NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 5 December 2008

FE-2 Magnus worked in the JAXA JPM (Japanese Pressurized Module) –

• First powering down the HTV PROX (H-II Transfer Vehicle proximity operations) Rack after its successful checkout runs by herself & the ground,
• Cleaning up the HCP (Hardware Command Panel) by removing and stowing the HCP from Node-2 and the US Lab with its cables, then
• Activating the JEMRMS (JEM Robotic Manipulator System) with its two monitors, CCP (Camera Control Panel) and EXT2 power outlet for the subsequent maneuvering of the MA (Main Arm) into position for viewing the relocation of the ESP-3 (External Stowage Platform 3) with the SSRMS (Space Station Remote Manipulator System), and finally
• Deactivating the UDC (Utility DC/DC Converter) and MMA (Microgravity Measurement Apparatus) components at the Ryutai Rack.

Later, after the ESP-3 relocation, Magnus reconfigured the JEMRMS PTU ELBOW (Pan & Tilt Unit/Elbow camera) in stowed position & deactivated it, along with its EXT2-powered JMUs (Joint Motor Units) motors, CCP and monitors 1,2.

After turning on the CUPola PCS (Portable Computer System) laptop in the Lab for today’s activities, CDR Fincke started the DOUG (Dynamic Onboard Ubiquitous Graphics) application to support the ESP-3 relocation. [DOUG is a special application running on the MSS (Mobile Service System) RWS (Robotics Workstation) laptops that provides a graphical birdseye-view image of the external station configuration and the SSRMS arm, showing its real-time location and configuration on a laptop during its operation.]

Fincke & Magnus then worked with the SSRMS through the steps necessary for the ESP-3 relocation:

• Unlatching the MCAS (Mobile Base System [MBS] Common Attachment System),
• Demating the ESP-3 and moving it to its regular location on the P3 truss zenith UCCAS (Unpressurized Cargo Carrier Attachment System),
• Obtaining First Stage Capture after positive RTL (Ready to Latch) indications,
• Limping the robotarm (brakes off),
• Completing Second Stage UCCAS Capture, then applying brakes and
• Ungrappling the ESP-3.

Finally, the SSRMS was “walked” to the MBS PDGF-3 (Power & Data Grapple Fixture 3) for ”parking”, releasing the MBS PDGF-4 with its other LEE (Latching End Effector).

FE-1 Lonchakov set up the hardware for the Russian MBI-21 PNEVMOKARD experiment and conducted the session, his second, which forbids moving or talking during data recording. The experiment is controlled from the RSE-med A31p laptop, equipped with new software, and uses the TENZOPLUS sphygmomanometer to measure arterial blood pressure. Obtained test data were then downlinked via OCA. [PNEVMOKARD (Pneumocard) attempts to obtain new scientific information to refine the understanding about the mechanisms used by the cardiorespiratory system and the whole body organism to spaceflight conditions. By recording (on PCMCIA cards) the crewmember’s electrocardiogram, impedance cardiogram, low-frequency phonocardiogram (seismocardiogram), pneumotachogram (using nose temperature sensors), and finger photoplethismogram, the experiment supports integrated studies of (1) the cardiovascular system and its adaptation mechanisms in various phases of a long-duration mission, (2) the synchronization of heart activity and breathing factors, as well as the cardiorespiratory system control processes based on the variability rate of physiological parameters, and (3) the interconnection between the cardiorespiratory system during a long-duration mission and the tolerance of orthostatic & physical activities at the beginning of readaptation for predicting possible reactions of the crewmembers organism during the their return to ground.]

Following up on her earlier biochemical sample analyses, Sandy Magnus retrieved the Coliform water samples obtained and processed on 11/26 from the WPA (Water Processing Assembly) and PWD (Potable Water Dispenser) from their temporary incubation bag and inspected them for coliform indications (Magenta for Positive, Yellow for Negative). [Coliform bacteria are the commonly-used bacterial indicator of sanitary quality of foods and water. They are defined as rod-shaped Gram-negative non-spore forming organisms that ferment Lactose with the production of acid and gas when incubated at 35-37 degC. Coliforms are abundant in the feces of warm-blooded animals, but can also be found in the aquatic environment, in soil and on vegetation. In most instances, coliforms themselves are not the cause of sickness, but they are easy to culture and their presence is used to indicate that other pathogenic organisms of fecal origin may be present.]

Mike Fincke serviced the new WRS (Water Recovery System) by performing the regular leak checks on the WRS-1 & WRS-2 racks and later refilling the WSTA (Water Storage Tank Assembly) with pretreated urine from EDV-U container for processing. [WRS sampling & checkouts are being conducted for 90 days: every 4 days – WRS water hose (TOCA inflight analysis) & microbial bag sample (inflight bacterial visual enumeration plus archival for return on 15A), every 8 days – an archival water sample (return on 15A), and monthly – a TOCA bag sample from PWD (tested inflight).]

In the Soyuz 13S spacecraft, docked at the FGB nadir port, FE-1 Lonchakov turned on the gas analyzer, a periodic 48-hr. checkup activity.

In the Service Module (SM), Yuri also performed major maintenance/service on the SRV-K2M condensate water recovery system by –

• Replacing its end-of-life filter reactor (F-R),
• Inspecting & cleaning the sediment trap pipe filter insert and
• Replacing the BRPK-1 Condensate Separation & Pumping Unit 1.

Afterwards, the temporarily disconnected BITS2-12 Onboard Telemetry Measurement System was hooked up again.

As a relatively new regular activity after deactivation/reactivation of the BITS1-12 and VD-SU control mode, the FE-1 then checked the BRI Smart Switch Router computer and its new Ethernet connection to assess any impact of these activities on Ethernet comm, followed by dumping BRI log files from the RSS1 laptop for downlinking to the ground. [BRI is part of the RS OpsLAN (Russian Segment/Operations Local Area Network), with connections to the three SSC clients, the Ethernet tie-in with the US network, and a network printer in the RS.]

Sandy Magnus again had an hour to herself for general orientation (station familiarization & acclimatization) as is standard daily rule for fresh crewmembers for the first two weeks after starting station residence, if she/he chooses to take it.

The FE-1 spent another ~1:20h on Progress 31P unloading, keeping track of moves & locations in the IMS (Inventory Management System) and guided by an uplinked transfer list. [Equipment delivered by the cargo ship include food containers, a new BKO multifiltration unit, five fresh BK-3M oxygen bottles for Orlan-M EVAs, a MNR separator pump, a new AK-1M air sampler kit, personal oral hygiene articles (SLG), a BPK condensate feed unit & its control panel, a Penguin-3 suit, an electrical stimulation suit, ASU toilet inserts, etc.]

Working from his discretionary (as time permits” task list, the FE-1 completed the routine daily servicing of the SM’s SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS). [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists, among else, of checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers, replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers and performing US condensate processing (transfer from CWC to EDV containers) if condensate is available.]

Also from the suggested jobs list, Yuri performed the regular daily IMS maintenance task by updating/editing the IMS standard “delta file” including stowage locations for the regular weekly automated export/import to its three databases on the ground (Houston, Moscow, Baikonur).

A third task for Lonchakov’s choice was the regular status check on the Russian BIO-5 Rasteniya-1 ("Plants-1") experiment. [Rasteniya-1 researches growth and development of plants under spaceflight conditions in the LADA-14 “greenhouse” from IBMP (Institute of Bio-Medical Problems, Russian: IMBP). The payload hardware includes a module (MIS/Module for the Investigation of Substrates), a MIS control unit (BU), a nitrogen purge unit (BPA) and other accessories. During its operation, the experiment requires regular daily maintenance of the experiment involving monitoring of seedling growth, humidity measurements, moistening of the substrate if necessary, and photo/video recording.]

CDR Fincke’s first run with the MedOps experiment WinSCAT (Spaceflight Cognitive Assessment Tool for Windows), originally hard-scheduled for today, remains on his discretionary “job jar” task list. [WinSCAT is a monthly laptop-based time-constrained questionnaire test of cognitive abilities, routinely performed by astronauts aboard the ISS every 30 days before or after the PHS (periodic health status) test or on special CDR’s, crewmembers or flight surgeons request. The test uses cognitive subtests that measure sustained concentration, verbal working memory, attention, short-term memory, spatial processing, and math skills. The five cognitive subtests are Coding Memory – Learning, Continuous Processing Task (CPT), Match to Sample, Mathematics, and Coding Delayed Recall. These WinSCAT subtests are the same as those used during NASA’s long-duration bed rest studies.]

At ~3:15am EST, the crew held the regular (nominally weekly) tagup with the Russian Flight Control Team (GOGU), including Shift Flight Director (SRP), at TsUP via S-band/audio, phone-patched from Houston and Moscow.

At ~4:25am, Yuri conducted a PAO TV conference exchange with children of the Togliatti School for the on-air premiere of a social and education project “Adult Talk. How to Become Successful?” launched by the Togliatti TV channel and sponsored by Togliatti Mayor’s Office Department of Education in mid-December. [Togliatti (or Tolyatti) is a city in Samara Oblast (formerly Kuybyshev. The city was named after Palmiro Togliatti, the longest-serving secretary of the Italian Communist Party. The show will have one rule: an adult must provide a candid answer to each question asked by a child. One may only refuse to answer a very personal question. Some questions of the school children to Yuri were: “Do land and water have the same color in various parts of the Earth globe?”; “Does space have day and night?”; “Is it true that the Earth has a shape of a globe? Or is it oblate?”; “Everybody talks about bad state of environment. Can you see from space that it is really gotten worse?”; “To fly to space (not as a tourist, but as a cosmonaut) does one have to be, for example, a biologist or zoologist? In other words, an expert in some field? To what institution of higher learning one should go to study to become a cosmonaut?”; “What does a cosmonaut do on the ground, when he is not in space? How does he support his family? Or should every cosmonaut also have an Earthly profession?”; “People of what professions are needed in space?”; “What is a definition of success for a cosmonaut? Whether you did or did not fly to space? What if you did not make it?”; “Do you have a pet at home? If yes, then who takes care of it when you are away?”; “Can you tell us when you are going to fly over Togliatti so we could see you and wave at you?”]

At ~8:10am, Yuri & Mike linked up with TsUP stowage specialists via S-band to conduct the weekly IMS tagup, discussing inventory & stowage issues, equipment locations and cargo transfers.

At ~2:45pm, the ISS crew will have their regular weekly tagup with the Lead Flight Director at JSC/MCC-H via S-band/audio. [S/G-2 (Space-to-Ground 2) phone patch via SSC (Station Support Computer)].

The ISS crew completed their physical workout program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the CEVIS cycle ergometer (CDR, FE-2), TVIS treadmill (FE-1), RED resistive exercise device (CDR, FE-1, FE-2), and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1).

CEO (Crew Earth Observations) photo targets uplinked for today were Southwest Algeria Megafans (nadir and near-nadir mapping swaths just right of track were requested for ~60 secs. Weather should have been clear over this repeat Saharan site. Two megafans, different in color, occupy the foot of low mountains. Their formative streams are only active during very occasional heavy storms [perhaps once per decade or longer]. The fans were laid down during prior humid climates, the last humid period being centered ~10,000 years ago. The megafans are analogs for features on Mars. Visual cues are major linear dunes located just left of track, and contorted rocks immediately beyond the target), Central Algeria Megafans (northeast of the target above lies a complex of smaller fans, all right of track. Detailed images of these features were requested. Visual cues are linear dunes left of the target [north] and the smaller Tifernine dunes just beyond [southeast]), and Mississippi Delta Region (weather was predicted clear over the delta. Nadir pass to document coastal wetland recovery).

CEO photography can be studied at this “Gateway” website:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov (as of 9/1/08, this database contained 770,668 views of the Earth from space, with 324,812 from the ISS alone).

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 5:55am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude — 353.9 km
Apogee height — 358.3 km
Perigee height — 349.5 km
Period — 91.62 min.
Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
Eccentricity — 0.0006484
Solar Beta Angle — -38.8 deg (magnitude increasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.72
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours — 50 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 57547.

Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time, some changes possible!):
12/07/08 — Progress M-65/30P reentry (after 3 weeks autonomous flight for geophysical experiments)
12/22/08 — Russian EVA-21 (hatch opening ~7:15pm)
02/09/09 — Progress M-01M/31P undocking & deorbit
02/10/09 — Progress 32P launch
02/12/09 — Progress 32P docking
02/12/09 — STS-119/Endeavour/15A launch – S6 truss segment
02/14/09 — STS-119/Endeavour/15A docking
02/24/09 — STS-119/Endeavour/15A undocking
02/26/09 — STS-119/Endeavour/15A landing (nominal)
03/25/09 — Soyuz TMA-14/18S launch
03/27/09 — Soyuz TMA-14/18S docking (DC1)
04/05/09 — Soyuz TMA-13/17S undocking
04/07/09 — Progress 32P undocking & deorbit
05/12/09 — STS-125/Atlantis Hubble Space Telescope Service Mission 4 (SM4)
05/15/09 — STS-127/Endeavour/2J/A launch – JEM EF, ELM-ES, ICC-VLD
05/27/09 — Soyuz TMA-15/19S launch
Six-person crew on ISS
08/06/09 — STS-128/Atlantis/17A – MPLM (P), last crew rotation
08/XX/09 — Progress/MRM2 (Mini Research Module, MIM2) on Soyuz
09/XX/09 — H-IIB (HTV-1)
11/12/09 — STS-129/Endeavour/ULF3 – ELC1, ELC2
12/10/09 — STS-130/Endeavour/20A – Node-3 + Cupola
02/11/10 — STS-131/Atlantis/19A – MPLM(P)
04/08/10 — STS-132/Endeavour/ULF4 – ICC-VLD, MRM1 (contingency)
05/31/10 — STS-133/Endeavour/ULF5 – ELC3, ELC4 (contingency).