NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 18 February 2016

The crew aboard the International Space Station is set to say farewell to a pair of spaceships over the next several days. The first spaceship, Orbital ATK’s Cygnus cargo craft, is being readied for its release Friday morning. After that, the Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft will return to Earth March 1 bringing home three crew members.
Mission controllers in Houston are finalizing preparations before the 57.7 foot Canadarm2 robotic arm detaches Cygnus from the Unity module. NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Tim Kopra will command the Canadarm2 to release Cygnus at 7:25 a.m. EDT Friday. Finally, Orbital ATK controllers in Virginia will command Cygnus to move away from the station and head towards Earth to burn up high in the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean.

Kelly, along with cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, is in his final days of a mission that began in March of last year. The pair will take a ride home with three-time station resident Sergey Volkov who has been aboard the orbital lab since September. When the trio lands in Kazakhstan March 1, Kelly and Kornienko will have lived in space continuously for 340 days. Volkov’s mission will have lasted 182 days.

While the crew is busy with spacecraft departure activities, British astronaut Tim Peake worked on a variety of experiments today. He partnered with Kopra on a pair of experiments, one looking at how astronauts work on detailed interactive tasks and another researching cognitive performance. Peake also studied the thermophyscial properties of different metals inside Japan’s Electrostatic Levitation Furnace.

On-Orbit Status Report

Preparation for Cygnus Unberth and Release: The Crew has configured Cygnus and the Node 1 vestibule in preparation for Cygnus departure tomorrow. This morning, the Crew removed Intermodule Ventilation, Power/Data Jumpers, and closed the Cygnus hatch. Once the hatch was closed, the Crew installed the Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) Center Disk Cover and four CBM Controller Panel Assemblies (CPAs) onto an Active CBM bulkhead, then closed the Node 1 nadir hatch. In addition, ground teams successfully checked out the Proximity (PROX) Communication Link. Cygnus is now being powered though its Power Video Grapple Fixture (PVGF) by the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) and is ready for unberth tomorrow at approximately 4:10am CST with release planned to occur at 6:25am CST.

Electrostatic Levitation Furnace (ELF): Today Peake installed a sample cartridge in the ELF chamber. The JAXA ground team then started ELF checkout with that sample. The ELF is an experimental facility designed to levitate, melt and solidify materials employing containerless processing techniques that use the electrostatic levitation method with charged samples and electrodes. With this facility, thermophysical properties of high temperature melts can be measured and solidification from deeply undercooled melts can be achieved.

Microbiome: Today Kelly continued his Return Minus 14 day Microbiome session by collecting body and surface samples. Microbiome investigates the impact of space travel on both the human immune system and an individual’s microbiome (the collection of microbes that live in and on the human body at any given time).

Cognition: Kopra and Peake each performed their Flight Day 60 session of the Cognition experiment today. The Individualized Real-Time Neurocognitive Assessment Toolkit for Space Flight Fatigue (Cognition) investigation is a battery of tests that measure how spaceflight-related physical changes, such as microgravity and lack of sleep, can affect cognitive performance. Cognition includes ten brief computerized tests that cover a wide range of cognitive functions, and provides immediate feedback on current and past test results. The software used allows for real-time measurement of cognitive performance while in space.

Fine Motor Skills: Kopra and Peake each completed sessions of the Fine Motor Skills experiment today. During the experiment they performed a series of interactive tasks on a touchscreen tablet. This investigation is the first fine motor skills study to measure long-term microgravity exposure, different phases of microgravity adaptation, and sensorimotor recovery after returning to Earth gravity.

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

BIOME – Sample Collection
IMMUNO. Saliva Sample (Session 1)
Cygnus – Cygnus PROX Power Activation
IMMUNO. First stress test, questionnaire data entry
Body Mass Measurement
Calf Volume Measurement
IMMUNO. Test-Tube Blood Collection (finger)
Body Mass Measurement
IMMUNO. Blood Sample Processing
HRF – Sample Insertion into MELFI
IMMUNO. Equipment Stowage
Body Mass Measurement
??-8. Closeout Ops
Water Recovery System (WRS) Microbial Removal Filter (MRF) Purge [Aborted]
Cygnus – Mass Property Update [Aborted]
Study of veins in lower extremities
SEISMOPROGNOZ. Downlink data from Control and Data Acquisition Module (????) HDD (start). Fine Motor Skills – Test
BIOME – Sample Collection
Crew Departure Prep
PPFS – Experiment Ops
HRF – Sample Insertion into MELFI
OTKLIK. Hardware Monitoring / r/g 0030
Cygnus – Final Egress and Closeout for Departure
BIOME – Equipment Stowage
BLR48 – Card Exchange
UDOD. Experiment Ops with DYKNANIYE-1 and SPRUT-2 Sets
Assembly of Separation Unit in MRM1. Filling hoses with water
Water Recovery System (WRS) Microbial Removal Filter (MRF) Purge [Aborted]
Fine Motor Skills – Test
Cygnus/Node 1 Vestibule Configuration for Demate
Installation of CBM Controller Panel Assembly in Node 1
Terminate transfer of water to water storage tank via MRF filter
Cygnus/Node 1 Vestibule Configuration for Demate
Disassemble the setup following Progress 431 (DC1) ???-?? test as a part of ISS mated stack
Fluid Shifts (FS) – Kit Reconfiguration
Transition to nominal comm config in MRM1
SEISMOPROGNOZ. Download data from Control and Data Acquisition Module (????) HDD (end) and start backup
COSMOCARD. Setup. Starting 24-hr ECG Recording
HABIT – Launching the Application
ECLSS: Recycle Tank Drain, Part 1
HABIT – End Task
EPO – Gathering items for EPO Scripts AstroPi and ARISS
ECLSS: Recycle Tank Fill
Hardware prepack for return and disposal on Soyuz 718
Vestibule Outfitting Kit (VOK) hardware stowage
??? Maintenance
EPO – Video Recording
PCS Laptop Relocation
PCS Laptop Relocation
INTERACTION-2. Experiment Ops
Hardware prepack for return or disposal on Soyuz 718
EPO – Video Recording
RWS – Hardware Setup
Robotic Work Station (RWS) – Display and Control Panel (DCP) Checkout
On-orbit Hearing Assessment using EARQ
EPO Hardware Stow
IMS Delta File Prep
SAMS – Screen Cleaning
Crew Departure Prep
BIOME – Perspiration Collection Setup
IMMUNO. Saliva Sample (Session 2) / r/g 1457
??-2 Exercise, Day 3
XF305 – Camcorder Setup
IMMUNO. Second stress test, questionnaire data entry
ELF – Samples cartridge setup
IMMUNO. Final Equipment Stowage
URISYS Hardware Setup
BIOME – Perspiration Sampling
INTERACTION-2. Experiment Ops
BIOME – Surface Sample Collection
Water flow through Microbial Removal Filter
HRF – Sample Insertion into MELFI
BIOME – Equipment Stowage
COGNITION – Experiment Ops and Filling Questionnaire

Completed Task List Items
None

Ground Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.
PROX/PLS Checkout

Three-Day Look Ahead:
Friday, 02/19: OA-4 unberth, EMU water conductivity test, Neuromapping setup
Saturday, 02/20: Crew Off Duty, Weekly Cleaning
Sunday, 02/21: 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 – Override
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 – Operate
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab – Idle
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 – Operate
Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) – Process
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) – Shutdown
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab – Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 – Full Up