NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 4 March 2015

Soyuz TMA-14M Commander Alexander Samokutyaev and Flight Engineer Elena Serova are counting to their departure March 11 with Expedition 42 Commander Barry Wilmore.
The two cosmonauts trained on Soyuz descent procedures and checked out emergency communications gear. Wilmore also prepared for his departure and began packing gear for the return home.

Meanwhile, One-Year crew members NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko are in Star City, Russia, getting ready for final qualification exams in the Soyuz trainer. They are at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center preparing for their launch aboard a Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft March 27 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The veteran space duo will take a six-hour, four-orbit ride to the International Space Station where they will live and work until March 2016.

This patch represents the historic one-year expedition to the International Space Station, spanning Increments 43 through 46. The ISS, an orbiting laboratory above the Earth, provides a unique environment in which to study the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body. This one-year mission will pave the way for future pursuits in space exploration of humankind on longer journeys to farther destinations. The large number 1 on the patch is emblazoned with U.S. and Russian Flags depicting the duration of the flight and the countries of its crew members. The last names of the one-year crew, ISS Commander Scott Kelly and Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko, appear under the space station symbol above 13 stars, which represent the astronauts and cosmonauts who will be onboard and working together in harmony during this year-long mission. Earth and the sun are depicted with two orbital planes, symbolizing the ISS orbiting Earth while the Earth is orbiting the sun during the year-long mission.

Note: The NASA insignia design for shuttle and space station flights is reserved for use by the astronauts and for other official use as the NASA Administrator may authorize. Public availability has been approved only in the form of illustrations by the various news media. When and if there is any change in this policy, which is not anticipated, it will be publicly announced.

On-Orbit Status Report

NanoRack Cubesat Deployer (NRCSD): Wilmore performed visual inspection of NRCSD secondary latches, confirming their configuration after extension and retraction. He also took photos and downlinked to ground teams for review. Four CubeSats were successfully deployed overnight. The last 2 CubeSats are scheduled for deploy tonight.

Microbial Observatory: Virts held a crew conference with the Microbial Observatory payload developer and performed surface and air sampling using various devices in multiple locations to characterize the types of microbial populations on ISS. Each location was photographed prior to sample collection and files downlinked for review by ground teams. The samples will be returned on 40S for ground analysis. ISS Microbial Observatory-1 will continue monitoring the types of microbes that are present on ISS. Over a 1 year period, surfaces of ISS U.S. Destiny will be wiped to collect microbes growing on the surface and air samples will be taken 4 times. After the samples are returned to Earth, a molecular analyses of the RNA and DNA will be conducted to identify the specific microbes that are present to understand the microbial flora diversity and how it changes over time.

Airway Monitoring: Cristoforetti deployed and configured equipment in the US Airlock to support Airway Monitoring activities scheduled for Friday. The primary goal of this experiment is to determine how gravity and microgravity influence the turnover of Nitric Oxide (NO) in the lungs. During future manned missions to the Moon and to Mars, airway inflammation due to toxic dust inhalation is a risk factor. Since dust may cause airway inflammation and since such inflammation can be monitored by exhaled NO (Nitric Oxide) analysis the present study is highly relevant for astronaut health in future space programs.

Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) Status: UPA continues to process urine nominally following yesterday’s Fluids Control and Pump Assembly (FCPA) Remove & Replace (R&R).

40S Transfer Operations: Wilmore prepacked US items to be loaded into 40S. This is in preparation for 40S undock and landing next week.

Mobile Servicing System (MSS) Operations: Earlier today Ground Controllers powered up the MSS and performed the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) diagnostics. They then released the SPDM from Mobile Base System (MBS) Power Data Grapple Fixture (PDGF)2, maneuvered the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) and the SPDM away from the MBS and stowed Robot Micro Conical Tool (RMCT)2 in the SPDM Tool Holder Assembly (THA)). Later today Ground Controllers will grasp RMCT1 with SPDM Orbit Replaceable Unit (ORU) Tool Changeout Mechanism (OTCM)2 and perform a checkout of this RMCT. Finally the Ground Controllers will release RMCT1 and set up the SSRMS and SPDM for the start of the Pump Module (PM) Flight Releasable Attachment Mechanism (FRAM) Swap on 06 February.

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

HRF Blood Sample Collection
MORZE. Logging Liquid and Food (Medicine) Intake
Removal of resistors from ???-? thermostat and stowage in Soyuz 714.
CARDIOVECTOR. Experiment Ops
CASKAD. Manual Mixing in Bioreactor
Portable O2 Monitor (POM) Battery Charge Initiation
Acoustic Dosimeter Setup for FE-2 and FE-4
KHIMIYA OBRAZOVANIYE. Tagup on Kits for Return
Crew Departure Prep
MICROBS1-CREW-CONF
Periodic Fitness Evaluation – Nom Ops
Microbial Observatory-1 Sample Collection (Part 1)
HRF Blood Collection Hardware Stowage
HRF – Hardware Setup
Equipment Prep for MRM2 Terminal Computer [???2] Firmware Upgrade
CUBESAT – Photos to Inspect Secondary Latch of NanoRacks Cubesat
MRM2 [???] SW Version 03.04.01 image transfer from media to ???2 via Laptop RS3
BIOCARD. Experiment Ops
CUBESAT – Photos to Inspect Secondary Latch of NanoRacks Cubesat
Microbial Observatory-1 Sample Collection (Part 2)
WRS – Recycle Tank Fill
?? 714 Descent OBT and conference for return equipment list and stowage
IDENTIFIKATSIYA. Copy ???-? micro-accelerometer data to laptop
US EVA Tool Stow
Test activation of Vozdukh Atmosphere Purification System Emergency Vacuum Valves
Microbial Observatory-1 Sample Collection (Part 3)
PTV – Charger Battery Swap
D2Xs photo camera reconfig after US EVA
SEISMOPROGNOZ. Downlink data from Control and Data Acquisition Module (????) HDD
Prepack of US items to be loaded into ?? Soyuz 714
EML – Gas Valves Closing
WRS – Recycle Tank Fill
HMS Defibrillator Inspection
Deploy PS-120 JUNCTION BOX in Air Lock
FMK Deployment Ops
Grab Sample Container (GSC) Sampling Operations
US EVA Tool Stow
MORZE. Logging Liquid and Food (Medicine) Intake
MPEG2 Multicast Test after BRI Reboot.
Crew configuration for Emergency VHF-1 Comm Checkout from USOS over US ground sites
VIZIR. Experiment Ops.
Return to nominal comm configuration
???? Configuration for MRM2
Hardware prepack for return and disposal on ?? 714
Replacement of modified Multifunction Indicator Panel (???) in MRM2
Prepack of US items to be loaded into ?? Soyuz 714
Comm reconfig for nominal ops
PTV – Charger Battery Swap
EMU – Conductivity Test
WHC Flush Water Tank Fill
IMS Delta File Prep
SEISMOPROGNOZ.
Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) iPad File Transfer
HRF – Hardware Setup
MORZE. Preparation Ops
Terminate EMU METOX Regeneration
OTKLIK. Equipment Check.
CASKAD. Manual Mixing in Bioreactor
Start EMU Metox Regeneration
Portable O2 Monitor (POM) Battery Deactivation
TV Greetings
Completed Task List Items

58P unpack
Ground Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.

CubeSat deploys
MSS powerup
SPDM diagnostics
SPDM unstow
RMCT checkout (In work)
MSS PM FRAM relocation maneuver (In work)
Three-Day Look Ahead:

Thursday, 03/05: Airway Monitoring AirLock prep, EVA tool stow, 40S prepack
Friday, 03/06: Airway Monitoring AirLock activities, OBT Soyuz Drill, crew departure prep
Saturday, 03/07: Crew off duty
QUICK ISS Status – Environmental Control Group:

Component – Status
Elektron – On
Vozdukh – On
[???] 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 – Idle
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 – Operate
Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) – Process
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) – Normal
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab – Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 – Full up