NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 27 October 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.
The crew’s workday today was largely taken up with the spacewalk/EVA dry run, beginning at ~4:15am EDT with EMU (extravehicular mobility unit) donning and Airlock preparations. After both tasks were successfully completed, McArthur and Tokarev performed EMU purging (to eliminate cabin air from the suit prior to in-suit prebreathe with O2), simulated EMU prebreathing (normally four hours) and subsequent Airlock/Crewlock depressurization and repressurization. The dry run concluded with the successful demonstration of self-doffing of the spacesuits, without IV (intravehicular) crewmember help. Ground teams are still evaluating the downlinked doffing video, but the dry run was entirely successful.
Post-dry run activities consisted of Airlock cleanup ops, EMU removal and maintenance (powering down, drying, seal wiping, stowing), and an EVA training debrief with ground specialists via S-band/audio at ~11:15am EDT, discussing crew impressions, questions and open issues.
Russian specialists have requested the use of two Russian “Pille” radiation dosimeters to be carried on FE Tokarev’s U.S. EMU (as they usually are included in Orlan suits during Russian spacewalks).
At ~1:20pm EDT, the crew downlinked a video message of greetings and gratitude to TsUP/Moscow, the Russian Mission Control Center, on the occasion of its 45th Anniversary. [“MCC in Korolev near Moscow is well-known throughout the world and enjoys deserved respect not just among space experts but in the general public on a global scale as well… It is hard to name a country whose representatives have not visited TsUP at least once…. Because of you and your support we can live and work here in space with peace of mind…”]
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With another session of the weekly NOA (Nitric Oxide Analyzer) test coming up tomorrow, Bill and Valery were asked to exclude food items containing nitrites and nitrates (such as in processed meat, assorted vegetables, stewed cabbage, etc.) from their breakfast, lunch and dinner menu for 24 hours before the experiment, to avoid skewing its measurements. [Purpose of the new ESA VC9 payload ESANO1, consisting of the “Platon” analyzer and its power supply, is to monitor crew-expired nitric oxide (NO) to detect signs of airway inflammation and indications of venous gas emboli (bubbles) that may be caused by inhalation of pollutants on the ISS and increased risk of decompression sickness. The experiment sessions are being conducted once a week, with two NO measurements in the exhaled air (after mouth-rinsing with Rodnik water) taken in each session through a bacterial filter. The elimination of these food items from the menu once a week has no impact on food ration balance.]
Overnight the ground uplinked an updated list of 24 “yellow tag” items, including their constraints on on-board usage, for a review by the crew. Before a yellow-tagged item can be used, the ground needs to be consulted. [Yellow tags, more formally called “uncertified dual ops tags”, are used to identify items not certified for ISS Operations (certification and/or paperwork not complete prior to launch); items which have IP (International Partner) segment-specific certification (can be used in one IP segment but should not be used in anther IP segment); items that could pose a safety hazard; and items that are broken or expired. Blank yellow tags are flown so hardware can be tagged on-orbit as necessary.]
Due to the failure of the Russian PAKET laptop (an IBM ThinkPad ED), the loan of an IBM 760XD laptop and hard drive was requested from the U.S. side for use in the Russian segment until a new generation laptop is delivered onboard (around May 2006).
Last night’s reboost test on four Progress 19 thrusters of backup manifold #2 went nominally, without issues. The 114-sec burn generated ~0.25 m/s delta-V, with an altitude gain of about 400 m. [A test of the four thrusters of manifold #1, which caused the reboost abort on 10/18 is under consideration. The date for the reboost to set up proper orbit phasing for Progress 20 launch is TBD. Station attitude remains in XPOP (x-axis perpendicular to orbit plane) until 11/6, when it will change to LVLH XVV (local vertical local horizontal/x-axis in velocity vector) for the EVA next day.]
The Elektron continues to run in 24A mode on the back-up pump. RSC-Energia/TsUP is planning to conduct troubleshooting on the primary pump on Saturday (10/29).
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 Internal waves, Northern Patagonian Shelf (looking to the left of track for internal wave patterns in embayments along the South American coastline. The sunglint point was to the left and close to shore), and Internal waves, Northern New Zealand(weather was predicted to clear over North Island for internal wave photography. Looking to the left of track for the sunglint point; overlapping frames are desired to link oceanic patterns to a geographic feature [i.e.North Island]).
To date, over 177,000 of CEO images have been taken in the first five years of the ISS.
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 12 crew visit:
- http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-12/ndxpage1.html at NASA’s Human Spaceflight website.
Expedition 12 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, 3:24am EDT [= epoch]):
- Mean altitude — 346.6 km
- Apogee height — 347.6 km
- Perigee height — 345.7 km
- Period — 91.47 min.
- Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
- Eccentricity — 0.0001225
- Solar Beta Angle — 38.6 deg (magnitude peaking)
- Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.74
- Mean altitude gain in last 24 hours — 250 m
- Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 39647
Upcoming Events (all dates Eastern):
- 10/28/05 — EVA-4 Delta-SORR @ JSC (Stage Operations Readiness Review)
- 11/02/05 – 5th Anniversary of permanent ISS occupancy
- 11/07/05 — EVA-4 (U.S.; hatch open ~9:30am; hatch closing ~3pm EDT)
- 11/18/05 — Soyuz TMA-7/11S relocation (from DC-1 to FGB nadir port)
- 12/20/05 — Progress M-54/19P undocking & reentry
- 12/21/05 — Progress M-55/20P launch
- 12/23/05 — Progress M-55/20P docking
- 01/09/06 — 100 days for Expedition 12.
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.
