NASA Space Station Status Report 17 September 2004
Almost two weeks of troubleshooting is paying off for the
two Expedition 9 crewmembers. Today they restarted the
International Space Station’s primary oxygen generating unit.
Work with the Elektron, a device that recycles wastewater into
oxygen, was one of several maintenance activities completed by
Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA Station Science Officer Mike
Fincke this week.
With guidance from Russian ground controllers, Padalka replaced
the Elektron’s liquid unit today with one he had refurbished
last week using spare components. The Elektron is operating
without a gas analyzer that was removed during troubleshooting.
The absence of the gas analyzer does not affect the Elektron’s
ability to generate oxygen, although it may mean the crew will
be required to closely monitor the unit’s operations. Ground
controllers requested the Elektron be turned off before the
crew goes to sleep tonight to allow data gathered during its
operations to be evaluated.
The crew flushed and cleaned several of the Elektron’s lines
earlier in the week, as well as cleaning a mounting plate and
removing the gas analyzer.
While the Elektron was off, the Station atmosphere was
repressurized Wednesday using oxygen from the Progress supply
spacecraft docked to the orbiting laboratory. The Station has a
supply of oxygen available in its own tanks, the Progress tanks
and oxygen-generating candles that could be used for many
months if necessary. The Elektron first began experiencing
intermittent problems Sept. 8.
Meanwhile, Fincke replaced a flex hose used to vent an area
between panes of the window in the U.S. Destiny Lab. After
depressurizing the window’s inner panes, he replaced the hose
and installed a protective cover. The previous hose had been
damaged and allowed air to leak into the area.
Fincke also used a camcorder to survey all external U.S.
hardware visible from the Station windows. The video was down
linked for engineers to assess the hardware’s condition.
This week, the crewmembers began preparations for their trip
home next month. They tested the UHF and VHF communication
systems of the Soyuz spacecraft that will carry them back to
Earth. The communication checks were done with NASA ground
stations at the White Sands Test Facility, N.M.; NASA’s Dryden
Flight Research Center, Calif.; and NASA’s Wallops Flight
Facility, Va. This will allow NASA sites to supplement primary
Russian ground communications facilities.
Science activities for the crew this week included work with
the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity experiment.
Assisted by experts on the ground, they conducted body scans
with the equipment to practice the procedures. They also
continued providing information for the Interactions
investigation, a computer-based survey that helps investigators
study the interpersonal relations between crewmembers and
ground control teams during long spaceflights.
From their altitude of more than 220 miles, Fincke captured
spectacular views of Hurricane Ivan, as it traversed the
Caribbean and made landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Those
images are available on the Web at:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-9/ndxpage46.html
Information about crew activities on the Space Station, future
launch dates and Station sighting opportunities from Earth, is
available on the Internet at:
Details about Station science operations are available on the
Marshall Space Flight Center, Payload Operations Center,
Huntsville, Ala. Web site at:
Information about NASA is available on the Internet, at:
