda called Kromka, designed to collect samples of residue emitted from the module's jet thrusters. That lower priority task and the swabbing of thruster residue from Zvezda's hull for analysis will be conducted on a future spacewalk. It was not immediately known whether Korzun and Treschev would perform those tasks next Friday during the second spacewalk of the Expedition.

After retrieving their tools and stowing the Strela crane, Korzun and Whitson returned to Pirs and closed the hatch at 8:48 a.m. Central time (1348 GMT) to wrap up their excursion.

Korzun will venture outside Pirs one week from today with Treschev to install equipment on the exterior of the Russian module which will facilitate the placement of future payloads and the routing of spacewalkers' tethers and to replace Japanese experiments outside Zvezda which measure the effect of atomic oxygen in low Earth orbit on sample materials. Korzun and Treschev will also install two additional amateur radio antennas outside Zvezda to improve contacts with ham radio operators on Earth.

Whitson completed the first spacewalk of her career last Friday with Korzun, spending four hours and 25 minutes outside the orbiting laboratory. Monday's spacewalk will be Korzun's fourth and Treschev's first.

Korzun and Treschev have a variety of tasks to complete Monday morning, including attaching hardware to the exterior of the Zarya module that will be used for tethers and other equipment during future spacewalks; replacing Japanese materials experiment panels on Zvezda, which measure the effects of atomic oxygen in low Earth orbit and collect small pieces of space debris; attaching new plates for the Russian Kromka experiment, which are used to collect and study the residue emitted by Zvezda's jet thrusters; and installing two additional amateur radio antennas on Zvezda to improve contacts with ham radio operators on Earth. The two spacewalkers will also photograph each of these activities for engineers on the ground.

In preparation for Monday's spacewalk, Korzun and Treschev took part in an experiment called PuFF that is being used to look for any changes in crewmembers' lungs that may occur during a long-duration spaceflight. The two cosmonauts tested their lungs Friday using equipment in the Human Research Facility Rack and will test them again after the spacewalk.

It was the second of two spacewalks for the Expedition Five crew, the fourth of Korzun's career and the first for Treschev. Today's excursion was the 43rd spacewalk in support of ISS assembly and maintenance and the 18th staged from the station itself. 25 spacewalks at the ISS have originated from visiting space shuttles. While Korzun and Treschev worked outside, Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson tended to station systems and choreographed the spacewalk from inside Zvezda.

Whitson and Korzun conducted a 4 hour, 25 minute spacewalk on August 16 to install six micrometeoroid debris shields on Zvezda.

After a slight delay to track down a small pressure leak across the hatch between Zvezda and the Zarya module, Korzun and Treschev opened the hatch to Pirs at 12:27 a.m. Central time (527 GMT) as the ISS flew over Russia at an altitude of 235 statute miles. They went to work right away, installing a frame on the Zarya as a "parking place" for modular equipment to be temporarily stowed during future ISS assembly spacewalks and hardware on Zarya which will better route tethers for spacewalkers working around the Russian segment of the station.

The two Russian spacewalkers then exchanged trays of experiments in suitcase-like devices on Zvezda for NASDA, the Japanese Space Agency, which measure the effect of the space environment on engineering materials.

With that work accomplished, Korzun and Treschev completed a task left over from the previous spacewalk ten days ago. They replaced an experiment on the outside of Zvezda called Kromka, which measures the amount of residue emitted from the module's jet thruster firings. Deflectors previously installed on Zvezda have significantly reduced the buildup of residue on the hull of the module.

The final job for Korzun and Treschev was the installation of two additional ham radio antennas on Zvezda to enhance amateur radio operations in the future. ISS residents frequently conduct conversations with "hams" back on Earth.

After retrieving their tools, Korzun and Treschev returned to Pirs and closed the hatch at 5:48 a.m. Central time (1048 GMT) to wrap up their excursion.

The next series of spacewalks to be conducted at the ISS is planned for October when two shuttle astronauts, Dave Wolf and Piers Sellers, conduct three excursions from the Quest Airlock on the STS-112 mission aboard Atlantis to help install and activate the S1 (Starboard One) truss segment, further expanding the station's backbone.

Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev completed a 5-hour, 21-minute spacewalk Monday morning, swapping out Japanese space exposure experiments and a Russian experiment measuring jet thruster residue on the shell of the Zvezda Service Module. Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson kept everything running smoothly and helped coordinate her crewmates' activities from inside. She also helped take post-spacewalk readings on how her crewmates' lungs were functioning after working in the lowered pressure of their spacesuits, part of an ongoing study.

Then research took center stage again as Whitson cleaned up the Microgravity Science Glovebox and prepared it to resume experiments studying semiconductor formation in space. After a recent fifth experiment run, a quartz sample tube broke inside the glovebox enclosure. Whitson used a vacuum tube and fan system to remove and secure any particles left inside the box.

Whitson also downlinked a video tour of the U.S. Destiny laboratory module for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, where station research is coordinated by the Payload Operations Control Center. Whitson highlighted some of the two dozen experiments that she and her crewmates have been conducting during their first three months in orbit. Thirteen of the 24 phone booth-sized racks inside Destiny are dedicated to science investigations including a wide variety of experiments in human life sciences, physical sciences, commercial space product development and Earth observation, as well as education and technology demonstrations.

Friday, Whitson worked in the Quest airlock module, servicing the American spacesuits and recharging their batteries to prepare for upcoming tests next week. She also partially removed the Express 2 experiment rack in Destiny to gain access and replace a balky smoke detector before the crew began a three-day break over the Labor Day holiday.

Beginning work on Tuesday, following the Labor Day holiday, Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev charged and discharged batteries used in the U.S. extravehicular mobility unit spacesuits in preparation for three spacewalks that will originate from the station's Quest airlock module. Whitson also did some troubleshooting on the battery charging assembly associated with that task.

The entire crew participated in emergency training sessions, practicing their assignments and responsibilities in the event of either an emergency depressurization of a station module, or a medical emergency affecting a crewmember. The training sessions are scheduled periodically to make sure the crew is always prepared to react quickly and effectively in the event of an emergency.

Whitson resumed research in the Destiny Laboratory and its new Microgravity Science Glovebox, conducting two runs with an experiment studying semiconductor formation in space. That experiment, Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules, uses a special furnace to control the initial melting, fluid motion and bubbles as the crystals form in an effort to make larger, purer semiconductor crystals. Two more samples will be processed before Whitson reconfigures the glovebox for the next, the Pore Formation and Mobility Invesigation, which focuses on the bubbles that often become trapped in a metal or crystal sample and diminish the material's strength and usefulness.

Thursday was robotics day on the station, with Whitson and Korzun taking turns at Canadarm2's controls both to increase their proficiency and to continue to check out the Mobile Base System on the station's truss structure. The pair "flew" the arm into position so that the Latching End Effector (LEE) of the arm could look directly into the LEE of the Payload and Orbital Replacement Unit Accommodation (POA), and vice versa. This allowed television cameras to downlink views of the snare and latching mechanisms for flight controllers and engineers to inspect.

Next, they moved the arm in a survey of the Mobile Base System and its four Power and Data Grapple Fixtures (PDGFs). Once the survey was complete, they grappled and ungrappled the fourth and final PDGF to be checked out. All of the major objectives of the arm operations and grapple fixture checkout were successful.

Maintenance was the major activity Friday, and the crew powered down about half of Destiny's systems in order to replace a Remote Power Control Module (RPCM) which switches power to various systems on the station. The systems power down and replacement of the module went well, and flight controllers were restoring power to the systems that had been shut down as the crew began preparing for bed Friday afternoon.

This morning Expedition Five Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson set up and activated the ultrasound equipment at the Human Research Facility rack in the Destiny laboratory, then with guidance from flight surgeons in Houston, used it on herself to capture live video images for more than four hours. The ability to capture and downlink ultrasound imagery from orbit expands the kinds of medical research that can be conducted in space by scientists on Earth, and could offer physicians the chance to diagnose ailments in space station crewmembers earlier than they could otherwise. This possibly could improve the chances of effectively treating the problem without requiring an emergency deorbit of the crew and abandonment of the station.

Whitson completed another research milestone on Wednesday when she removed the last sample of the experiment known as SUBSA (Solidification Using Baffle in Sealed Ampoules), the first science project conducted inside the Destiny lab's new Microgravity Sciences Glovebox. Investigators observed via videotape as semiconductor materials were melted inside a transparent furnace. They are investigating methods for reducing the magnitude of motions in those melting materials as a means of reducing defects in the manufacture of semiconductors. The next MSG experiment, which begins operation next week, is PFMI (Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation), in which scientists will observe the formation and movement of bubbles trapped in melting metal and crystal samples, which might diminish material strength and effectiveness.

Thursday, Expedition Five Commander Valery Korzun and Whitson used the station's Canadarm2 to visually examine the Common Berthing Mechanism on the nadir (Earth pointing) side of the Unity module. The examination was prompted by the discovery of some foreign object debris on the CBM of the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module that was docked to Unity during the most recent shuttle mission in June. During a three-hour procedure, the station crewmembers gathered close-up views of Unity's berthing port with its protective petals closed and open. Specialists in Houston are reviewing the images along with crewmember descriptions to determine if any action is required.

Wednesday night Russian flight controllers commanded a firing of thrusters on the Progress cargo craft docked to the aft end of Zvezda, raising the station's average altitude by 1.5 nautical miles to 243 statute miles (391 kilometers). The reboost sets the stage for the arrivals of a new Progress resupply ship, targeted to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Sept. 24, and a new Soyuz rescue craft, planned to launch on Oct. 28 carrying a "taxi" crew consisting of Russian cosmonaut Sergei Zalyotin and European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne of Belgium.

Along with getting time for rest and family conferences last weekend, the station crewmembers fashioned a temporary grounding strap for the Active Rack Isolation System in the Destiny laboratory's Express Rack No. 2 using standard grounding straps found in the lab's zero-g stowage racks. This temporary repair, permitting ARIS activation for operations recalibration, became necessary when the original strap became frayed. New hardware to finalize this repair is being scheduled for delivery to the station on the next shuttle flight.

The shuttle that next will visit the International Space Station moved to Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida Tuesday for final preparation for the next assembly mission (9A). STS-112 is targeted for an Oct. 2 launch on a flight to install the next component of the station's Integrated Truss Structure, the S1 Truss, during three planned spacewalks. The move to the launch pad was completed following replacement of bearings in the Jacking, Equalization and Leveling cylinders of shuttle Crawler Transporter No. 2.

Next week Korzun and Whitson are expected to return to maintenance of the Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly in the Destiny laboratory, which is still scrubbing the station's environment of carbon dioxide despite indications of interior leaks. Troubleshooting by flight controllers in Houston led to the conclusion that the desiccant valves in the Desiccant/Sorbent Bed Assemblies are seated properly, and that a leak is likely in one of the hydroflow lines; a visual inspection of that area by Whitson confirmed the analysis. Time should be scheduled for Korzun and Whitson next week to open the system rack housing CDRA, as they did when they replaced one of the sorbent bed assemblies in July, to make repairs.

The problem was an elusive leak. Initial reports indicated the repair was a success. On Thursday flight controllers at Mission Control Center activated the device for a 24-hour run. Friday morning they said telemetry indicated it is capable of functioning on both its sorbent beds for the first time since it arrived on the station.

Whitson was named NASA ISS science officer Monday during a space-to-ground conversation with NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, speaking with her from the International Space Station Flight Control Room in the Mission Control Center. O'Keefe said it was time to increase the station's main mission, scientific research.

Through the week, Korzun and Treschev spent time each day loading the Progress 8 unpiloted supply spacecraft. It will undock from the station on Tuesday with its cargo of trash and unneeded equipment and supplies. After about two weeks during which Russian flight controllers will use its cameras capture and downlink images of smog and smoke over northeastern Russia, it will be deorbited to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. NASA TV coverage of the 8:58 a.m. CDT undocking will begin at 8:30 a.m. Coverage of the docking of Progress 9, scheduled to reach the aft docking port of the Zvezda Service Module at 12:07 p.m. on Sept. 29, will begin on NASA TV at 11:30 a.m. that day. Progress 9 is to be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Sept. 25.

On Tuesday Whitson activated the lab's Microgravity Science Glovebox in preparation for a new series of experiments. Those experiments called Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation (PFMI) melt a transparent substance to study how bubbles form and move in molten materials. She activated the first in that series of experiments on Thursday.

Also on the crew's schedule was packing of items to be returned to Earth on the shuttle Atlantis. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch no earlier than Oct. 2 on STS-112, bringing the Starboard 1 (S1) Truss to the station. Atlantis crewmembers will do three spacewalks during the shuttle's visit, focusing on connecting fluid, power and data lines between the S1 and the rest of the station. The spacewalks will be performed from the station's Joint Airlock, and E5 crewmembers devoted some of their attention this week to spacewalk preparations.

Flight controllers did a major exercise with the station's Canadarm2 on Wednesday. The arm is functioning well after replacement of its wrist-roll joint by spacewalkers during the STS-111 flight in June. This exercise involved simulating a failure - essentially turning off power to an arm joint -- then devising a way to work around the problem. The exercise was completed satisfactorily.

Late in the week, the crew completed repressurization of the station's atmosphere with oxygen from Progress 8.

Friday activities included additional work toward arrival of Atlantis, packing transfer items and talking by radio with Atlantis crewmembers about the spacewalks. Friday science focused on the Advanced Astroculture experiment, which looks at soybean growth in space and wrapping up the first of the PFMI experiments.

As science activity, station maintenance and crew medical and health activities, including about two hours of exercise for each member daily, continued through the week, Korzun, Whitson and Treschev did manage to take time out on Tuesday to talk with students at Ashland, Wis., area schools. Crewmembers showed a video of exercise devices aboard the station and answered questions from the students.

Expedition 5 Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson, and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev have spent the early part of the week preparing for the departure of the Progress 8 vehicle and the arrival of the next, and worked with science experiments in the U.S. Laboratory Destiny.

Also, the crew continues preparations for the arrival of Space Shuttle Atlantis and the STS-112 crew scheduled for launch between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. EDT on Oct. 2 by pre-packing items to be brought home upon Atlantis' departure.

After the Progress 8 spacecraft - loaded with trash and unneeded equipment - was undocked Tuesday, it was parked a safe distance from the station where it will remain for about two weeks while Russian flight controllers use its cameras to document smog and smoke over northeastern Russia.

The STS-112 mission will deliver the Starboard 1 (S1) Truss to the station, with final connections being conducted during three spacewalks by shuttle crewmembers. The Expedition Five crew devoted some of its attention this week to preparing the station's Airlock Quest for those spacewalks.

Also, in preparation for the arrival of the station's newest component, Whitson will practice with the Canadarm2 Thursday, moving the robotic arm through the same tasks it will see during the installation of the S1 Truss.

As science activity, station maintenance and crew medical and health activities continued, Korzun, Whitson and Treschev took part in two educational events with school children in Iowa and in Japan.

The Progress 9 vehicle linked up to the aft docking port of the Zvezda Service Module of the ISS at 12:01 p.m. Central time (1701 GMT) as the two spacecraft flew over Central Asia after a four-day flight following its launch Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The automated docking went off without a hitch as Expedition 5 Commander Valery Korzun, NASA ISS Science Officer Peggy Whitson, and Flight Engineer Sergei Treschev viewed the arrival of the new capsule from inside Zvezda. A few minutes later, hooks and latches closed between the two vehicles to form an airtight seal.

Korzun was prepared to take over manual control of the Progress for the docking in the event its automated rendezvous system did not work, but the linkup was executed flawlessly.

The crew was scheduled to open hatches between Zvezda and Progress this afternoon and will begin unloading supplies from the craft on Monday.

Some of the supplies include clothing and personal items for the Expedition Six crew - Commander Ken Bowersox and Flight Engineers Nikolai Budarin and Don Pettit - who will be launched aboard Endeavour on the STS-113 mission in November to replace Korzun, Whitson and Treschev following the completion of their 5 1/2 month mission.

The older Progress 8 vehicle, which arrived at the ISS in June and which was undocked on Tuesday, remains in orbit a safe distance away from the station, spending another 10 days aloft to enable Russian flight controllers to document smog and smoke over northeastern Russia through its cameras.

The Progress docking clears the way for the launch of Atlantis on the STS-112 mission Wednesday to deliver the 14-ton Starboard 1 (S1) Truss to the station. A Wednesday launch would result in Atlantis' docking to the ISS Friday. Commander Jeff Ashby, Pilot Pam Melroy and Mission Specialists Dave Wolf, Sandy Magnus, Piers Sellers and Fyodor Yurchikhin are in the final stages of their prelaunch preparations.

Preparations included powering down Mission Control Houston as Lili approached the Gulf Coast. The storm was expected to take a more northerly heading beginning late today or early Thursday, leading to a landfall on the Louisiana coast. Forecasters say it will be at least midnight before the storm's course becomes more clear, so preparations continue at Johnson Space Center.

The hurricane preparation in Houston also led to a delay in the launch of Atlantis to the on STS-112 flight to the space station. Atlantis, bringing the Starboard 1 Truss segment to the station, is now scheduled to launch no earlier than Monday. The Houston Support Group is an organization that includes flight controllers and others based at Mission Control Moscow in the Russian capital's suburb of Korolev. They will continue reduced flight control operations communicating with the orbiting laboratory using Russian ground stations augmented by U.S. ground stations. The group in Russia remains in close contact with the flight control team in Houston, which is using other Johnson Space Center facilities.

Aboard the orbiting laboratory, Expedition 5 Commander Valery Korzun, NASA International Space Station Science Officer Peggy Whitson, and Cosmonaut Sergei Treschev, were told of the shift Tuesday afternoon CDT, near the end of their working day. They were told a little after 9 a.m. today of the delay in Atlantis' launch.

The station's 240-foot solar wing assembly is no longer tracking the sun, because of reduced monitoring