The International Space Station's Expedition 19 crew worked with experiments and finished loading the ISS Progress 32 spacecraft Monday.

Commander Gennady Padalka spent time copying data from the EXPOSE-R experiment package. EXPOSE-R is mounted to the station's exterior and contains experiments that are designed to expose material samples to the extreme ultraviolet radiation of space.

Flight Engineer Michael Barratt checked out the camera used in the Binodal Colloidal Aggregation Test - 4. In this experiment, also known as BCAT-4, station crew members photograph samples of polymer and colloidal particles as they change from liquids to gases, to model that phase change. The results will help scientists develop fundamental physics concepts previously cloaked by the effects of gravity.

With all the talk about how the crew should turn on the gear and the amount of tax dollars everyone claims to have invested in the equipment, I would like to propose someone in authority contact the sun and have the solar cycle switched on! Mankind must surely have a lot invested in that too!
I enjoy the hobby for the technical aspects as well as the lack of predictability when it comes to contacts. Waiting and watching for activity on the birds only adds to the thrill of the hunt!
While I have not had a contact through, or to, the ISS , I still strive to do it when it is active. In the meantime, I have a life and will continue to live it.