NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 23 February 2005

SpaceRef note: This NASA Headquarters internal status report, as presented here, contains additional, original material produced by SpaceRef.com (copyright © 2005) to enhance access to related status reports and NASA activities.

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. A light-duty day for the station crew because of today’s Russian holiday observance: “Defender of Motherland Day”, formerly known as “Soviet Army Day”, is popularly viewed as holiday for all men, closely followed by its female counter-part, Women’s Day, March 8).

In preparation for tomorrow’s SSRMS (Space Station Remote Manipulator System) ground control commissioning activities, CDR/SO Leroy Chiao hooked up the UOP DCP (utility outlet panel/display & control panel) bypass power cable at the Lab RWS (Robotics Work Station), to be used to support video camera coverage. He also briefly exercised a safing test on the Cupola RWS DCP, watched by specialists on the ground. [Objective of tomorrow’s & Friday’s Robotics activities is to exercise the new ground control capability of the telemanipulator arm, enabled by the MSS 3.1 software uplinked last month, and to demonstrate the ability of ground controllers to execute remotely unloaded free space maneuvers while managing all the communications and video constraints required for safe operation. Tomorrow, the ground will maneuver the SSRMS to a position halfway toward the MBS PDGF 3 (Mobile Base System/Power & Data Grapple Fixture #3), commanding one joint at a time, followed on Friday by placing the arm at the PDGF 3 pre-grapple position. For safety, Leroy Chiao will monitor all operations at the Lab RWS, ready to stop and safe the system via the DCP at any time.]

FE Salizhan Sharipov performed the routine daily inspection of the SOZh environment control & life support system in the Service Module (SM), including the regular maintenance of the ASU toilet facilities. [The flush counter (SP) of the toilet, which allows tracking of water usage, has stopped functioning. TsUP is investigating.]

Chiao filled out the regular weekly FFQ (food frequency questionnaire), his sixteenth, which keeps a log of his nutritional intake over time on special MEC (medical equipment computer) software. [The FFQ records amounts consumed during the past week of such food items as beverages, cereals, grains, eggs, breads, snacks, sweets, fruit, beans, soup, vegetables, dairy, fish, meat, chicken, sauces & spreads, and vitamins. IBMP (Institute of Biomedical Problems)-recommended average daily caloric value of the crew’s food intake is 2200-2300 cal. If larger quantities of juices and fruits are taken into account, the value can go to 2400-2500 cal.]

Working off the Russian discretionary task list, Salizhan completed the regular daily inspection of the Rasteniya/Lada-5 greenhouse equipment. [Rasteniya (“plants”)-2 studies growth and development of plants (peas) under spaceflight conditions in the Lada-5 greenhouse.]

The crew performed their regular daily 2.5-hr. physical exercise program on TVIS, RED exerciser, CEVIS cycle and 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 2 of a new set).]

Leroy then transferred the daily TVIS and RED exercise data files to the MEC for downlink, as well as the daily wristband HRM (heart rate monitor) data, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium.

Today’s CEO (crew earth observations) photo targets, limited in the current XPOP attitude by flight rule constraints on the use of the science window, which is available for only ~1/4 of each orbit when not facing forward (in ram), were Jet stream clouds, Central Africa (Dynamic Event. A striking band of jet stream clouds is currently located over the central Sahara Desert. The low light conditions and the oblique viewing attitude from ISS should have highlighted circulation features within the cloud band. This information is of interest to atmospheric modelers and meteorologists. Looking for a narrow swath of cloud trending southwest-northeast from Cape Verde to the northern Red Sea), and Internal waves, Patagonian Shelf (a rapid clearing trend presents an opportunity to capture internal waves on the Patagonian Shelf. Looking to the left of track along the coastline for the sunglint point and internal wave patterns).

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 M-51 (16P) undocking — 2/27 (11:08am EST);
• Progress M-52 (17P) launch — 2/28 (2:09pm EST);
• Progress M-52 (17P) docking — 3/2 (3:15pm EST);
• EVA-13 — 3/25;
• Soyuz TMA-6 (10S) launch — 4/15 with Expedition 11 (CDR Sergei Krikalev, FE/SO John Phillips);
• Soyuz TMA-5 (9S) undocking — 4/25 with Exp. 10 crew (after 193 days on orbit, 191 days on board ISS);
• LF1 (STS-114) — NET 5/12;
• Progress M-53 (18P) launch — 6/10;
• ULF1.1 (STS-121) — NET 7/10;
• Progress M-54 (19P) launch — 8/24;
• Soyuz TMA-7 (11S) launch — 9/27.

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 6:50 EST [= epoch]):

• Mean altitude — 358.3 km
• Apogee height — 361.1 km
• Perigee height — 355.5 km
• Period — 91.71 min.
• Inclination (to Equator) — 51.65 deg
• Eccentricity — 0.0004154
• Solar Beta Angle — 18.7 deg (magnitude increasing)
• Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.70
• Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours — 120 m
• Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 35780

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.