Space Stations

NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 17 July 2015

By Marc Boucher
Status Report
July 20, 2015
Filed under , ,
NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 17 July 2015
Expedition 44 backup crew members Timothy Kopra of NASA, left; Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), center; and Timothy Peake of the European Space Agency (ESA), right, take photos as the Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft is rolled to the launch pad by train on Monday, July 20, 2015 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for July 23 and will carry Expedition 44 Soyuz Commander Oleg Kononenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren of NASA, and Flight Engineer Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) into orbit to begin their five month mission on the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani).
NASA

Today: Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, and Reorient Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) Slosh: Kelly configured two SPHERES satellites and coordinated with ground controllers to observe the dominance of fluid forces during higher accelerations.
The investigation uses small robotic satellites to examine how liquids move 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. University undergraduate and graduate students control the SPHERES to study how liquids behave inside containers in space, which increases the safety and efficiency of future rockets.

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

CASKAD. Manual Mixing in Bioreactor / r/g 9277
SPHERES – Stowage of batteries
WRS – Recycle Tank Fill
MRM1-FGB Screw Clamp Tightening
OTKLIK. Hardware Check / r/g 9358
Tests of Voltage Converter ??28-120. / r/g 9328
Replacement of three ???-4 Fire Extinguishers in FGB r/g 9352
Measurements of panels 310 and 322 in SM / r/g 9357
??? 428 (DC1) Transfers and IMS Ops r/g 9239, 9253
SPHERES – Hardware Setup
Video recording of address to the participants of WorldSkills International General Assembly / r/g 9359
SPHERES – Hardware Checkout
MRM1 Comm Config
DAN. Experiment Ops / r/g 9083
DAN. Experiment Execution Support / r/g 9083
INTERACTION-2. Experiment Ops / r/g 9356
SPHERES Shutdown
SPHERES – Data Export
Terminate BSA Battery Maintenance Cycle
Start BSA Battery Maintenance Cycling
VEG-01 – Plant Photo
IMS and Stowage Conference
Food Frequency Questionnaire
IMS Delta File Prep
CASKAD. Manual Mixing in Bioreactor / r/g 9277
Completed Task List Items

None
Ground Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.

OASIS
SPHERES
Three-Day Look Ahead:

Saturday, 07/18: Crew off duty, housekeeping
Sunday, 07/19: Crew off duty
Monday, 07/20: N3 CDRA ASV R&R/leack check, EVA battery maintenance, CSA CP battery build
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

Marc Boucher

SpaceRef co-founder, entrepreneur, writer, podcaster, nature lover and deep thinker.

Follow on Twitter
MORE FROM Space Stations