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Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Cargo spacecraft undocks, orbits the ISS HOUSTON, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- A Progress 25 cargo spacecraft was orbiting the International Space Station Wednesday after undocking Tuesday evening, NASA said.

The undocking was in preparation for the arrival of a new Soyuz cargo ship, as well as space shuttle Discovery next month.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration controllers in Houston said Progress 25 will orbit a safe distance from the space station for a week, enabling Russian engineers to perform propulsion tests on the cargo craft before it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere and is incinerated over the Pacific Ocean.

On Thursday the Expedition 15 crew will enter the Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft, undock from the Zarya's Earth-facing port and relocate the ship to the Zvezda service module's aft port. On Oct. 12, Expedition 16 will arrive at the International Space Station in a Soyuz TMA-11 for a crew swap.

Study: Drug halts breast cancer bone loss PITTSBURGH, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists have found a drug designed to treat osteoporosis is also effective at preventing bone loss after breast cancer therapy.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine discovered breast cancer survivors taking a weekly dose of risedronate (Actonel) lost significantly less bone than did those who didn't take the drug.

Dr. Susan Greenspan and colleagues evaluated 87 women in the randomized, double-blind trial. All participants received calcium and vitamin D supplements, while half took 35 milligrams of risedronate once a week while the others received a placebo.

Ninety-seven percent of study participants had normal or low bone mass at enrollment.

"After 24 months, women in the placebo group had significant bone loss in the spine and hip that we didn't see in women taking risedronate," said Greenspan. "In fact, women taking risedronate had a bone density much higher in the spine and hip than women in the placebo group."

The study, which included researchers from the University of Kansas School of Medicine, was reported this week in Hawaii during the 29th annual meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

Purdue University to display moon rock WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Purdue University will soon be the home of a moon rock, thanks to the widow of U.S. astronaut and Purdue alumnus Roger Chaffee.

The sample, on long-term loan from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, will be presented to the university during halftime of the Purdue-Ohio State football game Saturday, Oct. 6, at Purdue's Ross-Ade Stadium.

Martha Chaffee, who was a student in Purdue's radio and television program during the 1950s, is acquiring the rock through NASA's Ambassadors of Exploration program. The NASA program allows each astronaut, or their survivors, from the Gemini, Apollo or Mercury programs to donate to an educational institution a piece of the 842 pounds of moon rocks and soil collected during six lunar missions.

The Purdue moon rock was collected during the 1972 Apollo 17 mission commanded by Eugene Cernan, a 1956 Purdue alumnus and the last astronaut to walk on the moon.

The sample, which weights approximately 2 grams, will be displayed in a special case in the university's Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering.

FDA OKs nasal flu vaccine for children WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved expanding the use of the nasal influenza vaccine FluMist to include children 2-5 years old.

The nasal spray vaccine, which contains a weakened form of the live virus, was previously limited to healthy children 5 years of age and older and to adults up to age 49.

"The goal of preventing influenza is now more attainable with the availability of FluMist for younger children," said Dr. Jesse Goodman, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. "This approval also offers parents and health professionals a needle-free option for squeamish toddlers who may be reluctant to get a traditional influenza shot."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends all children age 6 months to 59 months receive a vaccination to protect against influenza. But until now only two vaccines licensed in the U.S. have been available for children under the age of 5 -- Fluzone, indicated for people over 6 months of age -- and Fluvirin, available for use in children age 4 and older.

FluMist is manufactured by MedImmune Vaccines Inc. of Gaithersburg, Md.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International

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