NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 27 August 2015

The six-person Expedition 44 space station crew is getting ready to expand to nine people next week. A docked Soyuz vehicle will be moved early Friday morning making room for a new Soyuz spacecraft carrying Sergei Volkov, a new Expedition 45 crew member, and two visiting crew members Andreas Mogensen and Aidyn Aimbetov.
The orbital residents will shift their schedules tonight as One-Year crew members Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko join Commander Gennady Padalka for a short Soyuz ride from one docking port to another. The relocation opens up a port for a new Soyuz crew launching Sept. 2 and docking two days later.

As usual, advanced medical science is ongoing in the orbital laboratory with inputs from payload controllers on the ground and direct participation of the astronauts. Eye studies continued today as scientists observe microgravity’s long-term effects on a crew member’s vision.

The crew continued exploring high intensity, low volume exercise to prevent muscle and bone loss in space. They also explored the effects of fatigue due to packed work schedules and sleep loss resulting from the disruption of the normal sunrise/sunset schedule.

On-Orbit Status Report

42 Soyuz (42S) Relocation: 42S will be relocated from Mini Research Module (MRM) 2 Zenith to Service Module Aft tomorrow with the undock command scheduled for 2:11 am CDT. To support the relocation timeline the 42S crew sleep shifted 5.5 hours earlier today (11:00 am CDT, 16:00 GMT). The relocation is in preparation for 44S scheduled docking to MRM 2 Zenith on September 4. 42S return to Earth is currently planned for September 11.

Human Research Program (HRP) Operations:

– Lindgren and Yui continued with their Flight Day 30 (FD30) Ocular Health activities performing their Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), each acting as the Crew Medical Officer (CMO) for the other. They also performed fundoscopy, again with Yui acting as CMO for Lindgren, and Lindgren as CMO for Yui. OCT is used to measure retinal thickness, volume, and retinal nerve fiber layer, and the fundoscope 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.
– Kelly completed his FD150 Sprint ultrasound. He activated the Ultrasound machine and donned the calf and thigh reference guides. He then performed thigh and calf scans with guidance from the Sprint ground team. Ultrasound scans are used to evaluate spaceflight-induced changes in the muscle volume. The Sprint investigation 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. Upon completion of this study, investigators expect to provide an integrated resistance and aerobic exercise training protocol capable of maintaining muscle, bone and cardiovascular health while reducing total exercise time over the course of a long-duration space flight. This will provide valuable information in support of investigator’s long term goal of protecting human fitness for longer space exploration missions.
– Kelly and Kornienko performed their Reaction Self-Tests today. This week-long session is in advance of the sleep shift required for the 42 Soyuz relocation tonight. Reaction Self-Test aids crewmembers to objectively identify when their performance capability is degraded by various fatigue-related conditions that can occur as a result of ISS operations and time in space (e.g., acute and chronic sleep restriction, slam shifts, extravehicular activity (EVA), and residual sedation from sleep medications).
– Kelly and Kornienko are performing a week of sleep logging. The Sleep ISS-12 experiment monitors ambient light exposure and crew member activity, and collects subjective evaluations of sleep and alertness, to examine the effects of space flight and ambient light exposure on sleep during a year-long mission on the International Space Station (ISS).

NanoRacks Multi-Gas Monitor (MGM): Lindgren stowed the MGM deployed in the Node 1 on NanoRacks Platform 2 to recharge the battery and transfer data. The Multi-Gas Monitor is the first laser sensor to continuously measure four gases that are key for crewmembers’ health aboard the ISS. The multiple low-power, tunable lasers train an infrared laser beam on a cabin air sample, and sensors are tuned to specific wavelengths of light to detect oxygen, carbon dioxide, ammonia, and humidity. The instrument fits in a device the size of a shoebox and detects the presence of gases in less than one second.

HTV Cargo Transfer Status: Kelly, Lindgren and Yui completed 5.5 hours of HTV-5 Cargo transfer operations today. A total of 32 hours remain to complete HTV-5 cargo operations

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

Biochemical Urinalysis
Self-exam for response time. Response time test (morning)
Weekly Crew/GOGU Conference R/G 9716
PRT – laptop closeout ops
Return of acoustic dosimeters to stowage location
WHC – servicing
Return of URISYS hardware to stowage location
USND2 – hardware activation
OTKLIK. Hardware monitoring / Radiogram 9734
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) – hardware prep
SPRINT – hardware install and set-up
FROST – cold pack install
IMS Tag-up (S-band)
Soyuz 716 up and down cargo prep / Radiograms 9646nu, 9711
CARDIOVECTOR. Experiment ops. Radiogram 9737
WHC – servicing
OCT Vision Test (Subject)
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) – eye scan (assist)
MRM1 air vent screen cleaning (Group B). Cleaning behind Panels 405, 406 Radiogram 8393
MOTOCARD. Experiment ops. Radiogram 9735
Comm test and session from Soyuz 716 via Russian ground sites(VHF2)
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) – eye scan (assist)
OCT Vision Test (Subject)
Soyuz 716 up and down cargo prep / Radiograms 9646nu, 9711
Replacement of Dust Filter ????1, ????2, MRM1 Gas-Liquid Heat Exchanger Cleaning
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) – hardware stow
USND2 – hardware power-down
HTV cargo transfer ops
?-? tank R&R and hose in [???] (?-? No. 1409127 (00065906R)
Soyuz 716 Kentavr g-suit sizing
JRNL – log entry
HTV cargo transfer ops
NANO – hardware stow
HTV – transfer tag-up
GLACIER5 – old pack swap-out
HAM session from Columbus
Portable breathing apparatus (PBA) and portable fire extinguisher (PFE) inspection
Self-exam for response time. Response time test (evening)
Eye fundoscopy – hardware setup
Fundoscope – vision test
Eye fundoscopy – hardware stow

Completed Task List Items
None

Ground Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.

SPRINT Ultrasound support
HMS OCT/Fundoscope support
OPALS antenna configuration

Three-Day Look Ahead:

Friday, 08/28: 42S relocation from MRM2 Zenith to SM Aft
Saturday, 08/29: Crew off duty
Sunday, 08/30: Crew off duty

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