NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 8 December 2016

Japan is getting ready to roll out its H-IIB rocket today at the Tanegashima Space Center for a launch Friday at 8:26 a.m. EST to the International Space Station. Riding atop the H-IIB rocket is the Kounotori HTV-6 cargo craft that will take a four-day flight to the station before its capture and installation to the Harmony module Tuesday morning.
Onboard the station, Commander Shane Kimbrough set up gear and ran test runs for the Capillary Flow Experiment-2 today to study how liquids such as fuel and water behave in microgravity. Later in the day Kimbrough photographed lettuce for the VEGGIE-3 study as well as the port solar arrays and radiators for inspection.

ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet scanned his neck, thigh and heart with an ultrasound to examine changes to blood vessels that occur while living in space. He later wore a “smart shirt” for the EVERYWEAR study that collects biomedical data for a wide variety of experiments.

NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson worked throughout the day relocating fluid gear and refilling coolant in the U.S., Japanese and European lab modules.

Cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Oleg Novitskiy conducted an electrocardiogram to study how the heart adapts to long-term space missions. Andrey Borisenko researched ways to improve piloting skills in space and explored plasma physics.

On-Orbit Status Report

Everywear: Today a crewmember configured the Smartshirt for exercise and then donned it for an exercise session with the Cycle Ergometer with Vibration Isolation and Stabilization (CEVIS) while data was recorded by the iPad Everywear application. Everywear is an ambulatory data collection system that makes use of wearable sensors connected to an iPad tablet computer that is synchronized with ground computers. This easy-use system seeks to demonstrate the benefits of extensive physiology data collection for both science and medical follow-up purposes, by improving usability for crew members on the ISS. The main advantage of Everywear is the ability to aggregate data from different tools, but it also brings with it a simplification in procedures for astronauts. This is a versatile device that can cover a wide variety of needs with a tailored data collection capability that allows a unified treatment of data. The use of this personal assistant brings a very important gain in crew-time availability for ISS crew members.

Vascular Echo: A crewmember performed a Vascular Echo resting ultrasound and blood pressure measurements this morning. With assistance from a ground remote guidance team, he scanned his neck, thigh and heart. This Canadian Space Agency (CSA) investigation examines changes in blood vessels, and the heart, while the crew members are in space, and then follow their recovery on return to Earth. The results could provide insight into potential countermeasures to help maintain crew member health, and quality of life for everyone.

Capillary Flow Experiment-2 (CFE-2): The crew set up and initiated test runs with the Interior Corner Flow 1 hardware in support of the CFE-2 Vane Gap experiment. Because liquids behave differently in space than they do on Earth, containers that can process, hold or transport them must be designed to work in microgravity. The CFE-2 furthers research into the control of liquid behavior aboard spacecraft through wetting and container geometry. Vane Gap experiments identify the critical geometric wetting conditions of a vane structure that does not quite meet the container wall – a construct used in various fluid systems aboard spacecraft such as fuel tanks, thermal systems and water processors for life support. The results of these tests may be used to improve the capability to quickly and accurately predict how related processes such as passive separation of gases from liquids in the absence of gravity occur.

Radiation Dosimetry Inside ISS-Neutron (RaDI-N): After retrieving the RaDI-N hardware from the Russian crewmembers, a USOS crewmember deployed all 8 Space Bubble Detectors around the ISS for the Radi-N2 experiment. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) RaDI-N investigation will be conducted by measuring neutron radiation levels while onboard the ISS. RaDI-N uses bubble detectors as neutron monitors which have been designed to only detect neutrons and ignore all other radiation.

Veg-03 Operations: The crew checked and photo-documented the status of the plants in the Veggie facility today. The overall goal of Veg-03 is to further demonstrate proof-of concept for the Veggie plant growth chamber and the planting pillows using ‘Outredgeous’ Red Romaine lettuce. Future long-duration missions into the solar system, will require a fresh food supply to supplement crew diets, which means growing crops in space. Previous investigations focused on improving productivity in controlled environments, but the limited quarters of the space shuttle and ISS made it difficult to conduct large-scale crop production tests. Veg-03 expands on previous validation tests of the new Veggie hardware, which crew members will soon use to grow cabbage, lettuce and other fresh vegetables in space. Tests determine which types of microorganisms are present in space-grown cabbage, providing baseline data for future crop-growing efforts. Behavioral health surveys assess the impact of growing plants on crew morale and mood.

Fluid System Servicer (FSS) Internal Thermal Control System (ITCS) Coolant Refill: Earlier today the crew set up the FSS Fluids Control Pump Assembly (FCPA) and refilled the LAB Low Temperature Loop (LTL) Pump Package Assembly (PPA) accumulator. Once filled, the crew relocated the FSS to the Columbus module and refilled the Columbus Water Pump Assembly (WPA) accumulator. Then the FSS was used to fill the JEM ITCS Moderate Temperature Loop (MTL), followed by the filling of a pair of dry ITCS lines in Node 1/Node 3.

Port Solar Array Mast Imagery: The crew completed a photo-survey of the port solar array masts by capturing a series of images from the Docking Compartment (DC)-1 Port window of the all four port mast structures from tip to base. The ground is working on a plan to quantify and mitigate the risk of solar array mast structural failure due to Micro Meteoroid Orbital Debris (MMOD). Taking these images will provide an outstanding base configuration to compare MMOD strike probability against actuality.

Port 1 Radiator Imagery: The crew performed a routine survey of the P1 Radiator from the DC-1 Port window. During the task the radiator was rotated to two different angles to photograph both sides of the Port Thermal Radiator Rotary Joint (TRRJ).

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

EveryWear sleep assessment questionnaire filling
Aerosol Samplers Battery Charge
Photo/TV SAW MAST Setup
Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (RGN) WSTA Fill
ALGOMETRIYA. Pressure and Thermal Mode Algometry preparation for and measurement session
Crew empties lower compartment of COL1O2 in preparation for Columbus Fluid System Servicer (FSS) ops.
Photo TV Camera Set Up For Radiator Inspection
Fluid System Servicer (FSS) Setup and Refill in LAB
Meteor Hard Drive Swapout
??? maintenance
JPM1F0-01 CLOSEOUT PANEL FASTENER LOOSEN
Un-powering the AstroPi Vis.
EveryWear Smartshirt Gateway charging
EveryWear Doffing of Biometric Patch and data transfer
METEOR Grating Configuration
OTKLIK. Hardware Monitoring
Crew Medical Officer (CMO) On Board Training (OBT)
Environmental Health System (EHS) Acoustic Dosimeter Operations – Setup Dosimeter for Static Measurement
PhotoTV SAW Mast Port Survey
EveryWear Biometric Patch close out activity
PILOT-T. Preparation for the experiment. Tagup with specialists
Ultrasound 2 HRF Rack 1 Power On
Vascular Echo Resting Ultrasound Scan 135 Minutes – Subject
Replacement of Chibis-M Removable Seal Curtain. Get curtain No.2
URAGAN. Observation and Photography using Photo Spectral System (???).
PILOT-T. Experiment Ops.
Capillary Flow Experiment MWA Preparation
BIOCARD. Experiment Ops.
Capillary Flow Experiments Hardware Setup
BIOCARD. Photography of the Experiment Session
Aerosol Active Samplers Hardware Installation
PILOT-T. Closeout Ops.
Vascular Echo CDL Holter Arterial BP Measurement – Subject
Fluid System Servicer (FSS) Relocate and Setup in Columbus
URAGAN. Photo Spectrum System (???) Data Export Closeout
PhotoTV SAW Mast Port Survey
Fluid System Servicer (FSS) Lab Stowage Replace
HRF Generic Urine Collection Setup
ESA Weekly crew conference
Fluids System Servicer (FSS) Columbus and JEM Refill
Water Recovery System Waste Water Tank Drain Init
ALGOMETRIYA. Pressure Algometry Measurement Ops
Capillary Flow Experiments Interior Corner Flow 1 Test Operations
Recharging Soyuz 732 Samsung PC Battery (if charge level drops below 80%)
MRM2 comm config to support the P/L Ops
Kulonovskiy Kristall Experiment Run.
HRF Generic Frozen Blood Collection Setup
Water Recovery System Waste Water Tank Drain Termination
ISS HAM Columbus Pass
MATRYOSHKA-R. Prep and Initialization of Bubble-Dosimeter Detectors
MRM2 Comm Reconfig for Nominal Ops
KULONOVSKIY KRISTALL. Copy and Downlink Data
Robotic Workstation (RWS) High Definition (HD) Monitor Downlink
Purging Elektron-VM Liquid Unit (??) after Shutdown
Radiation Dosimetry Inside ISS-Neutrons Hardware Handover
MATRYOSHKA-R. Handover of BUBBLE-dosimeters to USOS
Radiation Dosimetry Inside ISS-Neutrons
MATRYOSHKA-R. BUBBLE-dosimeter initialization and deployment for exposure
Physical Fitness Evaluation (on the treadmill)
Photo TV Port Radiator Image
Capillary Flow Experiments Hardware Teardown
EveryWear Smartshirt setup for exercises
CONTENT. Experiment Ops
CEVIS Exercises with EveryWear Smartshirt
VEG-03 Plant Photo
Health Maintenance System (HMS) Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Inspection
Photo TV Starboard Radiator Imagery 1
EveryWear Smartshirt Doff and Close out activities
Photo TV Starboard Radiator Imagery 2
Flight Director/ISS CREW CONFERENCE
Remote Workstation Monitor HD Video Downlink Deactivation RWS.
Solar Array Survey Equipment Stow
Crew restows items in COL1O2_G, that were removed in preparation for Columbus Fluid System Servicer (FSS) ops.
Photo TV Deactivation for Radiator Imagery
Recharging Soyuz 732 Samsung PC Battery, terminate (as necessary)
ALGOMETRIYA. Pressure and Thermal Algometry Measurement Session. Closeout Ops

Completed Task List Items
None

Ground Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.
Solar Array configuration for Port Solar Array Survey
TRRJ positioning for Radiator Survey
Swap all US CDH Buses to Channel B
Swap all US CDH Buses to Channel A
ITCS Refill

Three-Day Look Ahead:
Friday, 12/09: MSPR Combustion Chamber Installation, ITCS Coolant Loop Fill, HRF Samples, Fine Motor Skills, Vascular Echo, Veg-03
Saturday, 12/10: Weekly Housekeeping, HRF Samples
Sunday, 12/11: Crew Off Duty

QUICK ISS Status – Environmental Control Group:
Component – Status
Elektron – Off
Vozdukh – Manual
[???] 1 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV1”) – On
[???] 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) – Process
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) – Process
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab – Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 – Full Up