STS-90 Day 12 Highlights
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- On Tuesday, April 28, 1998, 6:00 a.m. CDT, STS-90 MCC Status Report # 23
reports:
- Columbia's seven astronauts were awakened at 4:49 a.m. Central time
this morning to begin another day of exploring how the nervous system
adapts to the weightless environment of space.
- The crew was awakened to the sound of "Turn, Turn, Turn"
by the Byrds, which was played in honor of the rotating chair
experiment involved in studies of the human vestibular system.
- Columbia's science astronauts -- Mission Specialists Rick Linnehan
and Dave Williams and Payload Specialists Jay Buckey and Jim Pawelczyk
will continue their investigations into how the human nervous
system adapts to the weightlessness of space. Buckey and Pawelczyk
will take part in a variety of autonomic experiments designed to
examine blood pressure regulation in microgravity. The test uses a
special device resembling a hi-tech sack to place a stress on the
cardiovascular system similar to that experienced when standing in
Earth's gravity.
- The astronauts will also infuse radioactively-labeled
neorepinephrine into the blood stream and will collect blood
samples. Neorepinephrine is a chemical messenger that will allow
investigators to measure how fast the substance is released into and
removed from the blood's circulation and determines whether the blood
pressure control system is underutilized in the absence of
gravity. The payload specialists will conduct another experiment in
which they use an innovative technique called microneurography. This
involves placing a small needle in a nerve just below the knee,
allowing nerve signals traveling from the brain to the blood vessels
to be measured directly.
- Linnehan and Williams will participate as subjects and as operators
in tests on the vestibular experiments, including additional runs in
the rotating chair to measure the response of their eyes and inner
ears in maintaining balance in a weightless environment.
- Mission Specialist Kay Hire again will work with the Bioreactor
Demonstration System, which is designed to perform cell biology
experiments under controlled conditions. Scientists are using the
device to study the growth of human kidney and bone marrow cells in
space. She also will be a subject in a test designed to detect
functional abnormalities of the central nervous system. The test
activates the blood pressure control system and raises blood pressure,
but not by stimulating pressure receptors.
- Commander Rick Searfoss and Pilot Scott Altman will take turns
operating the Portable In-Flight Landing Operations Trainer (PILOT), a
laptop computer and joystick system that allows them to simulate
approaches and landings to the Kennedy Space Center.to maintain their
piloting skills.
- Columbia remains in a 153 x 133 nautical mile orbit, circling the
Earth every 90 minutes. All systems on board continue to operate in
excellent fashion. NASA managers are expected to decide Wednesday
whether to add an extension day to Columbia's flight in the name of
science. Columbia currently is scheduled to return to Earth on Sunday.
- The next STS-90 status report will be issued about 6 p.m. Tuesday or
as events warrant.
- On Tuesday, April 28, 1998, 6:15 p.m. CDT, STS-90 MCC Status Report # 24
reports:
- The seven-member crew of Columbia completed another productive day
of scientific activity, focusing today on understanding blood pressure
regulation in microgravity.
- The science crew of astronauts Rick Linnehan, Dave Williams, Jay
Buckey and Jim Pawelczyk, continued their investigations into the
adaptation of the human nervous system to the weightlessness of
space. Both Buckey and Pawelczyk took turns as subjects in the Lower
Body Negative Pressure unit, a device which puts the same stresses on
their cardiovascular system as what they would experience if they were
standing here on Earth.
- The astronauts also infused radioactively-labeled neorepinephrine
into the blood stream and collected blood samples. Neorepinephrine is
a chemical messenger that will allow investigators to measure how fast
the substance is released into and removed from the blood's
circulation and determines whether the blood pressure control system
is underutilized in the absence of gravity.
- Investigations on the "rotating chair" continued today as
Linnehan and Williams participated in that study to understand how
microgravity affects the vestibular, or balance, system.
- In addition to science activities, the crew members are continuing
to conduct welfare checks of the rat neonates on board Columbia. In a
conversation with NASA Chief Veterinary Officer Joe Bielitzki,
Linnehan reported that the crew had provided fluid and nourishment to
all the neonates and that most seemed to be responding well.
- Members of Neurolab's Mammalian Development Team continue to
re-prioritize their science activities because of the unexpectedly
high mortality rate being experienced among the rat neonates. During a
press conference this afternoon, mission managers reported that an
additional 4 young rats had died in the past 24 hours, two due to
maternal neglect and two having to be euthanised because of ill
health, bringing to 50 the number of neonates that have been lost
during the flight. Forty of the original complement of 96 neonates
remain, with six having been euthanised as part of scientific
protocols during the course of the flight.
- Searfoss and Williams talked with three Canadian media outlets
today, discussing their mission and scientific activities. Linnehan
spoke with students at the North Carolina State College of Veterinary
Medicine, fielding questions from a number of students on the nature
of his scientific research.
- The crew will begin their sleep period at 8:29 p.m. today.
Tomorrow's activities will once again focus on studies of the human
autonomic, or blood pressure regulatory system.
- Columbia remains in a 153 x 133 nautical mile orbit, circling the
Earth every 90 minutes.
- The next STS-90 status report will be issued about 6 a.m. Wednesday
or as events warrant.
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