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Nasa Astronaut Ed Lu To Celebrate Birthday At Iss

Posted on: Tuesday, 1 July 2003, 06:00 CDT

MOSCOW. July 1 (Interfax) - NASA astronaut Edward Lu will celebrate his 40th birthday together with his Russian colleague Yuri Malenchenko onboard the International Space Station on Tuesday evening.

"There will be no alcoholic drinks on the ISS crew's table," chief of the cosmonaut food department of the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems Alexander Agureyev told Interfax.

"Alcohol is prohibited, which everyone fights, especially the Americans. The ban on alcohol is not just a whim of medical workers but a necessity, because alcohol oxygenation products lower the service life of water filters," Agureyev said, adding that no exceptions are made even on holidays.

The birthday meal on the ISS will be made by the crew members themselves, Agureyev said. "It will probably be a regular supper. As a rule, there is nothing specific on space menus," he said.

Chief of the Institute's psychological support service Olga Kozyrenko told Interfax that Malenchenko gave a so-called commander's watch to his American colleague.

Valery Lyndin, spokesman for the space mission control center, said that "after the birthday supper, which will take place at 11:30 p.m. Moscow time, Edward's fiancee Christine Romero will wish him a happy birthday."

"A lot of people have already greeted the astronaut on his 40th birthday, including NASA personnel and the Russian mission control center. At midnight Moscow time, he is scheduled to have a live link with his fiancee," Lyndin said.

Meanwhile, NASA has officially declared July 1 Hawaiin shirt day, as Lu was born and lives in Hawaii.

A NASA spokesman in Moscow said that even the staff of NASA's Moscow office are wearing Hawaiin shirts on Tuesday, despite the rainy weather.

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