NASA Space On-Orbit Status 30 January 2005

SpaceRef note: This NASA Headquarters internal status report, as presented here, contains additional, original material produced by SpaceRef.com (copyright © 2004) to enhance access to related status reports and NASA activities.

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.   Sunday — second weekend rest day for the crew. Ahead:  Week 14 of Increment 10.

FE Salizhan Sharipov completed the weekly routine SOZh/ECLSS maintenance tasks of collecting toilet flush (SP) counter and water supply (SVO) readings in the Service Module for calldown to TsUP/Moscow.

The Science Officer was thanked for his great support of yesterday’s “Saturday Science” program, which consisted of CBOSS-FDI (Cellular Biotechnology Support Systems-Fluid Dynamics Investigation) Tissue Culture Module (TCM) and syringe bubble removal, supported by a teleconference with the PI and the NIH (National Institutes of Health) team.   [Both the NIH and the CBOSS teams were “very pleased” with the outcome and look forward to applying it to future CBOSS experiments.  The crew conference was “invaluable” to answering the ground’s questions.  The information provided much insight into a successful bubble removal technique for cell cultures.]

The crew performed their regular daily 2.5-hr. physical exercise program on TVIS, RED exerciser, CEVIS cycle and the VELO cycle with bungee cord load trainer.   [Salizhan’s daily protocol currently prescribes a four-day microcycle exercise with 1.5 hr on the TVIS set on the treadmill and one hour on VELO (today: Day 4 of a new set).]

The CDR afterwards transferred the daily TVIS and RED exercise data files to the MEC (medical equipment computer) for downlink, as well as the daily wristband HRM (heart rate monitor) data, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium.

Working off the voluntary Russian task list, Salizhan performed the regular daily inspection of the BIO-5 Rasteniya-2 (“Plants-2”) experiment, which researches growth and development of plants under spaceflight conditions in the Lada-5 greenhouse.

At ~2:20pm EST, the CDR is scheduled for his weekly PFC (private family conference), via S-band/video and Ku-band/NetMeeting video.

No CEO (crew earth observations) photo targets today.

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:

• http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov
• http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov
• http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/AstronautPhotography/

See also the website “Space Station Challenge” at:

• http://voyager.cet.edu/iss/

To view the latest photos taken by the expedition 10 crew visit:

• http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-10/ndxpage1.html at NASA’s Human Spaceflight website.

Expedition 10 Flight Crew Plans can be found at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/timelines/

Previous NASA ISS On-orbit Status Reports can be found here. Previous NASA Space Station Status Reports can be found here. Previous NASA Space Shuttle Processing Status Reports can be found here. A collection of all of these reports and other materials relating to Return to Flight for the Space Shuttle fleet can be found here.
Upcoming Key Events:

• Progress 16 (16P) undocking & destructive reentry — 2/27/05;
• Progress 17 (17P) launch — 2/28/05;
• EVA-13 — 3/25/05;
• Soyuz 10 (10S) launch — 4/15/05 with Expedition 11 (CDR Sergei Krikalev, FE/SO John Phillips);
• Soyuz 9 (9S) undock — 4/25/05 with Exp. 10 crew (after 193 days on orbit, 191 days on board ISS);
• Progress 18 (18P) launch — 6/10/05;
• Progress 19 (19P) launch — 8/24/05;
• Soyuz 11 (11S) launch — 9/27/05.

ISS Orbit  (as of this morning, 6:33am EST [= epoch]):

• Mean altitude — 357.6 km
• Apogee height — 364.1 km
• Perigee height — 351.2 km
• Period — 91.69 min.
• Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
• Eccentricity — 0.0009591
• Solar Beta Angle — -61.7 deg (magnitude increasing)
• Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.70
• Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours — 60 m
• Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 35403

ISS Altitude History

Apogee height — Mean Altitude — Perigee height

For more on ISS orbit and worldwide ISS naked-eye visibility dates/times, see http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/station/viewing/issvis.html. In addition, information on International Space Station sighting opportunities can be found at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/ on NASA’s Human Spaceflight website. The current location of the International Space Station can be found at http://science.nasa.gov/temp/StationLoc.html at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Additional satellite tracking resources can be found at http://www.spaceref.com/iss/tracking.html.