NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 19 May 2015
The USOS crewmembers worked a reduced day today as they prepare to sleep shift in preparation for SpaceX-6 departure on Thursday.
The crew performed a checkout of the Commercial Orbital Transport Services (COTS) UHF Communication Unit (CUCU) that the crew will use to communicate with the Dragon capsule while it is flying free in the vicinity of the station. They also continued loading the final cargo items onto Dragon which will return about 3,100 pounds of experiment samples and other hardware.
One-Year crew member Mikhail Kornienko took samples for the Fluid Shifts experiment, an investigation into the suspected cause of astronaut vision changes while in microgravity. ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti also performed eye scans on NASA astronaut Terry Virts for an astronaut vision study known as Ocular Health which tests microgravity-induced visual impairment, as well as changes believed to arise from elevated intracranial pressure, to characterize how living in microgravity can affect the visual, vascular and central nervous systems. The investigation also measures how long it takes for crew members to return to normal after they return to Earth.
On-Orbit Status Report
USOS Crew Reduced Duty Day: Today was a reduced duty day for the USOS Crew as a result of sleep shifting in preparation for SpaceX-6 departure on Thursday, 21 May 2015.
Fluid Shifts Before, During and After Prolonged Space Flight and Their Association with Intracranial Pressure and Visual Impairment (Fluid Shifts): Kornienko begun his Flight Day (FD) 45 Fluid Shifts Dilution Measurements today, with the assistance of Padalka as his Crew Medical Officer (CMO). Upon wakeup he collected baseline saliva, blood and urine and inserted them into Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) prior to ingesting a Sodium Bromide (NaBr) tracer. Throughout the day, he performed more urine, blood, and saliva collections, inserting those samples into MELFI as well. The Dilution Measurements are the first part in the series of FD45 Fluid Shifts measurements. Next week, Kelly and Kornienko will be performing their Baseline Imaging using the ultrasound. The third portion of the Fluid Shifts experiment involves utilization of the Russian Chibis (Lower Body Negative Pressure – LBNP) during ultrasound measurements. Fluid Shifts investigates the causes for severe and lasting physical changes to astronaut’s eyes. Because the headward fluid shift is a hypothesized contributor to these changes, reversing this fluid shift with a lower body negative pressure device is investigated as a possible intervention. Results from this study may help to develop preventative measures against lasting changes in vision and eye damage.
Ocular Health: Virts with Cristoforetti as his CMO, and ground remote guidance, performed his Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) exam to measure retinal thickness, volume, and retinal nerve fiber layer as required for his Return-30 (R-30) Ocular Health sessions. Later in the day, he executed his fundoscope exam to obtain images of the retinal surface, again with Cristoforetti and ground assistance. The Ocular Health protocol calls for a systematic gathering of physiological data to characterize the risk of microgravity-induced visual impairment/intracranial pressure in ISS crewmembers. Researchers believe that the measurement of visual, vascular and central nervous system changes over the course of this experiment and during the subsequent post-flight recovery will assist in the development of countermeasures, clinical monitoring strategies, and clinical practice guidelines.
Commercial Orbital Transport Services (COTS) UHF Communication Unit (CUCU) Checkout: In preparation for the upcoming SpaceX-6 departure, Kelly worked with ground teams to activate the CUCU System and successfully performed a Crew Command Panel (CCP) checkout. CUCU provides a command and telemetry communications link between ISS and Dragon during free flight operations in the vicinity of ISS.
Dragon Cargo Transfer Operations: Today, Cristoforetti continued with Dragon cargo operations. The crew has approximately 3 hours of SpaceX-6 cargo operations remaining.
Mobile Servicing System (MSS) Operations: Robotics Flight Controllers walked the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) off of worksite 4 Mobile Remote Servicer (MRS) Base System Power and Data Grapple Fixture (PDGF) 1 to the Node2 PDGF. Once the walk off was complete, they commanded the SSRMS to grapple Dragon in preparation for Thursday’s unberth and release. In conjunction with today’s operations, Flight Controllers also performed a checkout of Latching End Effector A (LEE-A), and performed commissioning on the SSRMS Gear Box Limping (GBL) feature. The LEE-A checkout gathered additional data on latching currents since the LEE-A was lubricated on Extravehicular Activity (EVA) 30 in February. The GBL feature produces greater arm compliance than passive limping, and is intended to reduce the required rigidization force to capture a fixed grapple fixture. Later today the Robotics Ground Controllers will maneuver LEE-B to grapple the SpaceX-6 Dragon Flight Releasable Grapple Fixture (FRGF) ready for Dragon unberth and release on GMT 141 (21 May 15). They will also perform an initial checkout of GBL on LEE-B during this operation.
Today’s Planned Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.
FLUID SHIFTS
WRS – Recycle Tank Fill
WRS Water Sample Analysis
OCT Exam
ARED Flywheel Cylinder Evacuation
Makita Tool Battery Cycling – Hardware Prep
Greasing exposed ARED wires
Installation of Makita tool battery for charging
Verification of ??-1 Flow Sensor Position
Makita battery charge monitoring
OCT Equipment Stowage
VELO Exercise, Day 4
Audit of Personal Hygiene Articles
TOCA Data Recording
Installation of Makita tool battery for charging
Grab Sample Container (GSC) Sampling Operations
Monitor Makita Tool battery charge
PROBOY. RSE1 Laptop Software Update for PROBOY Experiment.
Water Recovery System (WRS): WPA Waste Water Tank Offload into CWC
Monitor Makita Tool battery charge
End Makita Tool battery charge, log charge time into the table, remove battery from the charger, stow equipment
PROBOY. RS?1 Laptop Ops. Tagup with specialists
PROBOY. Penetration Simulator Ops. Tagup with specialists
PAO Event
POLAR Procedure Review
Filling (separation) of EDV (KOV) No.1162 (00063575R, ???1???_1_110) from SM Rodnik ??2 for Elektron
Dragon Transfer Ops
Psychological Evaluation Program (WinSCAT)
??? Maintenance Private Medical Conference
Dragon Cargo Operations Conference
POLAR1 Transfer and Installation
POLAR2 Transfer
Audit of SM Laptop Power Supply
PROBOY. Copy and Downlink Data
Fundoscope Prep
WRS – Recycle Tank Fill
IMS Delta File Prep
CUCU Check
Fundoscope – Eye Exam
Fundoscope – Closeout Ops and Stowage
RELAKSATSIYA. Relaksatsiya P/L Battery Charge
Completed Task List Items
COL Toolbox Pictures
Ground Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.
CUCU Checkout
MSS walk off from worksite 4 MBS PDGF 1 to Node2 PDGF then grapple Dragon. [In Work]
Three-Day Look Ahead:
Wednesday, 05/20: Double Cold Bag pack in Dragon, N3 stowage removal, Dragon egress/vestibule config for demate/N2 CPA install
Thursday, 05/21: SSRMS walkoff, Dragon N2 vestibule demate/depress, Dragon unberth/landing, ACE M-3 sample prep, COL stowage relocate
Friday, 05/22: Ocular Health, EVA Loop Scrub, Biolab Microscope cassette removal
QUICK ISS Status – Environmental Control Group:
Component – Status
Elektron – On
Vozdukh – Manual
[???] 1 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV1”) – On
[???] 2 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV2”) – Off
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab – Standby
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 – Operate
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab – Shutdown
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 – Operate
Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) – Process
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) – Process
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab – Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 – Full Up
