NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 4 May 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.
CDR Sergei Krikalev took his first session with the cardiological experiment PZEh MO-1 (Study of the Bioelectric Activity of the Heart at Rest), with Phillips assisting as CMO. [During the 30-min. test, the crew tagged up with ground specialists on a Russian ground site (RGS) pass on Daily Orbit 15 (~11:21am EST) via VHF and downlinked data from the Gamma-1M ECG (electrocardiograph) for about 5-6 minutes.]
This was the second day for the current renal (kidney) stone experiment session, the first for Expedition 11, with John and Sergei starting collecting urine samples throughout the day and keeping their dietary/metabolic log entries up to date. [Part of the study, long preceding the sampling, is the regular daily random ingestion by the subjects of either potassium citrate or placebo tablets at dinnertime, whose effects on kidney stone prevention over time in zero-G the sample analyses are intended to investigate.]
Spending an hour on the Service Module (SM) ventilation system, the CDR replaced its four dust collector filters (PF1-4) and discarded the old units. [Last time done: 2/19, except for 4/23, when Sharipov removed one of the PF cartridges (“the most contaminated one”) in support of a cabin dust analysis by TsUP/Moscow, installing a new one in its place.]
Working on the HRF (Human Research Facility) rack, John conducted another checkout of the MedOps cardiac defibrillator. (Last time done: 4/5). [This periodic routine task is scheduled as soon as possible from Expedition start and every 60 days thereafter. For the checkout, the defib is connected to the 120V outlet, equipped with its battery (currently #1010) and then allowed to charge, for about five seconds, to a preset energy level (e.g., 100 joules). After the button-triggered discharge, a console indicator signals success or failure of the test. The pacing signal is downlinked via S-band for 2 min. The HRF is powered down afterwards.]
Krikalev completed the daily routine maintenance of the SM’s SOZh environment control & life support system, including its ASU toilet system.
Both crewmembers spent several hours with prepacking activities in preparation for LF-1/STS-114 return. [This continuing activity is supported by helpful Pre-pack Messages from the ground specialists, whose message #8 was uplinked last night.]
The crew conducted their regular daily 2.5-hr. physical exercise program on the TVIS treadmill, RED resistive exerciser and VELO ergometer cycle with bungee cord force loader (NS-1). [For the TVIS exercise, they are using the SLDs (subject loading devices) for holding the subject down. Krikalev also has a newly delivered training-loading suit (TNK-U-1), to create vertical loads (during the ease-off period of the first month of exercise, at least 52 kg load is recommended). As was the case for Sharipov, Sergei s daily protocol prescribes a four-day microcycle exercise with 1.5 hr on the treadmill and one hour on VELO plus load trainer (today: Day 2 of a new set). Use of the NS-1 is constrained by load limits on the ISS structure.]
The FE then 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.
The crew again had one hour each set aside on today s schedule for adaptation and ISS familiarization, to help in getting used to their new surroundings and activities. [This free activity session has become a valuable standard requirement for new station occupants for the first two weeks.]
The crew performed another O2 repress from the 17P tanks increasing the ppO2 by 7 mmHg (roughly equivalent to 4.3 kg).
At ~3:45am EDT, FE Phillips set up the SM s amateur radio equipment and conducted a ham radio exchange with students at Albany Hills State School in Brisbane, Australia. [Albany Hills State School in the Pine Rivers Shire near Brisbane, Queensland, opened in 1979. It now has about 960 students from Preschool to Year 7. Astronomy and other space sciences are part of the school s science program and are very popular with students.]
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During biomed file transfers for downlinking CHeCS (Crew Health Care Systems) data yesterday, the primary payload computer (PL-1 MDM, Multiplexer/Demultiplexer) stopped transmitting data via Ku-band. The error was related to the MDM interface to the fiber optic network. MCC-H switched to PL-2 MDM to resume payload operations while troubleshooting PL-1. After diagnostics and data recovery, it will be powered off, with PL-2 continuing as prime.
Throughout the day, but limited to RGS (Russian ground sites) and not requiring crew involvement, TsUP/Moscow continued testing both the downlink functionality of the BSR-TM Regul interface unit and the ASN-M satellite navigation system. [The BSR-TM telemetry system is part of the Russian radio control & communications system and a crucial component of the upcoming experiments with the ROKVISS robotics experiment). The ASN, which uses GLONASS satellites (the Russian GPS equivalent), is required for ATV (automated transfer vehicle) rendezvous & approach ops next year.]
Later this year, according to a just formalized bilateral agreement between Europe (ESA) and Russia (Roskosmos), Astronaut Thomas Reiter will become the first European long-duration crewmember on the ISS. [Reiter, from Germany, joins the Expedition 11 crew with Shuttle Mission STS-121/ULF1.1 (the one after STS-114/LF-1) and stay on until his return in 2006 with STS-116/12A.1, taking the place of the originally planned Russian Cosmonaut (Tokarev). It will be Reiter’s second long-duration mission aboard a space station, following his six-month stay on the Russian Mir during ESA s Euromir mission in 1995.]
Today’s CEO (crew earth observations) photo targets, in the current LVLH attitude no longer limited by flight rule constraints on the use of the Lab nadir/science window, were Patagonian Glaciers (there were two passes over this target area today. Weather and lighting remained less than ideal. Long lens views are usually too dark under such conditions so the crew was to continue with the 180mm lens for now. Clouds were likely present, but less widespread over the eastern flank of the Southern Patagonian Ice field. The crew was to try for near nadir views of the visible glaciers here, especially the ones further south).
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:
To view the latest photos taken by the expedition 11 crew visit:
- http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-11/ndxpage1.html at NASA’s Human Spaceflight website.
Expedition 11 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.
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ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 10:03am EDT [= epoch]):
- Mean altitude — 353.9 km
- Apogee height — 359.3 km
- Perigee height — 348.5 km
- Period — 91.62 min.
- Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
- Eccentricity — 0.0008011
- Solar Beta Angle — 67.2 deg (magnitude decreasing, peaked yesterday)
- Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.72
- Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours — 70 m
- Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 36882
Some Increment 11 Main Events:
- ISS Reboost — 5/11 (to adjust phasing for 18P, 19P, and LF-1);
- Progress M-52 (17P) undock — 6/16;
- Progress M-53 (18P) launch — 6/17;
- Progress M-53 (18P) undock — 8/23;
- Progress M-54 (19P) launch — 8/24;
- Soyuz TMA-7 (11S) launch — 9/27;
- Soyuz TMA-6 (10S) return — 10/7.
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.
