NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 18 October 2016

A U.S. cargo craft full of science gear and crew supplies is on its way to the International Space Station after a successful launch. Orbital ATK’s Cygnus resupply ship blasted off Monday night from Virginia on a mission to replenish the space station crew.
On the other side of the world in Kazakhstan, a Soyuz rocket is set to launch three Expedition 49-50 crew members to their new home in space early Wednesday morning. The new crew will arrive Friday morning and dock to the Poisk module after two days of flight tests on the upgraded Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft. NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko will live in space until late February.

Astronauts Kate Rubins and Takuya Onishi were back at work Tuesday on life science experiments, helping doctors understand the effects of living in space. Rubins scanned Onishi’s arteries with an ultrasound for the Cardio Ox study that explores heart health. Onishi also participated in another pair of heart studies including Biological Rhythms 48 Hours, and Vascular Echo. Rubins tested the station’s water supply to improve the safety of future space missions.

Commander Anatoly Ivanishin worked on his share of Russian space research and is also getting ready to return at the end of the month. He will return home with Rubins and Onishi inside the Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft ending a four-month mission.

On-Orbit Status Report

Orbital ATK (OA)-5 Launch: The Cygnus spacecraft successfully launched from Wallops Island, Virginia atop an Antares rocket on Monday at 6:45pm CDT. The spacecraft will loiter until after 48S docking, scheduled for Friday, October 21st. Cygnus approach, capture, and berthing will occur on Sunday, 23-October. Cygnus will be delivering approximately 2,400 kg of pressurized cargo to the ISS.

RapidScat Troubleshooting: On Friday, August 19, 2016 (GMT 232), the Columbus Module experienced a power anomaly where Power Distribution Unit 1 (PDU-1) and a subset of the loads on PDU-1 lost power. Several pieces of equipment were affected, in particular RapidScat operational power, was lost. After successful re-activation of Outlet 3, RapidScat could not be activated and follow up troubleshooting was also unsuccessful. To recover power to the SOLAR payload the crew manually reconfigured the Payload Power Switching Box (PPSB) – Starboard Deck X-Direction (SDX) Switch 1 in order to isolate RapidScat from the circuit. The outlet was then successfully reactivated with power to SOLAR and the source of the trips as isolated to RapidScat’s SDX site. This morning FE-5 and ground teams attempted to activate PDU1 Outlet 3 with RapidScat as the sole external payload on the circuit to further troubleshoot the RapidScat issues. During this morning’s attempt to repower RapidScat there was another Overcurrent Trip, which ended the troubleshooting steps for the day. Ground teams have returned system back to the configuration prior to the troubleshooting.

Biological Rhythms 48-Hour Collection: FE-5 concluded the 48-hour data collection session this morning, doffing the Cardiolab Holter Harness and Actiwatch, then saved the data from the two devices for ground teams to download and review. Biological Rhythms 48 hours is a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) experiment that studies the effects of long-term microgravity exposure on heart function by analyzing an astronaut’s electrocardiogram for 48 hours.

Cardio Ox Ultrasound: With scanning assistance from FE-6 and ground remote guidance specialists, FE-5 performed the Return minus 15 day (R-15) Cardio Ox ultrasound session. Prior to scanning, FE-5 donned Electrocardiogram (ECG) electrodes, marked the Carotid and Brachial arteries to make locating them easier. The goal of Cardio Ox is to determine whether biological markers of oxidative and inflammatory stress are elevated during and after space flight and whether this results in an increased, long-term risk of atherosclerosis risk in astronauts.

Water Monitoring Suite (WMS): FE-6 configured the Maintenance Work Area (MWA) then the WMS’s Microbial Monitoring System (MMS) to test ISS unfiltered water from a Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) sample collection taken earlier in the day. The two test runs were performed first using a low Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) concentration pouch and the second using a high DNA concentration pouch. The WMS is a set of hardware that monitors microbes, silica and organic material in the water supply on the ISS. The hardware ensures crew members can test and monitor the safety of their water supplies on future space missions, especially on long-duration missions to Mars, asteroids or other destinations where Earth-based testing would be difficult or impossible.

Cardiac and Vessel Structure and Function with Long-Duration Space Flight and Recovery (Vascular Echo) Doppler Measurements: FE-5 configured the Cardiolab Portable Doppler (CDL PDOP) then donned the PDOP femoral probe. The crew performed two data collection sessions, each after a 1-minute light exercise session. The Vascular Echo experiment investigates the stiffening of the arteries and increased blood pressure (hypertension) observed in some returning ISS crewmembers. By observing the changes in blood vessels, and the heart, while the crew members are in space and following their recovery on return to Earth, investigators hope to provide insight into potential countermeasures to help maintain crew member health, and quality of life.

NanoRacks File Transfer Test: Ground controllers activated the NanoRacks Plate Reader 2 and successfully tested a file transfer capability to the NanoRacks External Platform (NREP) facility. This capability will be used for the NanoRacks Charge-Injection Device (CID) currently slated for launch on HTV-6.

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

????? Evaluation using SPRUT-2
Crew reconfigures the SDN & SOZ switches on PPSB 1
Potable Water Dispenser (PWD) Sample Collect
Biological Rhythms 48 Holter data Save
????? Psycho-physiological Evaluation: Tsentrovka, SENSOR Tests
Ultrasound 2 HRF Rack 1 Power On
Cardio Ox Ultrasound Scan
Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Potable Water Dispenser (PWD) Sample Analysis
????? Psycho-physiological Evaluation: Cattell’s Test
Cardio Ox CDL Holter Arterial BP Measurement – Subject
Microbial Capture Devices (MCD) and Coliform Water Processing
????? Psycho-physiological Evaluation: Strelau Test
Cardio Ox CDL Holter Arterial BP Hardware Doff – Subject
Biological Rhythms 48 Actiwatch Save
????? Psycho-physiological Evaluation: SUPOS Test
Crew Departure Preparations for Return to Earth
LBNP Exercise (PRELIMINARY)
Crew reconfigures the SDX switch on PPSB 1
?????. Closeout Ops
Collecting atmospheric condensate samples [???] from [???-?2?] up to Gas-Liquid Mixture Filter (???) to Russian Samplers, terminate
Sampling atmospheric condensate [???] up to ???-?2? ??? (Water Purification Column Unit), configuration set up, sampler installation (drink bag)
Crew Departure Preparations for Return to Earth
Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Sample Data Record
Microbial Monitoring System Hardware Gather
Microbial Monitoring System MWA Preperation
Vascular Echo Exercise PDOP Measurement – Subject
Sampling atmospheric condensate [???] up to ??? ???-?2?, Sampler changeout (drink bag)
Microbial Monitoring System Sample Setup
Filling (separation) of ??? (???) for Elektron or ???-??.
Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) – Lab
??? maintenance
Microbial Monitoring System Sample
Photo T/V (P/TV) Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) Exercise Video Setup
Microbial Monitoring System Data Transfer
Sampling atmospheric condensate [???] up to ??? ????-2?, sampler (drink bag) removal, configuration teardown
Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) Exercise Video Stow

Completed Task List Items
Biomolecule Sequencer MELFI Retrieve 1 & 2
Biomolecule Sequencer Sample Initialization

Ground Activities
All activities were performed unless otherwise noted.
Lab MCA Full Calibration

Three-Day Look Ahead:
Wednesday, 10/19: 47S Return Preps, 48S Launch, MDCA Hose Replace
Thursday, 10/20: Off Duty
Friday, 10/21: 48S Docking

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 – Operate
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 – Idle
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