NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 24 June 2016

Three Expedition 48-49 crew members are at the Baikonur Cosmodrome awaiting the beginning of their mission in less than two weeks. Back inside the International Space Station, the orbiting crew is working on research hardware and conducting life science.
Veteran cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin and first time space flyers Kate Rubins from NASA and Takuya Onishi from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency are at their launch site counting down to a July 6 launch. The new trio will launch aboard the upgraded Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft and take a two day trip before docking to the Rassvet module.

Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams and cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin will welcome their new crewmates July 9. After they dock and enter their new home, the new station residents will say hello to family and mission officials and then receive a safety briefing before kicking off their four-month mission.

In the meantime, Williams stowed hardware that observed how gases and liquids flow through porous media. The hardware is part of the Packed Bed Reactor Experiment that may help engineers design more efficient life support systems benefiting future space missions.

The two cosmonauts, Skripochka and Ovchinin, explored how plasmas behave when trapped in a magnetic field. The duo also looked at heart health in space and photographed Earth features to document natural and man-made changes.

On-Orbit Status Report

Multi-Omics: The crew checked the remaining Fructooligosaccharide (FOS) packages and stowed the Fructooligo Bag for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Multi-Omics investigation. The Multi-Omics analysis of human microbial-metabolic cross-talk in the space ecosystem evaluates the impacts of space environment and prebiotics on astronauts’ immune function by combining the data obtained from the measurements of changes in the gut microbiological composition, metabolites profiles, and the immune system.

Expedite the Processing of Experiments to Space Station (EXPRESS) Rack-3 Laptop Computer (ELC) Operations: The EXPRESS Laptop Release 10 disk was removed from the EXPRESS Rack-3 Laptop and installed in the EXPRESS Rack-5 Laptop in preparation for upcoming European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS) maintenance activities.

Packed Bed Reactor Experiment (PBRE) Hardware Stow: Following completion of 4 weeks of PBRE operations, the crew spent the majority of his day de-configuring and stowing the PBRE hardware. The PBRE was used to study the behavior of gases and liquids when they flow simultaneously through a column filled with fixed porous media. The porous media or “packing” can be made of different shapes and materials and are used widely in chemical engineering as a means to enhance the contact between two immiscible fluid phases (e.g., liquid-gas, water-oil, etc.). Packed columns can serve as reactors, scrubbers, strippers, etc. in systems where efficient interphase contact is desired, both on Earth and in space. The next operations are planned for this December.

ISS Maneuver to Solar Attitude: Yesterday the ISS performed a CMG attitude maneuver to a slightly biased attitude that allows the Solar payload on Columbus to maintain visibility of the sun. ISS will stay in the Solar attitude until June 27.

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

Kulonovskiy Kristall Experiment Run r/g 2630
CARDIOVECTOR. Experiment Ops r/g 2633
EXPRESS Rack 5 CLS Laptop Release 10 disk Insert
DUBRAVA. Observation and Photography using VSS / r/g 2634
Multi Omics (MO) Equipment Stowage
Starry Night Photos through Soyuz 720 [CA] window plane II / r/g 2628
CARDIOVECTOR. Experiment Ops r/g 2632
Countermeasures System (CMS) Sprint Exercise, Optional
Packed Bed Reactor Experiment (PBRE) Operations Overview
IMS tagup (S-band) / r/g 2629
URAGAN. Observation and photography using Photo Equipment / r/g 2631
Packed Bed Reactor Experiment (PBRE) Equipment Stowage
KULONOVSKIY KRISTALL. Copy and Downlink Data / r/g 2630
KULONOVSKIY KRISTALL. Hardware Teardown / r/g 2630
URAGAN. Observation and photography using Photo Equipment / r/g 2631
Progress 432 [AO] Transfers and IMS Ops / r/g 1812, 1832
Cleaning vent screens on FGB interior panels 116, 316, 231, 431
IMS Delta File Prep
??? Maintenance
MSG Hardware Deactivation

Completed Task List Items
iPAD cert update [Active]

Ground Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.
Nominal ground commanding

Three-Day Look Ahead:
Saturday, 06/25: Crew off duty, housekeeping
Sunday, 06/26: Crew off duty
Monday, 06/27: Lab MCA Connector Troubleshooting, Ultrasonic Background Noise Test

QUICK ISS Status – Environmental Control Group:

Component – Status
Elektron – On
Vozdukh – Manual
[???] 1 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV1”) – Off
[???] 2 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV2”) – On
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab – Standby
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) – Standby
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab – Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 – Full Up