NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 22 November 2016

Three new crew members are in their first week aboard the International Space Station. They joined the Expedition 50 crew Saturday bringing the occupancy of the orbital lab to six humans.
The two U.S. astronauts, three cosmonauts and one French astronaut are getting ready for Thanksgiving in space. NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson is beginning her third station mission and will spend the traditional U.S. holiday orbiting above the Earth for the third time.

Meanwhile, new crew members Whitson, veteran cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and first time space-flyer Thomas Pesquet and are familiarizing themselves with their home on orbit where they will live for the next six months. Whitson was last onboard the station during Expedition 16 in 2008 before Japan’s Kibo lab module had been delivered and the final solar arrays had been installed.

Whitson spent several hours repairing the Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) today, one of two functional toilets aboard the station. She replaced several components after a leak was detected in the WHC on Monday.

Novitskiy’s previous mission was Expedition 34 which ended in 2013. Pesquet is on his first spaceflight and is the fourth astronaut from France to visit the space station.

On-Orbit Status Report

Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Maintenance: Ground specialists met to discuss the WHC leak that occurred yesterday. Based on review of the imagery the crew took during the cleanup, the ground specialists determined the most likely source of the leak to be a hydroconnector on the Urine Valve Block, but determined that since all of the contaminated hardware would need to be replaced there was not a significant benefit to performing troubleshooting to isolate the root cause of the leak. Today, the crew replaced the Pump Separator, Urine Valve Block, several hoses and a data cable. The WHC was activated, checked out and is go for nominal operations.

Fluid Shifts Before, During and After Prolonged Space Flight and Their Association with Intracranial Pressure and Visual Impairment (Fluid Shifts): Today, a 48S crewmember began the first part of the Flight Day 45 (FD-45) Fluid Shifts data collection. Upon wakeup he collected baseline saliva, urine, and with another crewmember acting as operator collected blood samples that were inserted into Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) prior to ingesting a Sodium Bromide (NaBr) tracer. Throughout the day, the crew will perform more urine, blood, and saliva collections, inserting those samples into MELFI as well. Fluid Shifts investigates the causes for severe and lasting physical changes to astronaut’s eyes. Because the headward fluid shift is a hypothesized contributor to these changes, reversing this fluid shift with a lower body negative pressure device is investigated as a possible intervention. Results from this study may help to develop preventative measures against lasting changes in vision and eye damage.

Water Monitoring Suite (WMS) and Aquapad Sampling: In coordination with regular Environmental Health System (EHS) water sampling, the crew is scheduled to perform the ESA sponsored Aquapad (Paper Analytical Device) technological demonstration and sampling using the Microbial Monitoring System (MMS) portion of the WMS experiment. By using the same water collected for the EHS sample, ground teams can evaluate the capabilities of the new hardware. For the MMS, the crew reviewed an On-Board Training (OBT) video then configured the hardware to sample a low and high DNA concentration sample using the Razor Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Microbial Monitoring System. 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. Aquapad is a new approach developed by France’s CNES space agency: paper impregnated with powdered growth medium creates a 3D petri dish. When water is added, the microbes form colored spots revealing their locations. Using a tablet computer application the crew will photograph the dots to calculate precisely how many bacteria are present.

GeoFlow-2: The crew activated the Multi-purpose Computer and Communications (MPCC) laptop, Fluid Science Laboratory (FSL) rack, installed Anti Vibration Mount (AVM) brackets then released the Facility Core Element in preparation for free-floating microgravity science inside the FSL. Geoflow-2 studies heat and fluid flow currents within the Earth’s mantle. Geoflow-2 aims to improve computational methods that scientists and engineers use to understand and predict the processes in the Earth’s mantle that lead to volcanic eruptions, plate tectonics and earthquakes.

Spacecraft Fire Safety (Saffire)-II: Operations started onboard Cygnus about 2325 GMT yesterday and wrapped up about 0230 GMT when the post-test flow visualization completed. Preliminary telemetry indicated that data and images were recorded as expected for all 9 samples and flow visualization. The Saffire-II hardware performed nominally with no apparent issues. The team is downlinking the sensor and image data and begin analysis of the dataset later today.

Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Stowage Wire Kit Installation: The crew started the activities to install the JEM Stowage Wire Kit. This Kit will make additional stowage available in the area under the JEM Airlock (JEMAL). The crew completed the activity to gather the hardware, but the rest of the activity was deferred due to work on the WHC.

Emergency Role/Responsibility Review: The crew performed a review of the Emergency General Instructions for response to emergencies and roles of each crew member. This review included a discussion of roles of Soyuz Commander, ISS Commander and each crewmember and strategies for working through the response to Emergencies.

Mobile Servicing System (MSS) Operations: The Robotics Ground Controllers translated the Mobile Transporter (MT) from Worksite (WS) 6 to WS7. Controllers will walk-off the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) from Mobile Base System (MBS) 3 to the MBS 1 grapple fixture. They will then unstow Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM). These activities are in preparation for Robotic External Leak Locator (RELL) operations planned to start Monday 28-November.

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

Fluid Shifts Saliva Baseline Collection
Fluid Shifts Urine Collection
Fluid Shifts MELFI Insertion Operations
Fluid Shifts Blood Baseline Collection
Fluid Shifts Galley Water Collection Tracer Ingestion Operations
Fluid Shifts Refrigerated Centrifuge Configuration
KORREKTSIYA. Logging Liquid and Food (Medicine) Intake
Fluid Shifts USOS Operations Historical Documentation Photography
Virus Definition File Update on Auxiliary Computer System (???) Laptops
FSL MPCC Laptop Hardware Relocation and Powering on Laptop
In Flight Maintenance Waste and Hygiene Compartment Stowage Gather.
Fluid Shifts MELFI Insertion
??-2 R&R Ops.
Potable Water Dispenser (PWD) Sample Collect
FSL AVM brackets installation & Facility Core Element release in preparation of scientific operations
Fluid Shifts Urine Collection – Subject
WHC Urine Hydraulic Components R&R
Electrostatic Levitation Furnace(ELF) Argon gas QD connection
Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Potable Water Dispenser (PWD) Sample Analysis
Fluid Shifts MELFI Retrieve Insertion Operations
??? ?1 Absorption Cartridge Regeneration (start)
JEM Common Gas Support Equipment Gas Supply Start
Handover of Increment 49/50 Crew
JEM Stowage Wire Kit Installation Preparation
Fluid Shifts Blood 3-Hour Collection
Fluid Shifts Refrigerated Centrifuge Configuration
CEVIS Handover Video Review
????-1? repositioning (from pos.?306 to pos.?308). Photography of de-installed ????-1? (?308)
CEVIS Crew Handover
Fluid Shifts MELFI Retrieve Insertion Operations
KORREKTSIYA. Logging Liquid and Food (Medicine) Intake
Fluid Shifts MELFI Retrieve Insertion Operations
Fluid Shifts Blood Collection Conclude Stow
WHC Pump Separator Control Unit Cable R&R
ARED Handover Video Review
ARED Crew Handover
WHC Pump Separator R&R
Deactivation of Soyuz 732 Gas Analyzer
Environmental Health System (EHS) Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Sample Data Record
Environmental Health System (EHS) Coliform Water Processing
Fluid Shifts Saliva 5-Hour Collection – Subject
Aquapad Double Water Sampling
In flight maintenance Waste and Hygiene Compartment closeout
Fluid Shifts MELFI Insertion Operations
Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) Cylinder Flywheel Evacuation
Fluid Shifts Urine Collection Stow
KORREKTSIYA. Logging Liquid and Food (Medicine) Intake
????-1? Repositioning (from pos.?306 to pos.?308). Photography of de-installed ????-1? (?308)
High Definition Video Camera Assembly 1 Activation in High Definition Mode
KORREKTSIYA. Logging Liquid and Food (Medicine) Intake
In flight Maintenance WHC Stow
Portable Power Supply 1 Configuration for MagVector
Microbial Monitoring System On-Board Training Review
Data Transfer from MagVector to USB Jumpdrive
Environmental Health System (EHS) RAD Detector USB Cable USB Removal
Microbial Monitoring System Hardware Gather
VEG-03 Plant Photo
Microbial Monitoring System MWA Preparation
Health Maintenance System (HMS) Vision Test
Microbial Monitoring System Sample Setup
??? Maintenance
Health Maintenance System (HMS) Vision Questionnaire
ESA Weekly crew conference
Columbus Video Camera Assembly 1 Adjustment
ISS Crew Adaptation
Robotic Workstation (RWS) Teardown
JEM Stowage Wire Kit Installation to JPM1D7 Part 1
Emergency Ammonia Measurement Kit Chip Measurement System (CMS) Swap
Microbial Monitoring System Sample
CONTENT. Experiment Ops
Emergency Roles and Responsibilities Review
Marrow Breath And Ambient Air Sample Setup – Subject
High Definition Video Camera Assembly 1 Switch to SD Mode
Microbial Monitoring System Data Transfer
Regeneration of ??? ?1 Absorption Cartridge (end)

Completed Task List Items
None

Ground Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.
Lab MCA Zero Calibration
4B3 Battery reconditioning
MT Translation, SSRMS Walkoff to MBS1 and Unstow SPDM

Three-Day Look Ahead: (plans may change due to WHC R&R replanning)
Wednesday, 11/23: Everywear, JAXA Stowage outfitting, OBT Emer H/W Fam, Eye Exam, UIA Biocide Filter
Thursday, 11/24: Fluid Shifts, CBEF, PEPS Inspect, Storytime
Friday, 11/25: CIR, HRP Collections, ENERGY food repack, Eye Ultrasound, MARES EPM HD Install

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”) – Off
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) – Standby
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) – Standby
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab – Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 – Full Up