NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 7 September 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.
This morning, Progress 18 undocked on schedule and performed nominal separation and deorbit burns for subsequent reentry over the Pacific Ocean. This freed the Service Module (SM) aft port for the docking of 19P on Saturday (9/10, ~10:50am EDT).
The crew monitored the undocking from the aft windows, and CDR Krikalev took Nikon D1X digital photographs of the docking assembly of the receding cargo ship through SM window #26 to verify that no rubber seals are missing and assess seal integrity.
The CDR also used the event for conducting a test of the Klest KL-154 television camera with video recording on the LIV experimental video complex (EVK) in the SM (which uses SECAM format). [The objective of the current TV tests is to assess the Russian segment (RS) real-time docking video quality and latency to TsUP/Moscow for Soyuz/Progress/ATV docking via USOS/ESA GS assets.]
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The crew began the two-day IFM (in-flight maintenance) work on the TVIS (treadmill with vibration isolation & stabilization), with 3h 20m allocated today for Part 1 of the job, assembly changeouts with six-month maintenance. [The new treadmill assembly receives new forward components (as opposed to aft & middle components), delivered on LF-1. Today s work focused on the disassembly and replacement of these new components. New parts installed today included: transfer case, flywheel case, motor box, SLDs (subject load devices), and electronic box. Several of the old ORU (orbit replaceable unit) boxes to be re-installed today are: gyroscope, VIS controller, forward stabilizers, closeout panels, and stabilizers. Tomorrow, the crew is scheduled to complete reassembly and routine six-month inspection, including lubricating components, checking for damage, cleaning screens and checking for loose fasteners. Once complete with the procedure, assuming no anomalies are encountered, John Phillips will perform an activation & checkout session with exercise, which includes an unmanned 10-minute speed characterization, followed by a video taped exercise session using the bungee eyebolt configuration and finally a non-exercising checkout of the new SLDs. The PCMCIA memory card data must then be downlinked for engineers to review prior to further exercise.]
The FE/SO began the longterm task of gathering and prepacking return equipment for Mission ULF1.1/STS-121, going by an uplinked early list of items. [The return cargo, organized largely in cargo transfer bags (CTBs), will include the TVIS components discarded in the current IFM, a JAXA camcorder, UCD (urine collection device) elements, etc.]
The CDR had several jobs on his time available task list at his discretion, led off by the post-EVA cleanup, deferred from 8/24, of the SM PkhO (Transfer Compartment) and DC1, to reconfigure them to their nominal pre-EVA condition.
A second item on Krikalev s task list was the regular status check on the BIO-5 Rasteniya-2 (“Plants-2”) payload, including filling its water canister for the Lada-7 greenhouse as required plus today also the data recording and periodic photo documentation of the germinated plants with subsequent transfer of data and images to the ground via Regul-Packet and the newer BSR-TM telemetry link.
Also working off the job jar list, Sergei continued the current session of the “Uragan” (hurricane) earth-imaging program, using the Nikon D1X digital camera with f800 mm lens. [From time to time a fire plume can be seen on Baikal Lake near Olkhon Island as a product of eruption from the bottom of the lake caused by enormous pressure of carbon material. This phenomenon can be identified from orbit only at night or at dusk. Taking into account the impact of petroleum products on Baikal Lake environment, it would be prudent to develop a procedure to photograph these plumes as indication of sources for contamination. Sergei’s task for today and coming opportunities is to locate Olkhon Island when ISS is passing over the southern part of Baikal Lake at dark or dusk with no visible clouds, and to find the brightest (possibly the only large) light spot of Khuzhir on the western shore of the island.]
Krikalev also performed the daily routine maintenance of the SM’s environment control & life support system (SOZh), including its toilet system (ASU), while John prepared the regular daily IMS delta /update file for automated export/import to the three IMS databases (MCC-H, TsUP, Baikonur).
Both crewmembers conducted their regular 2.5-hr. physical exercise program on the TVIS treadmill, 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, John transferred the exercise data files to the MEC for downlink, as well as the daily wristband HRM (heart rate monitor) data of the RED workouts, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium (done six times a week).
After the station went from sun-pointing XPOP (x-axis perpendicular to orbit plane) to earth-oriented LVLH (local vertical local horizontal) attitude last Friday (9/2), it was briefly moded to Russian attitude control today for 18P undock, then returned to LVLH on CMG control, again to bed briefly moded to RS thrusters for 19P docking. [After 9/17, attitude will again be XPOP, to be maintained until Soyuz 11S docking on 10/3, followed by return to LVLH.]
Update on Progress 354/19P: Launch of 19P is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 9:08 am EDT (backup opportunity: 9/10; 8:19:36am). Docking is set for Saturday, 9/10 at ~10:50am (backup: 9/12; 10:24am). [19P is manifested to deliver to the ISS the following cargo: 800 kg propellants; 110 kg gas (oxygen/air, thanks to 14 additional gas tanks installed by RSC-Energia externally for an extra delivery capability of 60 kg O2); 300 kg water; and 1230 kg dry cargo, comprising 139 Russian cargo items and 83 NASA items. Hard cargo includes SOZh/ECLSS gear such as a new Elektron-VM Liquid Unit (BZh-8), two SFOG firing cassettes plus 11 SFOG candles , three BRPK condensate separation & pumping units, four BKO purification column units, two Vozdukh spare BVK vacuum valve blocks plus one pressure sensor, SOP Food Supplies including 60 food ration containers plus two U.S. food containers, SPNDN Crew Equipment such as four new Penguin-3 suits, SPPZ Fire Protection Equipment including eight DS-7A smoke detectors, one new 800A storage battery, one U.S. CSA-CP (Compound-Specific Analyzer-Combustion Products) unit, a container bag with CHeCS and EHS (Crew Health Care Systems/Environmental Health Systems) equipment, two NASA IBM 760XD laptops, and much more.]
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 Lake Nasser, Toshka Lakes, Egypt (weather was clear over the Toshka Lakes for mapping of shorelines and vegetation. Monitoring of the establishment of shoreline vegetation will provide insights on the development of man-made hydrologic and ecological systems), St. Croix reefs, Virgin Islands (weather was predicted to be mostly clear over the Virgin Islands, although there was a chance for afternoon thunderstorms to develop. Overlapping mapping frames of the St. Croix reefs [and the two subsequent reef targets encountered along track] provide information on changes to reef morphology and ecosystem health), St. John reefs (see above), Virgin Islands (see above), St. Thomas reefs (see above), and Luquillo Forest, Puerto Rico (this nadir pass brought the ISS over eastern Puerto Rico and this Long-Term Ecological Research [LTER] site. Overlapping mapping frames along track are useful for mapping of vegetation type and extent in the experimental forest).
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, 7:41am EDT [= epoch]):
- Mean altitude — 351.4 km
- Apogee height — 352.5 km
- Perigee height — 350.3 km
- Period — 91.57 min.
- Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
- Eccentricity — 0.0001582
- Solar Beta Angle — 35.3 deg (magnitude decreasing)
- Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.73
- Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours — 120 m
- Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) 38847
Upcoming Events (all times EDT):
- 09/08/05 — Progress M-54/19P launch (~9:08am)
- 09/10/05 — Progress M-54/19P docking (~10:50am)
- 09/30/05 — Soyuz TMA-7/11S launch (~11:54pm)
- 10/03/05 — Soyuz TMA-7/11S docking (~1:20am)
- 10/11/05 — Soyuz TMA-6/10S landing (~9:06pm)
- 10/18/05 ISS Reboost
- 11/18/05 — Soyuz TMA-7/11S relocation (from DC-1 to FGB nadir port)
- 12/21/05 Progress M-55/20P launch
- 12/23/05 — Progress M-55/20P docking.
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.
