NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 19 October 2015

The crew continued more biomedical studies today so scientists can learn how long-term missions affect humans in space. The International Space Station residents also reviewed procedures for a pair of upcoming spacewalks and conducted an emergency training session.
Commander Scott Kelly joined his fellow One-Year crew member Mikhail Kornienko and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui for vision tests and blood pressure checks as part of the Ocular Health study. That study, which has been ongoing since March 2013, observes the visual changes, vascular changes, and central nervous system changes that occur in crew members while living in space.

Kornienko also joined his fellow cosmonauts Sergey Volkov and Oleg Kononenko for heart evaluations while riding an exercise bicycle. They also explored crew motion disturbances in space and remote control of a robot from a spacecraft to the ground.

Kelly and Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren are gearing up for a pair of spacewalks on Oct. 28 and Nov. 6. The duo joined Yui, who will choreograph the spacewalks from inside the station, for procedure reviews and a conference with specialists on the ground.

On the first spacewalk, Kelly and Lindgren will service the Canadarm2, route power cables and place a thermal shroud over the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. During the second spacewalk, the pair will return the port truss cooling system back to its original configuration after repair work completed back in 2012.

On-Orbit Status Report

Ocular Health: One year crewmembers Kelly and Kornienko initiated their Flight Day 210 Ocular Health testing by completing vision and tonometry tests and taking blood pressure measurements with the assistance of Yui. 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.

Sleep Log: Kelly recorded a Sleep Log entry today. The Sleep ISS-12 experiment monitors ambient light exposure and crew member activity and collects subjective evaluations of sleep and alertness. The investigation examines the effects of space flight and ambient light exposure on sleep during a year-long mission on the ISS.

Story Time from Space: Yui recorded a reading from “Max Goes to the Space Station” today. The recording will be downlinked to the ground and used for educational purposes.

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Review: Today Kelly, Lindgren, and Yui reviewed a briefing package associated with the upcoming ISS Upgrades EVA. Among the items reviewed is the EVA detailed timeline, EVA tasks, safety tether plan, translations paths, photo requirements, and hand signals. The ISS Upgrades EVA is scheduled to occur on October 28, 2015.

ISS Emergency Drill: All six crewmembers participated in an ISS emergency drill and debrief. The crew used an onboard simulator to guide their responses during two separate simulations (Rapid Depress and Fire). The purpose of this training is to practice ISS emergency responses based on information provided by the simulator. The crew physically translates through ISS to appropriate locations in order to visualize the use of station equipment and interfaces. They also practice procedure execution and associated decision making, all while exercising communication skills with MCC-H and MCC-M.

X2R14 Software Transition: On Sunday, Flight Controllers successfully loaded Command and Control System (CCS) R14 software onto 2 of 3 C&C Multiplexer/Demultiplexer (MDM) and performed an MDM transition in order to utilize the new software on the Primary C&C MDM. Lindgren then powered on and connected Portable Computer Systems (PCS) loaded with new PCS R17 software. Today, Flight Controllers continued with the X2R14 software transition by loading Hub Control Zone (HCZ) R4 to both HCZ MDMs in Node 3 and loaded the 3rd C&C MDM with CCS R14.

Node 3 Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA): On Saturday, Node 3 CDRA experienced a fault on its Heater Controller B. As a result, Flight Controllers activated the Lab CDRA. After some troubleshooting which involved isolating the fault to the secondary heater string, flight controllers masked the associated Passive Built In Test (PBIT) and activated the Node 3 CDRA using the single string of heaters. Later, the Node 3 CDRA was commanded to standby in preparation for the HCZ software transition today.

Today’s Planned Activities
All activities are on schedule unless otherwise noted.

Inspection of ??-?, ??2, ??4, ??5 connector on ???-?? separator pump in [???] behind panel 139 and line 5182-03 from Pretreat and Water Dispenser (????) to [???] in its transparent section
SLEEP Questionnaire
??-8
Body Mass Measurement
HMS – Vision Test
Comm config for conference from MRM1
Story Time – Why So Fast Read
Installation and Connection of ??-108/109? Monoblock in MRM1.
HMS – Vision Questionnaire
Ocular Health (OH) – Blood Pressure Operations
Ocular Health Experiment – Tonometry
Study of Cardiovascular System Under Graded Physical Load on VELO.
Operator assistance in study of cardiovascular system under graded physical load on VELO
SODF Update
MOTOCARD. Experiment Ops.
IMS Delta File Prep
EVA Procedure Review
??? Maintenance
ISS Emergency Response OBT.
OBT ISS Emergency Drill Debrief
Preparing for ??168-04 (TM parameter ?264) Temperature Sensor replacement in SM. [Aborted]
Exercise Data Downlink via OCA
CONTUR-2. Experiment Session Ops.
OBT ISS Emergency Drill Conference (S-band)
EVA Procedure Conference
PAO Event

Completed Task List Items
CCE – Spreading Wings Event
61P USOS Cargo Unpack [In Work]

Ground Activities
All activities are on schedule unless otherwise noted.

HCZ MDM R4 Software Load
Standby C&C MDM Software Load

Three-Day Look Ahead:
Tuesday, 10/20: Ocular Health, EMU Loop Scrubs, EVA Tool Config, Fundoscope, NRCSD into JEMAL, X2R14
Wednesday, 10/21: EVA Safer Practice, EVA Tool Config, Ocular Health, EVA Camera Setup, X2R14
Thursday, 10/22: EMU Water Recharge, EMU OFV

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 – Operate
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 – Shutdown
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab – Shutdown
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 – Operate
Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) – Process
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) – Standby
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab – Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 – Warm Up