NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 10 December 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 Bill McArthur & Valery Tokarev, except for housekeeping and voluntary work.
The crew completed the regular weekly three-hour task of thorough station cleaning, wearing protective garment. [“Uborka”, normally 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 FE’s sleep station with “Fungistat” disinfectant and cleaning fan screens to avoid temperature rises.]
FE Tokarev also performed the daily routine maintenance of the SM’s environment control & life support system (SOZh), including its toilet system (ASU).
Both crewmembers completed their regular 2.5-hr. physical exercise program on the TVIS treadmill, RED resistive exerciser and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer. [Valery’s daily protocol prescribes a strict four-day microcycle exercise with 1.5 hr on the treadmill in unmotorized mode and one hour on VELO plus load trainer (today: Day 1 of the first set).]
Afterwards McArthur transferred the 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 from the workouts, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium (done six times a week)
FE Valery Tokarev worked on processing condensate water (KAV) for the Elektron oxygen generator (currently still off), using the electric condensate pumping unit (BPK) of the Russian water processing system (SRV-K2) behind SM wall panels and US-collected water in CWC (collapsible water container) #1027.
At ~9:15am EST, the crew held their regular weekly planning conference (WPC) with the ground, discussing this week’s “Look-Ahead Plan” (prepared jointly by MCC-H and TsUP/Moscow timeliners), via S-band/audio, reviewing upcoming activities and any concerns about future on-orbit events.
The CDR was informed that his major IFM (In-Flight Maintenance) yesterday to remove and replace the AAA (Avionics Air Assembly) air conditioner fan of the CHeCS (Crew Health Care Systems) rack was entirely successful. MCC-H afterwards activated the AAA and determined that full functionality was restored. [The AAA is turned off for the weekend and will be ready for the VOA (Volatile Organics Analyzer) activation on Monday (12/12).]
The crew also received kudos for yesterday’s fire drill/OBT (on-board training), a mandatory periodic one-hour exercise specifically written for the current two-person crew. [Before the drill, McArthur moved one (of two) hand-held microphone nominally used in the Lab and plugged it into the Airlock, with the observation that in a real fire situation it would be unsafe for a crewmember to have to cross a potential fire source in the Lab to communicate with the ground. Therefore, a third microphone should be delivered to ISS and left installed in the Airlock. Ground to crew: “You clearly proved how well trained and knowledgeable you both are for more than just daily activity. Keep up the great work.”]
At ~4:25pm EST, ISS attitude control authority was handed over to the Russian MCS (Motion Control System) for using its thrusters to maneuver the station from XPOP (x-axis perpendicular to orbit plane) to LVLH XVV (local vertical local horizontal/x-axis in velocity vector) at 4:41pm. Control will be returned to U.S. CMG (Control Moment Gyros) Momentum Manager at ~5:04pm.
Weekly Science Update (Expedition Twelve — 9th)
Human Research Facility/Gas Analyzer System for Metabolic Analysis Physiology (HRF GASMAP): Continuing.
Human Research Facility/Workstation (HRF WS): Continuing.
Human Research Facility/Refrigerated Centrifuge (RC): Continuing.
Pulmonary Function System (PFS): Continuing.
Advanced Ultrasound (ADUM): Continuing.
Renal Stone (RS): Continuing.
Foot/Ground Reaction Forces during Space Flight (FOOT): Complete for this Increment.
Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS): SAMS is powered off.
Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS): MAMS is powered off.
Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3 (BCAT-3): Continuing.
Materials ISS Experiment (MISSE): In progress. New MISSE-5 “suitcase” deployed and unfolded during EVA outside on the U.S. Airlock.
Dust and Aerosol Measurement Feasibility Test (DAFT): Nothing new.
Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM): Planned for February.
Serial Network Flow Monitor (SNFM): Complete.
Fluid Merging Viscosity Measurement (FMVM): Nothing new.
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): MFMG payload operations are finished.
Educational Payload Operations (EPO): The Science Officer was thanked for his EPO activity last week, dealing with a Solar Panel Demonstration: “It will be a great asset to a variety of educators. The shots of the Russian battery and ‘extension cord’ were wonderful. We look forward to the EPO activity next week.”
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Shuttle |
Crew Earth Observations (CEO): Through 12/3, the ground has received a total of 4,489 CEO images for review and cataloging. The quality of the crew’sr imagery is excellent. “Please continue practicing with your long lens views with the doubler. We are continuing to see improvement here and we are looking forward to more opportunities for use on our targets when you return to LVLH attitude next week.” A beautiful shot from a good mapping pass of Salar de Uyuni in the Bolivian Altiplano will be published on NASA’s Earth Observatory website this weekend.
Reconditioning activity on the P6 EPS (Electrical Power System) Battery Set 2B3 continues. [Reconditioning will end tomorrow (12/11). PPLs (Pre-Positioned Loads) will then be prepared based on reconditioning results and uplinked to the computers on 12/16. A capacity test on 12/22 will conclude the activities. Nickel hydrogen batteries can develop and display “memory loss” resulting in a temporary loss of capacity that should be periodically erased by cycling all material via fully discharging and charging cells (“reconditioning”).]
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ISS Location NOW |
Today’s CEO (Crew Earth Observation) photo targets, limited in the current XPOP attitude by flight rule constraints on the use of the Lab nadir/science window, which is available for only ~1/4 of each orbit when not facing forward (“in ram”), were Muglad fans, SE Sudan (a mapping pass to document megafan apexes was requested. The apexes, visible obliquely right, lie along a linear break [edge of an ancient rift] between the backing highland and the river-formed megafan landscapes in the foreground. The relatively recent use of 400 mm lenses on handheld cameras for Earth Obs, means that detailed images are not available. Landsat enhanced imagery shows vegetation patterns well, but ISS/CEO true-color imagery is necessary for a full understanding of the topography), Mt. Kilimanjaro, Kenya (shooting half right for this volcanic peak, with its diminishing ice cap, which should have appeared above the general popcorn cumulus cloud level), and Reunion volcano, Indian Ocean (looking half left for Reunion Island [Mauritius was the nearer of the major islands in view] for detail of the week-old lava streams and possible smoke from Piton de la Fournaise volcano).
Some CEO Imagery Results: Detailed imagery with the 800mm lens shows near perfect technique. Ground specialists refer specifically to sequences of high-contrast, recognizable features along Buffalo Bayou, including the battleship Texas and San Jacinto Monument, and another Rhine River meanders near Heidelberg in central Germany. North and South American targets are non-starters today due to failing light or widespread swing-season cloud cover, or both.
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.
Upcoming Events (all dates Eastern):
- 12/20/05?? — Progress M-54/19P undocking & reentry (baseline date under review)
- 12/21/05 — Progress M-55/20P launch
- 12/23/05 — Progress M-55/20P docking
- 01/09/06 — 100 days for Expedition 12
- 02/02/06 — Russian EVA-15
- 03/22/06 — Soyuz TMA-8/12S launch
- 03/24/06 — Soyuz TMA-8/12S docking
- 04/01/06 — Soyuz TMA-7/11S undocking & return.
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.
