The altitude of the International Space Station was raised early Friday morning after the docked Progress 38 vehicle fired its thrusters for nearly 18 minutes. The reboost places the station at an altitude to support the departure of the Expedition 24 crew in September and the arrival of the Expedition 25 crew in October.

The first Expedition 24 spacewalk will begin on Monday, July 26. Russian flight engineers Mikhail Kornienko and Fyodor Yurchikhin will exit the International Space Station's Pirs docking compartment and prepare the Rassvet module for automated spacecraft dockings. The cosmonauts will install a Kurs automated rendezvous system on Rassvet allowing unmanned Russian vehicles, such as Progress resupply craft, to dock at that port.

NASA TV will broadcast a spacewalk briefing in high-definition for the first time on Wednesday, July 21 at 3 p.m. EDT.

› Read more about the Russian spacewalk at http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jul/M10-100_Russian_EVA.html

Flight Engineer Doug Wheelock conducted a ham radio session with students in Canada. The session was part of Guiding Mosaic 2010 which is an international Girl Guide/Girl Scout event that focuses on girls exploring work in various fields of interest. Wheelock also worked to replace sensors in the Oxygen Generation System and assisted Commander Alexander Skvortsov with cargo transfers from the docked Progress 38 resupply craft.

Flight Engineers Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Shannon Walker continued an experiment measuring a crew member's heart performance during and after a long duration space flight mission. The Integrated Cardiovascular experiment uses the Human Research Facility's ultrasound scanner and actiwatches. The actiwatch is attached to a crew member's ankle and waist. Measurements are taken several times throughout a mission as a crew member exercises and rests with the data downlinked to researchers on the ground. After landing a crew member participates in several Magnetic Resonance Imaging tests so scientists can see any cardiac atrophy or diastolic dysfunction that may have occurred.

Researchers can learn more about opportunities to develop and fly science experiments on the International Space Station (ISS) at the NASA ISS Research Academy Aug. 3-5 in League City, Texas.

› More Information / How to Register at http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/468281main_NASA_ISS_Research_Academy_info_v07121...