ISS On-Orbit Status 3 Dec 2002

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously
or below. First full day of Expedition 6 solo ops on board. And for the
record: with P1 installed and the Orbiter undocked, ISS mass is now 197
tons.

After wake-up at 7:00am EST, the crew had an off-duty day for rest and
acclimatization, settling in for their 100-day Increment.

Marking the beginning of their tour of duty, all station residents had
their first PMC (private medical conference) scheduled. For FE-1 Nikolai
Budarin, the PMC was performed via VHF over RGS (Russian ground sites),
for CDR Ken Bowersox and FE-2/SO Don Pettit via S-band.

Bowersox and Budarin finished up post-11A unstowing, going by an uplinked
Unpack Plan with recommendations of stowage locations for such items as
crew provisions, grab sample containers, payload hardware and various
equipment.

Sox also completed the daily routine maintenance of the SOSh environment
control and life support system in the Service Module, while Nikolai prepared
the IMS (inventory management system) update file for downlinking.

Weekly maintenance of the TVIS treadmill was scheduled for Pettit and
Budarin. This included inspection of SLDs (subject load devices), even
though the SLDs will not be used by Expedition 6. They were to be checked
for any damage sustained during Expedition 5 exercising.

All crewmembers performed their daily physical exercise routine on TVIS
and RED (resistive device). Budarin also did his Day 4 workout on the
Russian VELO with load trainer (NS-1), which is restricted to specific
exercise motions and tempi/frequencies. [At medium speed, one full exercise
cycle should take at least three seconds (i.e., not exceed 0.33 Hz), at
fast speed at least two seconds (<0.50 Hz). Allowed in medium tempo
are rowing, back & forth leaning and trunk flexing, while for fast
tempo only hammer throw and lower arms flexing/extending are permitted.]

At 12:30pm, the crew was scheduled to videotape/downlink their repeat
of the lighting of the traditional Christmas tree in New York’s Rockefeller
(live on NBC tomorrow,12/4, at 7-9pm EST). Properly attired, they were
to do the actual countdown to the lighting of the tree’s more than 30,000
lights, strung over five miles of wire (no plugging-in miming this time).

After undocking yesterday, CMG-4 (control moment gyro #4) exhibited abnormal
signatures, with its spin motor rotor showing an unexpected current increase.
The current also rose at PMA-2 (pressurized mating adapter 2) depressurization,
from 0.36 to 0.42 amps. As of earlier today, amperes were stabilized at
0.45 (normal load: 0.30-35), which is considered "out of family"
for the CMGs. Specialists were working the issue, watching the data, ready
to do a manual desaturation of the CMG if current climbs to 0.5 amps for
20 minutes.

The "Stage" EVA by Bowersox and Budarin is set for next week
Thursday, 12/12. The spacewalk’s tasks and timeline are being planned.
Metox canister regeneration and EMU/spacesuit donning dry-run are scheduled
for Thursday and Friday, 12/5-12/6. [It will be the first time for a Russian
cosmonaut on ISS to wear an American EMU. Before him, Vladimir Titov performed
an EMU EVA on STS-86 on 10/2/97, when Atlantis was docked to the Mir space
station.]

Review of the CEVIS (cycle ergometer) evaluation run by Peggy Whitson
on 12/1 showed that use of the device in powered manual mode for the prebreathe
exercise on 12/12 is acceptable and desirable (but could also be done
safely in automated/protocol mode). Ground specialists recommend that
normal exercise sessions be used to practice for the manual mode prebreathe.

At earliest opportunity, final Expedition 5 medical files of TVIS, RED,
WinSCAT (spaceflight cognitive assessment tool), IFEP (in-flight examination
program) and Nutrition FFQ (food frequency questionnaire) data are to
be retrieved from the MEC (medical equipment computer) and downlinked.

During the quarter-lap fly-around yesterday, the planned photography
from Endeavour of the SM Kurs-P antenna and portside solar array could
not be taken. MCC-Moscow is looking into the possibility of acquiring
some images during the Stage EVA on 12/12, but there is no digital EVA
camera available, and the regular EVA camera cannot zoom in to the desired
200mm focal length.

STS-113/Endeavour is heading home, after yesterday’s highly successful
post-undock deployment of the tethered MEPSI (microelectromechanical systems-based
PICOSAT inspector) satellites, which included excellent downlinked video
for the DOD customer. Weather permitting, first landing opportunity is
tomorrow at 3:50pm EST, with a second chance at 5:26pm.

The PDC (power distribution control) box and the ESEM3 (exchangeable
standard electronics module #3) of the MSG (microgravity science glovebox)
are being returned on STS-113. After landing at KSC, they will be handed
over to a representative of ESA, who will carry them to Europe for rebuilt/repair.
Redesign will not be necessary, and an attempt will be made to relaunch
the hardware as early as the next Progress flight, 10P, on or about 2/2/03,
or else on STS-114/ULF-1 on 3/1/03.

Today’s targets for the CEO (crew earth observations) program were Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia (Riyadh [1.3 million] is the largest city in the world to
rely mainly on desalinated water, piped hundreds of miles into the center
of the Arabian desert from the Persian Gulf. City center a touch left
of track. ESC [electronic still camera] requested), Mt Cameroon, Cameroon
(Dynamic event. This active volcano lies in the equatorial cloudy zone
but should be clear. This big volcano [13,435 feet] rises straight out
of the sea at the angle in the African coastline, just right of track.
No good detailed views exist), Bamako, Mali (Nadir and a touch right,
located on the left bank of the Niger River. ESC requested. Mali’s capital
city [880,000] was a center of learning in the 11th-13th century, as was
Timbuktu [2 minutes later, right of track, on the north side of the great
bend of the Niger]), High Central Andean Glaciers (the issue of rapid
melting of major tropical glaciers made the pages of the New York Times
last week. One ice field has lost tens of sq miles [20%] of its area in
the last 26 years. Crew was to shoot detailed views of the largest ice
fields on volcanoes. The powerful 400- and 800mm lenses provide sufficient
detail for comparative studies. Looking nadir and a touch right of track),
Navassa Island, Caribbean (lies between Jamaica and Haiti. Crew was asked
to shoot detailed views of the surrounding coral reefs. Nadir pass), Puebla,
Mexico (Nadir pass; ESC. This major city lies on the south side of a volcanic
chain, with Mexico City on the north side. Puebla was founded in 1531
and sported a functioning university by 1539), Mexico City, Mexico (a
touch left of track; ESC. One of the largest cities in the world [approx.
23 million], Mexico City lies in a basin between forested volcanic ranges).

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 10:11am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude — 396.9 km
Apogee — 399.0 km
Perigee — 394.8 km
Period — 92.5 min.
Inclination (to Equator) — 51.63 deg
Eccentricity — 0.0003092
Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.57
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. ’98) — 23039
Current Flight Attitude LVLH TEA (local vertical/local horizontal = "earth-fixed":
z-axis in local vertical, x-axis in velocity vector [yaw: -10 deg, pitch:
-9.1 deg, roll: 0 deg]) until December 14.

For more on ISS orbit and worldwide naked-eye visibility dates/times,
see
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/station/viewing/issvis.html