NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 23 December 2016

The six-member Expedition 50 crew from France, Russia and the U.S. is heading into the holiday weekend with spacesuit checks and eye studies. The international crew will share a Christmas meal, enjoy a light-duty weekend and take Dec. 26 off.
Commander Shane Kimbrough scrubbed cooling loops and tested the water in a pair of U.S. spacesuits today. Kimbrough and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Thomas Pesquet are getting ready for a pair of spacewalks on Jan. 6 and 13. The spacewalks, in conjunction with remote robotics work, will complete the replacement of old nickel-hydrogen batteries with new lithium-ion batteries on the station’s truss structure.

Whitson, who is spending her second Christmas in space, and Pesquet drew blood, urine and saliva samples for the Fluid Shifts study. That experiment investigates the upward flow of body fluids in space potentially causing lasting vision changes in astronauts.

In the Russian segment of the International Space Station, the three cosmonauts primarily worked on maintenance tasks and science work. Oleg Novitskiy worked on communications gear and experimented with space photography techniques. Sergey Ryzhikov worked on water transfers and a cardiac study. Andrey Borisenko worked on life support equipment before studying how a crew member learns to orient themselves in microgravity.

On-Orbit Status Report

Fluid Shifts Dilution Measurements: The 49S subject, with blood draw assistance from a Crew Medical Officer (CMO) Operator, performed the first part of the Fluid Shift activities – Dilution Measurement. Upon wakeup the subject collected saliva, blood and urine and inserted them 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 the samples into MELFI as well. Fluid Shifts is divided into three experiment portions – Dilution Measurements, Baseline Imaging, and Baseline Imaging with Chibis (Lower Body Negative Pressure). The Fluid Shifts experiment 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.

Aerosol Samplers Cartridge Removal: The crew closed and removed the Active Aerosol Sampler (AAS) in the LAB and PMM locations. The battery powered AAS actively pulls in air and collects particles using the principal of thermophoresis. This is accomplished by flowing the sampled air through a large thermal gradient in a narrow channel. During this process, particles are driven to the cold side of the channel where an electron microscope (EM) grid is held in place by a tiny magnet. When returned to Earth, these grids are easily removed and placed directly in the EM for analysis.

Veg-03 Harvest and Consumption: The crew performed the second of two consumption harvests of the Outredgous Romaine Lettuce from the Veggie facility today. The fourth and final harvest next week is scheduled, where the harvested leaves will be placed in MELFI for return. The overall goal of Veg-03 is to further demonstrate proof-of concept for the Veggie plant growth chamber and the planting pillows using ‘Outregous’ 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.

Node 1 (N1) Galley Rack Operations: The crew rotated the galley rack and routed and installed the galley data cable between the N1 aft/port endcone gore panel and the N1 Utility Interface Panel (UIP).

Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Maintenance: The crew completed the following in preparation for upcoming EVA’s:

EMU 3006 Loop Scrub
EMU 3008 Loop Scrub – was cancelled due to a water leak at the Service and Cooling Umbilical (SCU). Time will be scheduled next week to changeout the SCU and complete the EMU 3008 loop scrub.
Liquid Cooling Ventilation Garments (LVCGs) filled with water
Conductivity tests
Today’s Planned Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.

Fluid Shifts Baseline Collections
Fluid Shifts MELFI Insertion Operations
Fluid Shifts Galley Water Collection Tracer Ingestion Operations
Fluid Shifts Refrigerated Centrifuge Configuration
Fluid Shifts Refrigerated Centrifuge Spin Conclude
CWC-I to ??? init
Initiate water transfer from CWC-I to ???
EMU Cooling Loop Maintenance – Part 1
IMS Tagup (S-band)
[????] comm system switchover to the primary set
R&R of FGB ??-9??-8 system ??025? ??2? (?56)
Test of file exchange link MCC- Soyuz 733 [??] PC
Terminate water transfer from CWC-I to ???
CWC-I to EDV Term
Search for vacuum pressure gauge hose
VIZIR. Experiment set up and start using ???? P/L
Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Waste Water Bag (WWB) Changeout
Strata Status Check
VEG-03 Consumption Harvest #2
Aerosol Passive Samplers Status Check
Environmental Health System (EHS) Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Low Calibration
EMU Post Scrub Cooling Loop Water (H2O) Sample
Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) Recycle Tank Drain
EMU Cooling Loop Maintenance Scrub Reconfiguration
EMU) Liquid Cooling Ventilation Garment (LVCG) Water Fill
Fluid Shifts Refrigerated Centrifuge Spin Conclude
SARCOLAB. EPM Hard Drive Removal and Stowage
Fluid Shifts MELFI Retrieve Insertion Operations
EMU loop scrub init [EMU 3008 Aborted]
Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) Recycle Tank Drain Part 2
BIOCARD. Operator Assistance During the Experiment
BIOCARD. Experiment
EMU Water Recharge
Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (RGN) WSTA Fill
Cleaning ??1, ??2 dust filters and ?1, B2, Fan Grilles in MRM2
Aerosol Samplers Cartridge Removal
EMU Liquid Cooling Ventilation Garment (LVCG) Water Fill
Countermeasures System (CMS) Treadmill 2 (T2) Exercise Session
EMU Cooling Loop Scrub Termination
FLUID SHIFTS. Big Picture Overview
IMS Update
Fluid Shifts Urine Containment Bag Stow Retrieval
Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (RGN) WSTA Fill
Environmental Health System (EHS) Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Low Calibration Data Closeout
EMU Conductivity Test
Galley Data Cable Installation
Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (RGN) WSTA Fill
Dose Tracker Data Entry Subject
Ultrasound 2 HRF Rack 1 Setup
??? maintenance
HTV-6 Cargo Stowage Ops in RS
VIZIR. ???? Closeout Ops
Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) Recycle Tank R&R
MRM2 comm config to support the P/L Ops
Kulonovskiy Kristall Experiment Run
MOTOCARD. Experiment Ops
MOTOCARD. Operator Assistance with the Experiment
EMU Long Life Battery (LLB) Charge Terminate
MRM2 Comm Reconfig for Nominal Ops
KULONOVSKIY KRISTALL. Copying data to removable hard drive
Date /Time Sync on 6 RS still cameras to the station time
LAB1O1_K1 Audit
CMO OBT
Stow Syringes used in H2O Conductivity Test
CONTENT. Experiment Ops

Completed Task List Items
Inverter outlet label deploy
Headset replace
ARED cleat audit
Handover procedures questions
HTV6 consolidation
Deploy aluminum tape on Saibo/Ryutai racks
SSC5 fan clean
VEG03 pillow water
HTV cargo ops

Ground Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.
EMU maintenance support

Three-Day Look Ahead:
Saturday, 12/24: Crew off duty, housekeeping
Sunday, 12/25: Crew off duty
Monday, 12/26: Crew off duty for Christmas holiday

QUICK ISS Status – Environmental Control Group:
Component – Status
Elektron – Off
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) – Process
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) – Standby
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab – Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 – Full Up