NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 7 March 2018

The three orbiting Expedition 55 crew members focused on maintenance of the International Space Station while studying Earth and biomedical sciences today. Meanwhile, a new set of station crewmates are in Kazakhstan for final training before beginning their mission in two weeks.
Commander Anton Shkaplerov once again worked throughout Wednesday on life support maintenance in the Russian segment of the orbital lab. Flight Engineer Scott Tingle worked in the U.S. side of the station installing new lights and performing six-month maintenance on the COLBERT treadmill.

Tingle started his day watering plants and photographing the United States during a coast-to-coast orbital pass today. Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai completed setting up gear to measure nitric oxide that the crew members exhaled into the station’s environment and diffused in an astronaut’s blood system.

Back on Earth, the next three individuals to live and work on the space station are counting down to a March 21 liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The new Expedition 55-56 crewmates are at their crew quarters at the Cosmonaut Hotel today reviewing their Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft systems and mission procedures. Soyuz Commander Oleg Artemyev will be flanked by NASA Flight Engineers Ricky Arnold and Drew Feustel inside the Soyuz when they dock March 23 to the station’s Poisk module.

On-orbit Status Report

Airway Monitoring: In support of the European Space Agency (ESA) Airway Monitoring investigation, today the crew completed calibration of the hardware in the US Laboratory and then completed two different measurement protocols; the low Nitric Oxide (NO) protocol which determines how much NO is exhaled with respiration, and the high NO protocol, which determines how much NO is diffused into the blood. The ISS provides a unique environment, allowing these measurements to be taken in weightless, hypobaric and hypoxic conditions. With dust particles present in the ISS atmosphere, this investigation studies indicators of airway inflammation in crewmembers, using ultra-sensitive gas analyzers to analyze NO in exhaled air. This will help to identify potential health impacts and support maintenance of crewmember health during future human spaceflight missions, where crewmembers will have to be more self-sufficient in identifying and avoiding conditions that may result in airway inflammation.

Public Affairs Office (PAO) Educational Imagery Recording: Today the crew recorded a video to explain the importance of Earth observation from space and how the International Space Station is a global observation and diagnosis station. This video will be one of a series of videos referred to as STEMonstrations, education videos conducted by crewmembers aboard the space station that will be used for educational products, NASA TV, and social media applications.

Earth Imagery from ISS Target (EIISS): Today the crew captured images of the continental USA from coast to coast. EIISS captures a series of videos showcasing targets around the world as seen from the ISS. These videos will be integrated into a product for later release.

Treadmill 2 (T2) Six-Month Maintenance: Today the crew completed the 6-month T2 inspection. During this task, the crew inspects the treadbelt slats and screws, cleans the treadmill drive shaft, greases forward and rear axles, vacuums inside the rack and around the treadmill, and inspects the bungee shackle key mount witness marks. This is nominal periodic corrective maintenance. An unmanned activation and checkout was completed. Engineering reviewed the data from this checkout and T2 is a Go for operations.

Acoustic Monitor Recoding of T2 Audio: Today the crew also performed Acoustic Monitor recording of the unmanned activation and checkout protocol that is performed prior to and immediately following the T2 six-month maintenance. Two Acoustic Monitors were used to record audio of the T2 at each tread speed.

Airlock Bacteria Filter Remove and Replace (R&R): As part of routine ISS maintenance, the crew removed and replaced three expended Airlock Bacteria Filters located in the Aft Deck Standoff and clean the IMV Air Return screens of the Airlock Duct Selector Panel.

Solid State Lighting Assembly (SSLA) Installation: Today, the crew installed two SSLAs into the US Airlock. The SSLAs were designed to replace General Luminaire Assemblies (GLAs) to improve visual acuity and to provide a crew health countermeasure for circadian rhythms, sleep, alertness and performance. To accomplish these goals, SSLAs are designed to operate in 3 modes with 3 distinct spectrum. The different spectrum provide control of the blue portion of the light which impacts melatonin production in humans which impacts sleep.

Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) 1 Autostop: This morning MELFI 1 went into autostop. A power cycle was unsuccessful in recovering the unit. The crew transferred the contents of MELFI 1 to other cold stowage assets to allow the team time to review the signature and develop a forward plan. After transfers were completed, an additional power cycle of the unit was successful in recovering the Electronics Unit (EU). Dewar 3 is showing an invalid configuration and the Brayton motor remains powered off. Teams are investigating.

Today’s Planned Activities
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Changeout of Replaceable Condensate Removal Lines [????].
Photo/TV (P/TV) Airway Monitoring Video Setup
Bacteria Filter Spring Realignment
Calibrations, Low NO and High NO measurements
Earth Imagery from ISS Nikon Target Operations
Light Installation at A/L1A3 (Crewlock Aft) location.
Public Affairs Office (PAO) Educational Imagery Recording
EHS Acoustic Monitor Pre-Maintenance Speed Characterization
Ultrasounds Vein Press Check
Replacement of EDV collector and adapter in SVO-ZV
AIRMON Power off and Stow
??? maintenance
Treadmill 2 (T2) 6 Month Maintenance
IMS Update
Airway Monitoring Video Stow
MELFI 3 Ice Brick Insert 7
Atmosphere Control and Supply (ACS) Oxygen Manual Valve Open
In Flight maintenance (IFM) Airlock Bacteria Filter Remove & Replace
Photo/TV Treadmill 2 (T2) Activation and Checkout (ACO) Video Setup
Treadmill 2 (T2) Unmanned Activation and Checkout (ACO)
EHS Acoustic Monitor T2 Data Transfer and Stow
Photo/TV Treadmill 2 (T2) Activation and Checkout (ACO) Video Teardown
Light Installation at A/L1F3 (Crewlock Forward) location.
Draining Water from ???
ISS HAM Service Module Pass
VEG-03 Dual Facility Watering for each Plant Pillow

Completed Task List Activities
None

Ground Activities
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
Solar Array Voltage Maximum Power
SPDM Unstow
SPDM Lee Survey
Standard Commanding

Three-Day Look Ahead:
Thursday, 03/08: COL Smoke Detector Cleaning, ACME Hardware R&R, HV5 Server Deploy, VEG-03 Harvest, EIISS Ops
Friday, 03/09: ELF Ops, FIR ACE Module Changeout, C2V2 Cable Swap, Max CEVIS, Veg-03, LLB Charging
Saturday, 03/10: Housekeeping, Crew Off-Duty

QUICK ISS Status – Environmental Control Group:
Component – Status
Elektron – Off
Vozdukh – Manual
[???] 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) – Standby
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab – Full Up
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 – Off