Phillips Dresses Up For His Final Foot Session

STATION NEWS

The heart of the FOOT experiment is an instrumented suit called the Lower Extremity Monitoring Suit (LEMS) (illustrated). This customized garment is a pair of Lycra cycling tights incorporating 20 carefully placed sensors and the associated wiring, control units, and amplifiers. LEMS will enable the electrical activity of muscles, the angular motions of the hip, knee, and ankle joints, and the force under both feet to be measured continuously. Information from the sensors can be recorded for up to 14 hours on a small wearable computer. Measurements are also made on the arm muscles. Crewmembers put the suit on in the morning before they start their work day and, after calibration, go about their regular daily activities. Throughout the day, the sensors capture data that allows researchers to characterize differences between use of the arms and legs on earth and in space. Before launch and after landing, DXA scans, MRIs, and Cybex testing are used to measure the changes in bone mineral density, muscle volume, and muscle strength respectively. Researchers relate these changes to the measurements made from the LEMS.

Huntsville AL (SPX) Sep 21, 2005
The installation and activation of a replacement part for an oxygen-generating system and the Foot/Ground Reaction Forces During Spaceflight (Foot) experiment highlighted recent activities on board the International Space Station.

Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev and NASA Science Officer John Phillips have been troubleshooting the Elektron oxygen-generation system by activating a new liquids unit. The Elektron breaks down water into oxygen for use in the station's atmosphere.

The Elektron has not functioned for several months. Adequate oxygen supplies are available on the station from tanks and Solid Fuel Oxygen Generators.

In addition to the Elektron liquids unit replacement, Phillips set up hardware for the Foot experiment. Monitored by the team in the Payload Operations Center at the Marshall Center, Phillips put on customized Lycra cycling tights for his fifth and final session of the experiment.

Foot investigates the differences between use of the body's lower extremities on Earth and in space, and changes in the musculoskeletal system during spaceflight.

During the session, Phillips wore the instrumented Lower Extremity Monitoring Suit, or LEMS, which measures joint angles, muscle activity and forces on the feet while exercising.

Taking force measurements while running through the range of settings with each piece of exercise equipment helps determine the settings necessary to match the forces that bones experience during exercise on Earth. Matching those forces during exercise is critical to reducing the amount of bone lost while in weightlessness.

The theories that are being explored in this experiment have significance for understanding, preventing and treating osteoporosis - a disease occurring among women after the menopause in which the bones break easily and heal slowly - on Earth.

NASA's payload operations team at the Marshall Center coordinates U.S. science activities on Space Station.

STATION NEWS

ISS Crew Reactivate A Fixed Elektron Oxygen-Generation System

Houston TX (SPX) Sep 19, 2005
Life for the two crew members on board the International Space Station was busy last week. They installed a replacement part for an oxygen-generating system, unpacked a recently arrived cargo carrier and disassembled a radiation-detection experiment.

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