NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 25 June 2015
The Expedition 44 trio aboard the International Space Station participated in a variety of medical science today. The crew is also preparing for the arrival of SpaceX CRS-7 scheduled for Tuesday morning.
Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly got together in the morning for ultrasound scans of their eyes with assistance from specialists on the ground for the Ocular Health study. Kelly also partnered with his fellow One-Year crew member Mikhail Kornienko for the Fine Motor Skills experiment that observes how astronauts operate and repair interactive, touch-based and sensitive technologies in space.
SpaceX is counting down to its launch of the Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon cargo craft Sunday at 10:21 a.m. EDT. Dragon will deliver all kinds of investigations enabling research into growing food in space, the chemical composition of meteors entering Earth’s atmosphere and the causes of cancer and impaired immune systems. Among the international investigations are also student investigations.
The largest payload being delivered on SpaceX CRS-7 is the first of two international docking adapters (IDA #1). The IDA #1 will be installed on the forward port of the Harmony module so future commercial crew vehicles can dock at the space station.
On-Orbit Status Report
Ocular Health: Padalka executed his Medical Operations Flight Day 90 (FD90) Ocular Health activities with Kelly’s assistance. Padalka performed Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and ocular ultrasound and later today will execute fundoscope measurements with Kelly as operator. OCT is used to measure retinal thickness, volume, and retinal nerve fiber layer, and fundoscopy is used to obtain images of the retinal surface. The Ocular Health protocol calls for a systematic gathering of physiological data to characterize the risk of microgravity-induced visual impairment/intracranial pressure in ISS crewmembers. Researchers believe that the measurement of visual, vascular and central nervous system changes over the course of this experiment and during the subsequent post-flight recovery will assist in the development of countermeasures, clinical monitoring strategies, and clinical practice guidelines.
Integrated Resistance and Aerobic Training Study (Sprint): Kelly, with Padalka assisting, configured video, Ultrasound 2 machine, and donned the calf and thigh reference guides for his FD90 Sprint Ultrasound. Kelly then performed thigh and calf scans with guidance from the Sprint ground team. Sprint evaluates the use of high intensity, low volume exercise training to minimize loss of muscle, bone, and cardiovascular function in ISS crewmembers during long-duration missions. Ultrasound scans are used to evaluate spaceflight-induced changes in the muscle volume.
Fine Motor Skills: Kelly and Kornienko executed their FD90 Fine Motor Skills experiment this morning between one and four hours of wakeup. In the Fine Motor Skills experiment, crew members perform a series of interactive tasks on a touchscreen tablet. The investigation is the first fine motor skills study to measure long-term microgravity exposure, different phases of microgravity adaptation, and sensorimotor recovery after returning to Earth gravity. The goal of Fine Motor Skills is to answer how fine motor performance in microgravity trend/vary over the duration of a six-month and year-long space mission; how fine motor performance on orbit compare with that of a closely matched participant on Earth; and how performance trend/vary before and after gravitational transitions, including the periods of early flight adaptation, and very early/near immediate post-flight periods.
SpaceX (SpX)-7 Preparations: Kelly and Padalka completed another session of On Board Training (OBT) with the robotics trainer to prepare for capture/berthing of the Dragon vehicle. Today they practiced a 30 meter approach and two capture point hold runs. SpX-7 launch is planned for Sunday, June 28 with berthing on Tuesday, June 30.
Ground Camera Calibration – Ground controllers performed a calibration of ISS external cameras today, in preparation for SpaceX-7 arrival. The purpose of the calibration is to make sure that the overlays displayed by the Robotics Workstation line up properly with the video images during SpaceX-7 approach and capture. Today’s activity gathered data on the camera pan and tilt calibration. Using this data, ground teams determined that the camera calibrations are within limits and no adjustments are needed.
Today’s Planned Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.
SLEEP questionnaire
SPLANKH. Experiment ops.
SLEEP questionnaire
??? – hardware prep
??? – eye scan
??? – hardware stow
USND2- activation
Fine Motor Skills – experiment
FINEMOTR – experiment ops
Eye ultrasound – hardware prep
Eye ultrasound
??? Maintenance
Eye ultrasound – data transfer
Preparing LAB Camcorder in LAB RWS Mon 1 for Earth observation
?TKLIK. Instrumentation monitoring
Eye ultrasound – closeout ops
SPRINT- hardware setup
SPRINT- experiment ops assist
SPLANKH. Repeat bio-chemical blood analysis.
SPLANKH. Closeout ops.
USND2- deactivation
Dragon rendezvous and berthing OBT procedures self-study
URAGAN. Observation and photography using [?? ???] science instrumentation
SPLANKH. Experiment ops
PROBOI. [??] teardown and connecting cables
RGN – water transfer to EDV (start)
Fundoscopic eye exam – hardware prep
IMS update
Fundoscopic eye exam – pupil dilation
SYN_MUSCL- photo registry
RGN – water transfer to EDV (end)
Fundoscopic eye exam
CONTENT. Experiment ops
Crew conference with Astronaut Office
Flight Director conference
Fundoscopic eye exam – hardware stow
Completed Task List Items
None
Ground Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.
SPRINT
Ocular Health
Dragon OBT
Camera Calibration
Three-Day Look Ahead:
Friday, 06/26: Crew off duty
Saturday, 06/27: Housekeeping, Crew off duty
Sunday, 06/28: Crew off duty, SpX-7 launch
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 – Shutdown
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 – Operate
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
