In the last SMORE #4 message, we proposed an extension of the
deadline for submitting your hardware designs. We received almost
unanimous feedback saying an extension would be very helpful, so
we'll go that way. Here then is a revised schedule for the activity:

PART 1: Hardware design
* Sep 22 - Nov 4: Classroom design of what is needed to grow plants in
  space; at conclusion, classes share designs for posting online.
* Nov 6 - Nov 27: Discuss various ideas, debate good and bad points, try to
  reach consensus.
* Nov 22 - Dec 6: Get feedback from experts, some interactions to help
  students see how their answers compared to NASA experts.

PART 2: Data Sharing 
* Nov 1 - Dec 6: Conduct the STELLAR Shuttle/Mir Seed Germination
  Activity and submit results.
* Dec 9 - Dec 22: Compare and discuss what may have caused different results.

There is still time to get involved if you haven't yet gotten started. See

for all the details.

Some folks are in the process of finishing their designs and have been
wondering how to submit their work (this is music to my ears). Here are
details of how to send in your efforts once they are complete. The process
differs depending on the format of your masterpiece and your abilities:

* * * * * * * * * *

IF YOUR DESIGN IS TEXT:
Send it in the body of an email message to: lindac@quest.arc.nasa.gov 

* * * * * * * * * *

IF YOUR DESIGN HAS PICTURES OR DIAGRAMS

It is always our hope that material that comes from the classroom can be
graphically represented on the web. There are several choices: 

If it already exists in electronic form, you can try enclosing the 
pictures in a MIME-compliant mail message (if you are familiar with 
how to do that using an email package like Eudora or Pine), or

We can FTP it from a location you specify, or

If it is already on a Web page, we can simply point to it. 

Please send Linda a note either with the goodies or with instructions on
how to get at the material (FTP site or Web address). 

* * * * * * * * * *

IF THESE FANCY DIGITAL TECHNIQUES WON'T WORK:

Black and white diagrams can be Faxed to Linda Conrad at (415) 604-1913, or

Material can be postal mailed to us.
- Any text should be in electronic format (please put it on a disk)
- Photos and art will be returned if you like

Send you work to this address:
   Linda Conrad
   NASA Ames Research Center
   Mailstop T-28H
   Moffett Field, CA 94035 


We would very much like to feature the work of your students on our NASA
site. But we can only display your work if you send it....so please share!

Like most folks, we are held accountable for our work...often by our
management. In a project like this (free to the user, without formal
registration), it is sometimes hard to determine who our customers
are, and how well we are serving them. To address these issues, we will
be doing a voluntary registration for an eventual evaluation.

We hope that no matter how you are involved, you will take a few
moments to provide us with some basic information. We hope that
everybody will respond. This includes the fully engaged teachers with
classes of youngsters, to individuals reading these messages solely
because of personal interest. No matter who you are, we hope you'll
participate. Without meaningful data, it becomes difficult for us to
justify these projects to our management.

By week's end, you'll receive another mail message with the registration
survey. But even better would be if you went to the Web form and
provided basic information there. The address is:

The registration process should not take more then 3 minutes, and it
will help us greatly. To further entice you, all registrants will be
entered in a pool, and some will receive a gift pack of neato NASA
pictures.

Thanks in advance

WHAT'S UP IN SPACE

Mission Control Center -- Korolev
October 11, 1996 

U.S. astronaut John Blaha spent the week on Russia's Mir space
station, continuing to collect data on a variety of experiments in the
diverse portfolio of investigations assigned to him. 

Blaha concluded work with samples of the Binary Colloidal Alloy
Tests (BCAT). The goal of the BCAT experiment is to grow
crystals of two materials together over an extended time using a
number of colloidal samples in a variety of concentrations. This
week's samples were rapid growth samples which were allowed to
grow for only 26 hours. Blaha started another sample at week's
end, which is a slow growth sample. It is scheduled to grow for 90
days undisturbed in a Priroda module locker. 

Also this week, Blaha collected samples of the microbial
environment around Mir, including the air, water, spacecraft
surfaces and samples from the Mir crew members' skin. This
research is aimed at understanding the microbial ecology of Mir
including bacterial, fungi and some viruses. 

Routine operations continued with the BioTechnology System
(BTS) with sample collection and replacement of growth media.
BTS investigates cell attachment patterns and interactions among
single cell cultures and varied cell cultures, the role of cells in
forming functional tissue and other areas of interest. 

On Monday, Blaha will collect and fix (preserve with
formaldehyde) samples of dwarf wheat from the Greenhouse
experiment and prepared them for eventual return to Earth.
Greenhouse is a set of experiments to study the effect of space
flight on plant development. Plants may play a critical role in
sustaining human life on future long space flights. 

Blaha has now settled into a scientific research routine on the Mir,
itemizing and storing items from transfer bags which were
transferred to the Mir from the shuttle Atlantis on the STS-79
mission. 

October 18, 1996 

U.S. astronaut John Blaha began his second month aboard the
Russian Mir Space Station, continuing his data collection and
sample processing work under the NASA-Mir science program. 

Blaha completed the incubation of the microbial samples taken
from crewmembers and surfaces in the Mir last week. Samples
taken from the air, water, spacecraft surfaces and from the skin of
the cosmonauts are being analyzed for bacteria, fungi and possible
viruses. 

Also this week, Blaha performed the monthly photography of
samples for the Diffusion- Controlled Crystallization Apparatus for
Microgravity (DCAM). The DCAM slowly grows protein crystals
under a semi-permeable membrane to produce samples which are
compared to samples grown on Earth. Protein crystals are used in
basic biological research, pharmacology and drug development.
Space-grown crystals are larger and purer with fewer defects. 

Scientists working in the Russian mission control center quizzed
Mir 22 Commander Valery Korzun, Flight Engineer Alexander
Kaleri and Blaha this week on their interaction with one another
and with ground controllers. Researchers are interested in
observing any changes that occur in interpersonal relationships
during long duration space missions. 

The cosmonauts also spent time working on the Metabolic Gas
Analyzer System experiment. All three crew members participated
in exercise sessions on the U.S. exercise bicycle, while hooked to
equipment which measures their expired breath through a
metabolic analyzer. The experiment measures individuals' metabolic
responses to exercise and how they change overtime in orbit.

Activities next week on the Mir will feature more work with the
PAS --passive accelerometer system -- which Blaha will use to
observe the motion of a small metallic ball as it travels down a
narrow cylinder, giving researchers information on the amount of
residual gravity present on the Mir. 

GREENHOUSE EXPERIMENT NEEDS EXTENSION CORD

Teri Schnepp

August 5, 1996
We have been trying since 15 July to start the Greenhouse
experiment. We've had some problems, some frustrations and
happily some successes. In the problems department, it took the
MIR crew a lot of time to find all the hardware pieces stored on
the space station. After they found all our stuff, the next problem
was that the power in the module was found to be insufficient to
support our experiment and the life support systems for the crew.
This was pretty frustrating. We couldn't understand why we
were just finding out about the power problems, since we had
been preparing for the experiment for years! 

A solution was found - a cable was located and attached to the
SVET Greenhouse and then run across the hatch to an adjacent
module. The cable is like a giant extension cord and it saved the
day. Now the Greenhouse has power, (YEAH!!) and water is
being added to the Root Module, in preparation for planting of the
wheat seeds. The seed planting may have actually occurred today,
5 August, but we won't be sure until we hear about it through
official channels. 

There is a frustrating part of our work...there is an 11-hour time
difference between Moscow and California...so it takes a while to
get information. We are spending many hours on the telephone
with our Russian and US scientists, trying to gain information
and keep everyone up to date on the progress of the experiment.
We are excited that the seeds have OR will be soon planted. 

[Editor's note: in fact the seeds were planted on August 5]

The next thing we will be looking for is seed germination in about
a week after planting. 

[Editor's note: in fact, the plants sprouted on schedule and daily verbal
reports of moisture probe data and logbook notations continued to track
the experiment progress]

MY FIRST TRIP TO MOSCOW

Steven J. Piert

July 16, 1996

My first trip to Moscow was in February 1995. I went there with
four other people from Ames Research Center to prepare the flight
hardware to be used in the first joint U.S./Russian Incubator II experiment.
The hardware was to be launched aboard a Russian Progress launch vehicle,
where it would be transported to the Russian space station Mir, and
returned aboard the shuttle Atlantis (Space Transportation
System-71), after the first shuttle/Mir docking.

There was snow on the ground when we arrived, but according
to Muscovites, it had been a warm winter. One thing that
surprised me was that the people were actually very friendly,
helpful and extremely generous. I had been told to expect serious
and reserved people, but this was not the case at all.

When we weren't working at the Institute for Biomedical
Problems, we were able to visit places such as Red Square, the
Kremlin and the centuries old monastery at Zgorsk. It was easy to
get around because of Moscow's excellent Metro system. This
underground subway can take you just about anywhere in the city. 

Since my first trip, I've been back to Moscow two more times
and hope to go again before the year is over. I really enjoy
working with the Russian scientists and look forward to seeing
more of the beautiful Russian country. 

UPS AND DOWNS OF RESEARCH

Patricia Cowings

June 30, 1996
I've been conducting a series of experiments for space. I started
working at Ames Research Center as a student in 1971. Then I
came back to do postdoctoral work in 1973 and NASA actually
hired me in 1978. In 1979 my experiment was accepted for
space. It was a big thrill in my life. 

What we have developed over the last 25 years is a training procedure
called Autogenic Feedback Training Exercise (AFTE). AFTE is a way in which
people learn how to control up to 20 of their bodily responses so that they
can keep themselves from getting sick due to motion sickness. I'm also the
principal investigator for a series of space shuttle experiments in which
we are attempting to test this treatment as a way of keeping astronauts
from getting sick in space. 

The first time I would get to send it into space would be in 1984.
Then the Challenger accident happened in 1986. The second time I was able
to send it into space was in 1992. What NASA had originally agreed to in
1979 was to let me fly 16 subjects (eight who received the AFTE treatment
and eight controls who took an alternative treatment), to complete the
experiment.

"Controls" means "control groups." A control group is a group
that participates in the same activities as the test subjects. But the
control group does not use the same kinds of treatments or
exercises, like the AFTE. Instead, they have different or no
treatments or exercises, and the results of these are compared to
the results of the test subjects. Therefore, this kind of experiment
could also be called a "controlled experiment." 

So far I've only flown three times and have data from space on
three AFTE crew members and three controls, which are not
enough data to evaluate the treatment effectiveness.

However, the experiment was successful. The crew liked it.
Things were working. But before the final report was completed,
the experiment was canceled. No explanation was given
whatsoever. No chance to defend the work. Nothing. Then my
original laboratory was taken away and I was given a smaller
one. These are the biggest frustrations of my work. 

I've spent the last three years talking with my colleagues in
Russia since my experiment was canceled. They have invited this
experiment to fly on the Mir Space Station and that's a real big
plus for me. But even though this means my experiments will still
fly, officially this is a Russian experiment. So, no money, no
credit. But I'll still get the answers to my questions.

FAST EQUIPMENT REPAIR SAVES MIR EXPERIMENT

STS-79 is a story about cooperation - just as all Phase 1 shuttle missions
have been. But one example of that cooperation among NASA teams and
between American and Russian teams stands out in particular now that the
fourth shuttle-Mir docking mission is complete.

"It ain't Apollo 13," quipped Mission Scientist John Uri, "but from a
scientist's perspective we pulled it off and saved that experiment."

The story started the morning of Sept. 23 with the discovery by the Middeck
Payload Operations Directors that one of the first powered payloads being
transferred to Mir was not working correctly. The Biotechnology System-
Cartilage (BTS-CART) experiment, designed to support three-dimensional
growth of cartilage in microgravity, was transferred from the shuttle
middeck to the Priroda module of the Mir Space Station on Flight Day 5.

Several days later, as the shuttle was preparing to undock from Mir, the
BTS-CART ground support team became concerned that the experiment was
having hardware and/or software troubles when data from the flight unit
and the ground-based version of the experiment didn't agree.

"No one could understand the erratic data we were receiving," said Uri, who
was the senior representative in the Payload Operations Support Area that
morning. 

Any delay in their assessment of the health and status of the experiment
could have resulted in a major loss of science data if it had not been fixed
within a day or two, said JSC's Biotechnology Program Chief Scientist
Steve Gonda. 

"Any time you have a biological system, there are time-critical constraints
on keeping it the right temperature, feeding it the right nutrients, removing
waste," Gonda said, "and that depends upon the operation of the experiment
control computer that monitors those parameters through in-line sensors."

So, Lockheed-Martin's Lead MPOD Lynn Pickett, Biotechnology Program
Integration Manager Dianne Byerly and their team asked Mission Specialist
Jay Apt to take Electronic Still Camera photographs of the cartilage
constructs through the experiment viewport so that they could be compared
with the ground-based experiment.

Apt took several photographs of the exterior configuration of the bovine
cartilage-growing experiment, but he was unable to take any close-up
photographs through the viewport window because of a broken interior
light. 

Nevertheless, Apt downlinked the images using the Orbiter Communications
Assembly. While awaiting downlink and processing of the ESC images, the
BTS ground team worked intensely on troubleshooting procedures that
would need to be delivered to John Blaha, now residing on Mir--the only
crew member trained to perform them. The BTS team went through
procedure just as Blaha would perform it, and wrote up in flight note. Uri
said the team knew it was running out of time but didn't have
communications through the Mir air-to-ground channels. 

Clearing that hurdle of getting the instructions to Blaha was next. Direct
communication between Mission Control-Moscow and Mir wouldn't be
available for several hours, so the BTS ground team started working with
Mission Control-Houston to arrange uplink of the necessary malfunction
procedures through the shuttle communications link. With hatches almost
ready to be closed, the ground team working on the troubleshooting
procedures also started to consider the possibility of transferring the
equipment back to Atlantis for return to the Earth.

The team generated its repair message and sent it to Blaha, who performed
the procedures, but the hardware and software did not respond as hoped.

At that point on Flight Day 8, the hatches had to be closed so that Atlantis
could undock from Mir. This meant there could be no further assistance from
the shuttle crew.

But the shuttle still could be used in the trouble-shooting effort - this time
as a communications relay station. Using Atlantis' second air-to-ground
communications link (A/G-2) communications link, scientists and
technicians in the POSA, the Houston control center for the Mir Science
Payloads Team, were able to call Blaha with further troubleshooting
procedures. 

In the meantime, the ESC photographs had been processed by Phyllis Grounds
and her team in the Payload Operations Control Center of Bldg. 30S. Dianne
Valdez and Cara White of JSC's Digital Imaging Lab processed the images
normally. Then, John Salmon, an ESC software developer for Lockheed-
Martin, enhanced the photographs enough to show the status of the cartilage
constructs inside the experiment hardware. 

"When we got the download, I knew they were waiting for the pictures, so
I put off processing the other pictures (a total of 394 were downlinked
during the flight) until they got what they needed," Salmon said.

It Salmon took just 30 to 45 minutes to process the images once they were
delivered by the OCA team. 

"We had the payload guys hovering behind John and saying 'Let's zoom in on
this here," Grounds said.

Allen Moore, support contractor Krug Life Science's lead engineer for the
BTS facility, saw in the photos that a control and data cable on the unit was
not fully locked in place by the locking mechanism.

While the BTS team drew up another procedure to power down the
equipment so that the cable could be re-mated without damaging the
system, the shuttle undocked from Mir and began its fly-around of the
Russian Space Station. During the fly-around, John Blaha called from the Mir
via the shuttle communications link to report that further attempts to fix
the problems had been failed. 

The air-to-ground relay was enabled again to allow the POSA in Houston to
discuss the suspect cable connection, since communication directly from
Russia was still unavailable. They arrived at a solution, but the repair
procedures still had to be approved by Mission Control-Moscow before they
could be voiced up to Blaha. 

While this was being explained, air-to-ground communication between
Moscow and Mir, via the shuttle, was suddenly acquired, and Bill
Gerstenmaier, leading the U.S. consultants group in Russia, excitedly broke
in to announce that the procedures were approved by the Russian shift
flight director. 

It was about 6:50 p.m. by then, and Gerstenmaier and Uri both talked with
Blaha directly through the communications relay. It took longer to read up
the 15-minute procedure than it would take Blaha to perform it.

After completing the repair, Blaha called down to report that the cable
connection had, indeed, been the problem and that BTS-CART - one of his
favorite experiments -- was functioning properly. 

"The whole team was up in Mission Ops and when John went through the
procedure we had voiced up to test the coupling and reported that all
parameters came up and were nominal, there was a shout of joy that
everyone voiced," Gonda recalled. "Now we were ready to take that first
long step of a 140-day long-duration cell culture, and it is a giant step for
our program." 

STS-79 Lead Flight Director Paul Dye said the flight control team always
tries to keep A/G-2 available as a relay option because it makes up for lack
of coverage through Russian communications systems. The MCC-Houston
team was happy to support the effort as long as the relay wasn't a
distraction for Commander Bill Readdy and Pilot Terry Wilcutt as they
performed the fly-around. 

"The entire episode illustrated the incredible levels of cooperation that
have been achieved among the many ground support teams within Mission
Control-Houston, as well as international cooperation between Houston,
Moscow and the shuttle and Mir crews," said Phase 1 Program Manager Frank
Culbertson. 

The entire process, from problem identification to solution, took only nine
hours. 

 "This is one of the most incredible examples of cooperation across the
ocean," Uri said. "There were no brick walls. Nobody said 'no.' Everybody was
working toward the same goal and everybody understood what that was. It
saved the experiment and it was all done in real time and it really sets an
example for the future. I came home from work that night and told my wife,
'Now I know why I work at NASA.'"

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