NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 28 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.

Saturday — off-duty day for Sergei Krikalev and John Phillips, except for some housekeeping and voluntary work

The crew performed the regular weekly 3-hr task of thorough station cleaning, wearing protective garment. [“Uborka”, done every Saturday, includes removal of food waste products, cleaning of compartments with vacuum cleaner, damp cleaning of the Service Module (SM) dining table, other surfaces and the CDR’s sleep station with “Fungistat” disinfectant and cleaning fan screens to avoid temperature rises.]

Later, the CDR did the daily routine maintenance of the Service Module (SM)’s SOZh environment control & life support system, including its ASU toilet system.

The FE/SO took the periodic (weekly) reading of the cabin air’s current CO2 partial pressure in the SM and Lab, using the U.S. CDMK (CO2 monitor kit), for calldown (along with the battery status) for use in trending analyses.

John also completed the regular weekly maintenance reboot on all operational PCS (portable computer system) laptops.

At ~7:10am, the crew held their weekly teleconference with ISS Program Management at JSC/Houston via S-band/audio.

At ~9:40am, Sergei and John engaged in the regular weekly planning conference (WPC) with the ground, discussing next week’s “Look-Ahead Plan” (prepared jointly by MCC-H and TsUP/Moscow timeline planners), via S-band/audio, reviewing upcoming activities and any concerns about future on-orbit events.

Later, at ~11:10am, FE Phillips had a PFC (private family conference) via S-band/audio.

Both crewmembers conducted their regular 2.5-hr. physical exercise program on the CEVIS cycle ergometer (John), TVIS treadmill (Sergei), RED resistive machine and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer. [Sergei’s daily protocol prescribes a strict four-day microcycle exercise with 1.5 hr on the treadmill and one hour on VELO plus load trainer (today: Day 1 of a new set).]

Afterwards, the FE transferred the TVIS and RED exercise data files to the MEC for downlink, as well as the daily wristband HRM (heart rate monitor) data of workouts on RED, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium. [The HRM erasure is done six times a week.]

John was thanked by investigators for his comments and suggestions during yesterday’s ADUM (Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Micro-G) session analysis. [“Your inputs will translate into better performance in future ultrasound activities, both in research and clinical space medicine.]

Working off his voluntary “job jar” task list, Sergei also conducted another session with the “Uragan” (hurricane) earth-imaging program, focusing the Nikon D1X No. 3 digital camera with 800-mm lens on targets called out on an uplinked list. [Targets for today included Tuapse-Kurinskaya road, mapping imagery of the Stavropol Territory agricultural lands, the Berovskie Hills near the city of Astrakhan, the Volga delta, the cities of Taganrog and Rostov-on-Don, mapping imagery of Rostov Territory agricultural lands, a strip along Dagestan coastline to Apsheron where oilfield pollutants are transferred from Terek River, etc.].

Also from his task list, the CDR worked on the ISS “Wiener” laptop, downlinking ROKVISS housekeeping data (hardware & experiment status) from the Russian payload server (BSPN).

As a third “job jar” item, Krikalev performed his second session with the biomedical MBI-9 “Pulse” experiment, preceded by setting up the equipment. [Execution of the medical cardiological assessment is controlled from the Russian payload laptop, using a set respiration rate (without forced or deep breaths) and synchronizing respiration with computer-commanded “inhale” commands. First, arterial blood pressure is measured with the “Tensoplus” sphygmomanometer, followed by the “Pulse” test to record the ECG (electrocardiogram) and a report to TsUP in the next comm pass.]

Weekly Science Update (Expedition Eleven — 5th):

Human Research Facility/Gas Analyzer System for Metabolic Analysis Physiology (HRF GASMAP): Nothing new.

Human Research Facility/Workstation (HRF WS): Continuing.

Advanced Ultrasound (ADUM): The ADUM team is “very pleased” with all the activities this week. The Scan A completed by the crew was the last one required for the experiment’s “subject count”, but the team hopes to be able to work with the crew again during the increment.

Renal Stone (RS): In progress.

Foot/Ground Reaction Forces during Space Flight (FOOT): Nothing new.

Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS): The SAMS team sent up their thanks to the crew for helping with ICU (Interface Control Unit) reboots. Currently, SAMS is nominal and receiving acceleration data.

Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS): MAMS remains in nominal operations.

Protein Crystal Growth-Single Locker Thermal Enclosure System (PCG-STES): PCG-STES is performing nominally.

Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3 (BCAT-3): BCAT-3 Slow Growth Sample Module will be left undisturbed in its current location by the E11 crew. In order for the samples to potentially grow crystals that can be photographed during Increment 12 operations, the Sample Module must be left undisturbed.

Materials ISS Experiment (MISSE): In progress. Deployed outside on the U.S. Airlock. Nominal and collecting data. To be exchanged during LF-1.

Dust and Aerosol Measurement Feasibility Test (DAFT): Nothing new.

Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM): Nothing new. Will be back in July.

Serial Network Flow Monitor (SNFM): Completed.

Fluid Merging Viscosity Measurement (FMVM): The ground team has received John’s feedback on its experiment and appreciates his comments and insight. “We look forward to viewing our tapes”.

Space Experiment Module (SEM): Nothing new. Experimenters and kids are working to get the next two satchels on ULF1.1.

Miscible Fluids in Microgravity (MFMG): Nothing new. Rolled over to Increment 11.

Educational Payload Operations (EPO): in progress.

Crew Earth Observations (CEO): As of 5/24, a total of 1661 CEO images have been downlinked and received by CEO researchers. Kudos went up to the crew for the excellent Stardust landing site photos acquired on 5/21. “These will be extremely helpful in planning future sessions with the long lens. The CEO sessions on 5/24 of Central Arizona-Phoenix and the short-grass steppe are still being studied.

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 Caracas, Venezuela (this morning pass should have been prior to the onset of the usual daytime cloudiness typical of this part of the world. As ISS approached from the SW, the crew was to shoot the Venezuelan capital slightly right of track in a valley just inland from the coast), Berlin, Germany (there was a particularly nice break in the weather for the Northern European Plain this pass. Looking just left of track to map in detail the extent of the urban area in the German capital city), and Andrews Forest, Washington (a fine, fair weather pattern has established itself over the Pacific Northwest. ISS had a midday pass near the center of this LTER [Long Term Environmental Research, see 5/14 Status report] site target area. Trying for a long /lens, nadir mapping swath).

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 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.

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 7:29am EDT [= epoch]):

• Mean altitude — 352.7 km
• Apogee height — 356.4 km
• Perigee height — 349.0 km
• Period — 91.59 min.
• Inclination (to Equator) — 51.65 deg
• Eccentricity — 0.0005452
• Solar Beta Angle — -24.6 deg (magnitude increasing)
• Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.72
• Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours — 70 m
• Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 37258

Some Increment 11 Main Events (not final):

• Progress M-52 (17P) undock — 6/16;
• Progress M-53 (18P) launch — 6/17 (dock 6/19);
• Reboost — ~6/22 (delta-V 1.5 m/s);
• LF-1/STS-114 launch — 7/13 (8-day window opens);
• Soyuz TMA-6 (10S) relocate (from DC-1 to FGB) — ~8/16;
• ULF1.1/STS-121 launch — NET 9/9 (8-day window opens);
• 12A/STS-115 launch — NET 2/16/06;
• 12A.1/STS-116 launch — NET 4/23/06;
• 13A/STS-117 launch — NET 5/18/06.

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.