All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Sunday -- off-duty day for CDR Whitson, FE-1 Malenchenko and FE-2 Tani. Ahead: Week 7 of Increment 16.

FE-1 Malenchenko supported his first experiment session with the Russian TEKh-20 Plasma Crystal-3+ (Plazmennyi-Kristall/PK-3+) payload by activating the turbopump in the Service Module (SM)'s Transfer Compartment (PkhO) for keeping the vacuum chamber (ZB) in the SM Work Compartment (RO) evacuated. The turbopump will be deactivated tonight at ~4:25pm EST. [Main objective of PK-3 is to study dust plasma wave propagation and dispersion ratio at a specified power of HF discharge, pressure, and a varied number of particles.]

The crew conducted the regular weekly three-hour task of thorough station cleaning. ["Uborka", normally done on Saturdays, includes removal of food waste products, cleaning of compartments with vacuum cleaner, damp cleaning of the Service Module (SM) dining table, other frequently touched surfaces and surfaces where trash is collected, as well as the FE's sleep station with a standard cleaning solution; also, fan screens and grilles are cleaned to avoid temperature rises. Special cleaning is also done every 90 days on the HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) bacteria filters in the Lab.]

As part of the house cleaning, Yuri Malenchenko performed preventive maintenance cleaning on the V3, FS5 & FS6 fan screens in the DC1 (Docking Compartment) and on the VPkhO, VdPrK, VPrK & TsV2 fan grilles in the FGB (Funktsionalnyi-Grusovoi Blok).

Peggy Whitson & Dan Tani both spent several hours of their own time with their selected "Voluntary Weekend Science" activities:

• The CDR started out with software replacement for the HRF-1 RIC (Human Research Facility 1 Rack Interface Controller), first replacing the HRF-1 laptop's Ultrabay Adapter, then uploading the RIC software (EXPRESS Load 5) and rebooting the computer. Later, Peggy also serviced the CGBA/CSI-02 (Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus Science Insert 2), sowing its PDA (Plant Development Habitat) with new seeds and then restowing the hardware.
• The FE-2 performed another session with the SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites) experiment, flying two & three satellites, requiring 2 video camcorders & 2 VTRs. Afterwards, Dan conducted an EPO (Educational Payload Operation) demo, recording a narrated tour of the ISS living area on a camcorder. As all EPO videos, the DVD will be used by the Educational Community for school classes.

The FE-1 meanwhile performed the routine servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM. [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists, among else, of checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers. Weekly SOZh reports (on Sundays) to TsUP/Moscow deal with number & dates of water and urine containers, counter readings of water consumption & urine collection, and total operating time of the POTOK air filtration system.]

The FE-1 completed the daily routine maintenance of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM, including ASU toilet facilities systems/replaceables. [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists among else of replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers.]

In the Joint Airlock, the CDR terminated the recharging on the second set of EVA batteries.

Working off his "time permitting" discretionary task list, Yuri conducted his third run of the Russian "Diatomeya" ocean observations program, using the NIKON-F5 still camera and SONY PD-150 camcorder to obtain high-contrast fields in ocean water color, wakes of turbulent water, and cloud cover pattern anomaly along the flight path. [Special target zone was the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean.]

At ~7:30am EST, Malenchenko participated in an event set up for him in Moscow to cast his ballot in the Elections to the 5th State Duma of the Russian Federation Federal Assembly, formally authorizing his proxy agent Dmitry Alexandrovich Zhukov to fill out the ballot for him, with the required confidentiality being observed. [Yuri: "Participation in Russia's political life is a crucial right of every citizen of the country! By casting our vote we shape the direction our nation will take in the future. Our future depends on our vote!"]

At ~9:05am, the crew held a teleconference with crewmembers of the upcoming STS-122/1E mission via S- & Ku-band.

At ~10:35am, the FE-1 followed up on his earlier balloting with a downlink to an event arranged by Russia's Central Election Committee (Moscow) which today elects deputies to the State Duma of the Russian Federation Federal Assembly. Present at the event were Election Committee Chairman Vladimir Evgenyevich Churov and Yuri Malenchenko's family, Ekaterina Victorovna Malenchenko and daughter Camilla. ["We are happy to welcome here the ISS crew consisting of Commander Peggy Whitson, Flight Engineer Daniel Tani, and Flight Engineer Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko, the 78th cosmonaut of Russia and the 308th cosmonaut of the world. Specialists believe that your international crew has the most difficult and challenging mission in the entire station history because the science program involves many experiments some of which have never been staged before on the ISS..."]

At ~2:30pm, the CDR had her weekly PFC (Private Family Conference) via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on the SSC-9 laptop).

No CEO (Crew Earth Observation) photo targets uplinked for today.

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov (about 700,000 NASA digital photographs of Earth are downloaded by the public each month from this "Gateway" site);
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/AstronautPhotography

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 7:46am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude -- 339.1 km
Apogee height -- 339.5 km
Perigee height -- 338.6 km
Period -- 91.32 min.
Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.64 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0000612
Solar Beta Angle -- 26.6 deg (magnitude decreasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.77
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours -- 93 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) -- 51733

Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Standard, some changes possible. NET = Not Earlier Than):
12/06/07 -- STS-122/Atlantis/1E launch -- Columbus Module, ICC-Lite, ~4:31pm EST
12/08/07 -- STS-122/Atlantis/1E docking, ~1:15pm

• 12/09 -- EVA-1 (Walheim/Schlegel), ~11:28am, 6.5h
• 12/09 -- Columbus transfer & berthing @ Node-2, ~5:30pm
• 12/10 -- Columbus ingress, ~5:08pm
• 12/11 -- EVA-2 (Walheim/Schlegel), ~11:28am, 6.5h
• 12/13 -- EVA-3 (Walheim/Love), ~10:25am, 6.5h

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