NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 11 January 2009

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Sunday – Ahead: Week 12 of Increment 18.

FE-2 Magnus’ first activity this morning was to start on the second day of her FD60 (Flight Day 60) session with the NASA/JSC experiment NUTRITION w/Repository. This was an all-day session, the third for Sandy, of collecting urine samples several times for 24 hrs, to continue through first void tomorrow morning. [The NUTRITION project is the most comprehensive in-flight study done by NASA to date of human physiologic changes during long-duration space flight. It includes measures of bone metabolism, oxidative damage, nutritional assessments, and hormonal changes, expanding the previous Clinical Nutritional Assessment profile (MR016L) testing in three ways: Addition of in-flight blood & urine collection (made possible by supercold MELFI dewars), normative markers of nutritional assessment, and a return session plus 30-day (R+30) session to allow evaluation of post-flight nutrition and implications for rehabilitation.]

CDR Fincke & Magnus performed their part of the regular weekly three-hour task of thorough station cleaning, focusing on the USOS (US Orbital Segment). FE-1 Lonchakov had preceded them yesterday with his part of “Uborka”. [Uborka, usually done on Saturdays, includes removal of food waste products, cleaning of compartments with vacuum cleaner, damp cleaning of the SM (Service Module) dining table, other frequently touched surfaces and surfaces where trash is collected, as well as the FEs sleep station with a standard cleaning solution; also, fan screens and grilles are cleaned to avoid temperature rises. Special cleaning is also done every 90 days on the HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) bacteria filters in the Lab.]

Sandy completed the daily flushing of the PWD (Potable Water Dispenser). [The PWD had been found, via several microbial analyses by Magnus, to have bacteria growing in the ambient water. It is suspected that this is due to the water being stagnant and not used. The crew now performs daily flushes with 100 mL of deionized water.]

The station residents conducted their regular daily 2.5-hr. physical workout program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the CEVIS cycle ergometer (FE-2), TVIS treadmill (CDR, FE-1), IRED/Interim Resistive Exercise Device (CDR, FE-2) and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1).

In the SM (Service Module), FE-1 Lonchakov performed the routine daily servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS), including the weekly collection of the toilet flush (SP) counter and water supply (SVO) readings for calldown to TsUP-Moscow. [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.]

The crew had their weekly PFCs (Private Family Conferences), via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on an SSC laptop), Yuri at 4:50am, Sandy at 2:02pm, Mike at 3:40pm EST.

Working off the Russian discretionary “time permitting” suggestions list, the FE-1 conducted another session for Russias Environmental Safety Agency (EKON), making observations and taking KPT-3 aerial photography of environmental conditions on earth using the Nikon D2X with the SIGMA 300-800mm telephoto lens.

A second task item from the Russian discretionary job list for Yuri was a session of the GFI-8 "Uragan" (hurricane) earth-imaging program, using the NIKON D2X digital camera to take telephotos. [Uplinked target zones, during several overflights, were Patagonia Ice Field Glaciers and the Falkland Current.]

A voluntary task item on the “job jar” list for CDR Fincke continues to be filling out his first FFQ (Food Frequency Questionnaire) on the MEC. [On the FFQs, NASA astronauts keep a personalized log of their nutritional intake over time on special MEC software. Recorded are the amounts consumed during the past week of such food items as beverages, cereals, grains, eggs, breads, snacks, sweets, fruit, beans, soup, vegetables, dairy, fish, meat, chicken, sauces & spreads, and vitamins. The FFQ is performed once a week to estimate nutrient intake from the previous week and to give recommendations to ground specialists that help maintain optimal crew health. Weekly estimation has been verified to be reliable enough that nutrients do not need to be tracked daily.]

COL LAN Issue: Due to problems on the COL (Columbus Orbital Laboratory) system LAN (Local Area Network), the CLSW1 (Columbus LAN Switch #1) and DMC (Data Management Computer) were turned off. R&R (removal & replacement) of the CWSA (Condensate Water Separator Assembly) was deferred while engineers assess the configuration and provide further recommendations. The DMS (Data Management System) is now in “vital” mode. PWS (Portable Work Station) laptop is not operational, but vital telemetry is still available on the PCS (Portable Computer System). The present COL configuration is stable and safe, automated vital responses and smoke detection are working. External payloads are running nominal, but no internal payload operation can be supported. The crew is “prime” for ammonia leak detection as long as COL stays in this configuration.

No CEO (Crew Earth Observations) photo targets uplinked for today. [ISS daylight orbit tracks are now almost entirely in the Southern Hemisphere where there are fewer CEO targets. Fewer targets, together with variable weather conditions, typically result in sparse daily CEO target opportunities until daylight orbit tracks begin to extend back into the Northern Hemisphere.]

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, 8:07am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude — 352.7 km
Apogee height — 357.1 km
Perigee height — 348.2 km
Period — 91.59 min.
Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
Eccentricity — 0.0006594
Solar Beta Angle — 29.5 deg (magnitude increasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.72
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours — 57 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 58131

Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time, some changes possible!):
01/14/09 — ISS reboost w/SM thrusters
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/Discovery/15A launch – S6 truss segment
02/14/09 — STS-119/Discovery/15A docking
02/24/09 — STS-119/Discovery/15A undocking
02/26/09 — STS-119/Discovery/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/Discovery/17A – MPLM (P), LMC, last crew rotation
08/XX/09 — Soyuz 5R/MRM2 (Russian Mini Research Module, MIM2) on Soyuz
09/XX/09 — H-IIB (JAXA HTV-1)
11/12/09 — STS-129/Atlantis/ULF3 – ELC1, ELC2
12/10/09 — STS-130/Endeavour/20A – Node-3 + Cupola
02/11/10 — STS-131/Atlantis/19A – MPLM(P), LMC
04/08/10 — STS-132/Discovery/ULF4 – ICC-VLD, MRM1
05/31/10 — STS-133/Endeavour/ULF5 – ELC3, ELC4
12/XX/11– Proton 3R/MLM w/ERA.