SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

*Crew Works on Experiments, Preps for Soyuz Relocation*

ISS014-E-17232 -- Astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria in the Destiny laboratory Image above: Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria works with the SPHERES experiment in the Destiny laboratory of the ISS Image credit: NASA

TO VIEW IMAGE GO TO: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

The Expedition 14 crew members charged ahead with their experiments this week, focusing on aspects of long-duration space flight. They studied how cosmic radiation affects brain waves as well as tracking how bodies process nutrients in space, and how food supplies are affected by storage in that environment. They looked at three different experiments that monitor cosmic rays and background radiation as they relate to long-duration flights.

The crew also spent several sessions working on an upgrade to the laptop computer network. The new integrated station computer network will be 10 times faster than the current setup.

The trio also continued preparations for the undocking and discarding of the ISS Progress 23 cargo ship, which will be full of trash when it departs Tuesday. The crew also prepared for a Thursday relocation of the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module. This will make room for the scheduled docking on April 9 of the Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft carrying the Expedition 15 crew and U.S. spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi.

+ Final Report of the ISS Independent Safety Task Force (3.7 Mb PDF) http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/170368main_IISTF_Final_Report_508.pdf + Read more about Expedition 14 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition14/index.html

+ Read more about Expedition 15 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition15/index.html

+ View Crew's Daily Timelines http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/timelines/index.html