NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 10 April 2006

SpaceRef note: This NASA Headquarters internal status report, as presented here, contains additional, original material produced by SpaceRef.com (copyright © 2006) to enhance access to related status reports and NASA activities.

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.

Increment 13 is into its second day, another rest day for the new crew (for a picture of the Expedition 12 crew at yesterday s traditional Kazakhstan reception, look below).  [The NASA Research Program aboard ISS for Increment 13, prioritized based on currently understood Exploration Vision goals & objectives, consists of 16 investigations (total crew time 153 hrs), 8 NASA sortie/SDBI (short-duration bioastronautics) investigations and 1 pre/post-flight investigation (Bioastronautics). Due to current uncertainties with regard to utilization allocations, the Increment research program comprises both prime and reserve investigations (the latter being kept in abeyance if additional crew time beyond the 153 hrs becomes available).]

After the recent ETD handover/familiarization session with Valery Tokarev, CDR Pavel Vinogradov today conducted his first session of the regular monthly Eye Tracking Device (ETD) experiment, which studies the coordination of eye and head movements in zero-G and takes place in the DC-1 docking module’s center sphere.  [After a calibration with the calibrating unit, the experiment investigates horizontal eye and head movement coordination, measured Listing’s plane, and determined the orientation of the vestibulo-ocular coordinate system, using five target marks on the EV-2 hatch on the horizontal plane. The laptop is secured in place to DC1 structural elements (handrails, etc.) using either a bracket or Velcro. To conduct the experiment, the CDR has to clear space around the EV hatches, which may require temp stowage of cargo items in the FGB. Pavel then established the most comfortable and stable body position relative to the visual target (60 cm for the first part of the experiment, 100 to 150 cm in parts two &three); he will assume this position in all subsequent ETD sessions. Each step required another prior calibration run, using visual target cues or the calibration unit.]

FE Jeff Williams powered down the EXPRESS rack 4 (ER4) laptop.

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

Williams also ran another periodic atmospheric status check for ppO2 (Partial Pressure Oxygen) and ppCO2 (pp Carbon Dioxide), using the CSA-O2 (Compound Specific Analyzer-Oxygen Sensor).

Working off his voluntary Russian task list, Pavel performed the long-term recurring task of imaging the externally mounted PKZ-1V Kromka 1-3 contamination experiment tablet.  [The Kromka tablet, deployed on handrail 2614 of the DC-1 “Pirs” docking compartment, collects thruster plume effluents. The pictures are taken with the Kodak 760 digital still camera (DSC) from the EVA hatch 1 (VP1) “illyuminator” (window) in the DC-1.]

Jeff performed the standard weekly maintenance on the TVIS treadmill in the SM, primarily checking the condition of the SPDs (Subject Positioning Devices) and recording time & date values.

Both crewmembers worked out in their regular 2.5-hr. physical exercise program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the TVIS treadmill (FE), RED resistive exerciser (CDR) and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE).  [Pavel Vinogradov 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, Williams transferred the exercise data files to the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer) for downlink, as well as the daily wristband HRM (heart rate monitor) data of the workouts on RED, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium (done six times a week).

At ~4:45am EDT, the crew sent down three TV/PAO messages of greetings on the occasion of the 45th Anniversary Cosmonauts Day on 4/12 (Wednesday), with the first going to the cosmonauts and astronauts, GCTC employees, citizens and guests at the Commemorative Meeting at GCTC (Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center) in Star City, the second to the faculty, students and Siberians at Siberian Academician M.F. Reshetnev State Aerospace University in Krasnoyarsk, and the third to the participants of a live Concert-Rally Heroes Stay Young! , staged by the Moscow City Public Relations Committee on Cosmonauts Alley (near the K.E. Tsiolkovsky Monument), for Moscow Government representatives, TsUP members, the Moscow Children Movement, and Moscow students (1000-1500 participants).  [ &Today we celebrate this event together with you, and even though we are separated by a huge distance we feel as if we are right next to you in Moscow, on the Cosmonauts Alley. Space is the rejuvenation of the world, the future of mankind! Yuri Gagarin, a citizen of our country, who in 1961 made his breakthrough to the stars, was not much older than you: he was 27. The future of our cosmonautics depends on you, the young people.]

Overnight a trip caution was annunciated from DDCU (dc-to-dc converter unit) LA1B in the Lab, but no loads were tripped. Analysis is underway.

RSC-Energia is considering moving the launch date of Progress 22 (22P) from the current 6/28 to approximately 10 days earlier, and a commensurate adjustment in the date of the Russian EVA-16 to the 6/10-14 time period.  [Reason: to complete 21P loading by 5/20 and keep its hatches closed afterwards. The date shift will require considerable a-priori analysis work by JSC thermal engineers.]

Crew sleep aboard the station begins at 5:30pm EDT.

Correction: Yesterday s On-Orbit report should have said Sunday at top, instead of Saturday , of course (a regrettable mistake, no doubt due to supporting NASA s humongous Giant Moon Buggy Race at Huntsville, a huge success!).

No CEO (Crew Earth Observation) photo targets uplinked today.

To date, more than 186,000 of CEO images have been taken in the first five years of the ISS, almost one third of the total number of images taken from orbit by astronauts.

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:

• http://exploration.nasa.gov/programs/station/CEO.html
• 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 13 crew visit:

• http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-13/ndxpage1.html at NASA’s Human Spaceflight website.

Expedition 13 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, 9:50am EDT [= epoch]):

• Mean altitude — 344.1 km
• Apogee height — 350.3 km
• Perigee height — 337.8 km
• Period — 91.42 min.
• Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
• Eccentricity — 0.0009255
• Solar Beta Angle — 21.5 deg (magnitude increasing)
• Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.75
• Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours — 130 m
• Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 42250

Significant Events Ahead (all dates subject to change):

• 04/19/06 — SM main engine test/ISS reboost
• 04/24/06 — Progress M-56/21P launch
• 04/26/06 — Progress M-56/21P docking (SM aft port)
• 05/20/06 — Progress M-56/21P loading complete; hatches closed
• 06/14-16/06 — Russian EVA-16
• 06/17/06 — Progress M-55/20P undocking (DC1) & reentry
• 06/18/06 — Progress M-57/22P launch
• 06/20/06 — Progress M-57/22P docking (DC1)
• 07/01/06 — NET STS-121/ULF1.1 launch
• 07/??/06 — US EVA-5
• 08/28/07 — NET STS-115/12A launch
• 09/13/06 — Progress M-56/21P undocking (SM aft port) & reentry
• 09/14/06 — Soyuz TMA-9/13S launch (Expedition 14 + VC11)
• 09/16/06 — Soyuz TMA-9/13S docking (SM aft port)
• 09/24/06 — Soyuz TMA-8/12S undocking (FGB nadir port) & reentry
• 10/08/06 — Soyuz TMA-9/13S relocation (SM aft port to FGB nadir port)
• 10/18/06 — Progress M-58/23P launch
• 10/20/06 — Progress M-58/23P docking (SM aft port)
• 11/16/06 — NET STS-116/12A.1 launch
• 12/19/06 — Progress M-57/22P undocking (DC1) & reentry
• 12/20/06 — Progress M-59/24P launch
• 12/22/06 — Progress M-59/24P docking (DC1)
• 02/06/07 — Progress M-59/24P undocking (DC1) & reentry
• 02/07/07 — Progress M-60/25P launch
• 02/09/07 — Progress M-60/25P docking (DC1)
• ??/??/07 — Progress M-58/23P undocking (SM aft port) & reentry
• 03/09/07 — Soyuz TMA-10/14S launch (Expedition 15 + VC1 <> 2)
• 03/11/07 — Soyuz TMA-10/14S docking (SM aft port)
• 03/19/07 — Soyuz TMA-9/13S undocking (FGB nadir port)
• 03/22/07 — NET STS-117/13A launch
• ??/??/07 — Soyuz TMA-10/14S relocation (SM aft port to FGB nadir port)
• 06/14/07 — NET STS-118/13A.1.

(NET = no earlier than)

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.