NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 16 July 2015

The Expedition 44 crew is back at work after taking precautions as a piece of orbital debris safely passed the International Space Station this morning. Meanwhile, three new crew members are conducting final preparations before next week’s launch to the orbital laboratory.
Mission Control in Houston tracked a fragment of an old weather satellite and predicted a possible conjunction with the station at 8:01 a.m. EDT. Flight Director Ed Van Cise then ordered Commander Gennady Padalka and One-Year crew members Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko to take shelter in their docked Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft as a precaution. After a safe pass, the crew then went back to work resuming normal station operations.

Back on Earth, three new Expedition 44 crew members from the U.S., Russia and Japan are counting down to their July 22 launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft. The trio consisting of Soyuz Commander Oleg Kononenko and Flight Engineers Kjell Lindgren and Kimiya Yui are at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for final prelaunch activities while engineers inspect their Soyuz vehicle before next week’s roll out to the launch pad.

On-Orbit Status Report

Late Notice Conjunction: The Flight Control Team was notified of a late notice, red conjunction early this morning with insufficient time to execute a Predetermined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM). The ISS crew was directed to take steps to safe the ISS and shelter in place in the Soyuz. The conjunction passed without incident and the crew re-ingressed the ISS.

NanoRack Cubesat Deployer (NRCSD) Operations: The final 4 CubeSats were successfully deployed overnight. Kelly coordinated with ground teams who used the Japanese Experiment Module Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS) to return the Multi-Purpose Experiment Platform (MPEP) containing the NRCSD #5 to the JEMAL slide table. The slide table was retracted, bringing the MPEP inside the JEMAL. Kelly will configure the JEMAL and monitor NRCSDs in preparation for A/L depress next week.

Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, and Reorient Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) Slosh:
Kelly reviewed on board training (OBT) materials on general SPHERES operation and procedures specific to SPHERES Slosh. He also stowed charged batteries and installed other batteries for charging for the upcoming SPHERES Slosh session scheduled for Friday. The SPHERES Slosh investigation uses small robotic satellites to examine how liquids move around inside containers in microgravity. A water bottle’s contents slosh around differently in space than on Earth, but the physics of liquid motion in microgravity are not well understood, which affects computer simulations of liquid rocket fuel behavior. Middle school and high school students control the SPHERES to study how liquids behave inside containers in space, which increases the safety and efficiency of future rockets.

Resistance to Radiation; Ras Labs-CASIS-ISS Project for Synthetic Muscle: Resistance to Radiation (Synthetic Muscle): Kelly took the 4th data set of historical photos documenting the synthetic muscle samples. Crew transferred photos to an SSC for photo downlink. The purpose of this experiment is to perform radiation testing of synthetic muscle to determine how radiation-hardened the proprietary materials are, for dual use on earth and in space, in extremely challenging environments. Both the preliminary radiation testing at PPPL/Princeton and the exposure to solar and cosmic radiation on the ISS determine radiation resistance of synthetic muscle and provide projections for radiation resistance in high radiation environments. Robotics made of synthetic muscle will be able to help humans on earth, mitigating and correcting dire situations in extremely challenging environments. Robots made of these materials will be able to assist humans in space and be able to survive deep space travel. A follow up external platform experiment is being planned.

Sleep ISS-12: Kelly and Kornienko are performing their week of sleep logging. Within fifteen minutes of wakeup, the crew answers questions from the SleepLog application on the Station Support Computer (SSC). The Sleep ISS-12 experiment monitors ambient light exposure and crew member activity, and collects subjective evaluations of sleep and alertness, to examine the effects of space flight and ambient light exposure on sleep during a year-long mission on the International Space Station (ISS).

Node 3 Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA): Due to the crew shelter in place, N3 CDRA maintenance scheduled for today has been postponed to Monday 7/20/15. This includes the Air Selector Valve (ASV) 104 removal and replacement (R&R) and N3 CDRA leak check. The Lab CDRA is currently operating, and as of this writing ppCO2 is 1.6 mmHg.

Today’s Planned Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.

CASKAD. Manual Mixing in Bioreactor / r/g 9277
JEMAL table extension
24-hour BP Monitoring (end) r/g 9337
SPHERES – Battery Charging
Remote SM Laptop Testing (REMOTE RS LAPTOP) Preparation / r/g 9351
Installation of Voltage Converter ??28-120 (Installation and connection of ??? cable). / r/g 9328
SYN_MUSCL – Documentation Photo
HABIT – Hardware activation
Installation of Voltage Converter ??28-120 (Mating Onboard Measurement System (???) cable) / r/g 9328 step 6
EMRMS – Closing SAM Capture Mechanism to Softdock position
Installation of Voltage Converter ??28-120 (Installation and Connection of ??? cable, Closeout Ops) / r/g 9328
Installation of Voltage Converter ??28-120 / r/g 9328
SPHERES – Battery Charging
PAO crew prep
PAO Event with A Year Long Mission crew
DAN. Experiment Ops / r/g 9083 [Deferred]
DAN. Experiment Assistance / r/g 9083 [Deferred]
JEM AL Slide Table Retraction
JEMRMS RLT Laptop Deactivation
Node 3 Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) CO2 Selector Valve 104 R&R [Deferred]
DAN. Experiment Ops / r/g 9083 [Deferred]
DAN. Experiment Assistance / r/g 9083 [Deferred]
SPHERES – Battery Charging
MPEG-2 Video Downlink Test via KU-band prior to Soyuz 717 Docking to the ISS
Filling (separation) of EDV (KOV) No.1137
Remote SM Laptop Testing (REMOTE RS LAPTOP) / r/g 9351
SPHERES – Experiment OBT
SPHERES – Review
Cleaning ??1 and ??2 Air Ducts in MRM2
SPHERES – Payload Conference
SPHERES – Battery Charging
VHF1 Comm Test via US Ground Sites (WAL, DRY, WHI) from the SM
N3 CDRA leak check [Deferred]
VEG-01 – Plant Photo
SPHERES – Battery Charging
Flight Director / ISS Crew Tagup
Completed Task List Items

ISS Safety Video
Ground Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.

OASIS video
JEMRMS activities
Three-Day Look Ahead:

Friday, 07/17: SPHERES Slosh run
Saturday, 07/18: Crew off duty, housekeeping
Sunday, 07/19: Crew off duty
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) – Standby
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) – Standby
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab – Full Up
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 – Off