NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 1 November 2017 – Preparing for the Orbital ATK Cargo Mission
Routine–and not-so-routine–housekeeping duties continue for Expedition 53 aboard the International Space Station in preparation for an upcoming Orbital ATK 8 (OA-8) commercial launch targeted for Nov. 11.
The crewmates prepared the Permanent Multipurpose Module rack fronts to accept cargo by moving smaller items off and staging them for disposal. During OA-8 cargo operations, the items marked for disposal will be swapped with new cargo arriving aboard OA-8.
During Orbital ATK’s eighth Cygnus resupply mission, the cargo craft will make a nine-minute ascent to space and then begin a two-day trek to the space station. Upon arrival, it will captured by Canadarm2 and installed for a month-long stay. Tonight, ground teams will reboost the station using the thrusters on Progress 67, which will put it at the proper altitude to meet up with Cygnus.
The crew also spent part of the workday photo documenting their uncommon “home life” aboard the orbiting laboratory for the Canadian Space Agency study called At Home in Space. This investigation assesses the culture, values and psychosocial adaptation of astronauts to a space environment shared by multinational crews during long mission timeframes. Questionnaires answered by the crew will help answer if astronauts develop a unique, shared space culture as an adaptive strategy for handling the cultural differences they encounter in their isolated and confined environment by creating a home in space.
For Flight Engineers Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba of NASA, their day was punctuated by an educational downlink with students from Shaker Heights High School in Cleveland, Ohio. The students were immersed in the science and technology studies being executed daily approximately 240 miles above Earth.
On-Orbit Status Report
Sally Ride Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM) Node 2 Lens Change: The crew configured the D2X camera for EarthKAM with the 180mm lens. EarthKAM allows thousands of students to photograph and examine Earth from a space crew’s perspective. Using the Internet, the students control a special digital camera mounted on-board the International Space Station. This enables them to photograph the Earth’s coastlines, mountain ranges and other geographic items of interest from the unique vantage point of space. The team at Sally Ride EarthKAM then posts these photographs on the Internet for the public and participating classrooms around the world to view.
Astronaut Energy Requirements for Long-Term Space Flight (Energy): The 51S subject conducted day 9 of the 11-day Energy experiment run, by logging their food and drink consumptions throughout the day. The Energy investigation is conducted over an 11 day period (day 0 through day 10) and measures an Astronaut’s Energy Requirements for Long-Term Space Flight, a crucial factor needed for sending the correct amount of the right types of food with space crews. Nine astronauts will be examined during exercise and rest cycles three months before launch, three months after arriving at space station and adapting to the space environment, and after return to Earth. Physicians will measure metabolic rates, urine content, and bone density to determine energy needs.
Lighting Effects: A 52S crewmember completed the 2nd day of a two week long Sleep Shifted session, by tracking his daily sleep patterns and wakefulness. The Lighting Effects investigation studies the impact of the change from fluorescent light bulbs to solid-state light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with adjustable intensity and color and aims to determine if the new lights can improve crew circadian rhythms, sleep, and cognitive performance.
At Home in Space: The crew took photographs today to document ISS culture. This Canadian Space Agency investigation assesses culture, values, and psychosocial adaptation of astronauts to a space environment shared by multinational crews on long-duration missions. It is hypothesized that astronauts develop a shared space culture that is an adaptive strategy for handling cultural differences and they deal with the isolated confined environment of the spacecraft by creating a home in space. At Home in Space also uses questionnaires to investigate individual and culturally related differences, family functioning, values, coping with stress, and post-experience growth.
67 Progress (67P) Reboost: Tonight, ground teams will reboost the station using thrusters on 67P. Duration is targeted for 03:26, with a target delta V of 0.42 m/s.
Node 2 Forward Intermodule Ventilation (IMV) Reconfiguration: Today the crew installed a new IMV Fan and Silencer Assembly at Node 2 Forward Deck Endcone. They did not get to the tasks to install ducting to provide IMV flow into PMA-2 in preparation for future Visiting Vehicle dockings or to install a new IMV Grille Screen to provide easier cleaning of the Node 2 Overhead Port Alcove IMV Inlet. These tasks will be scheduled at a later date.
Improved Payload Ethernet Hub Gateway (iPEHG): The crew installed an iPEHG in Express Rack (ER) 8. The new iPEHG design corrects performance limitations often experienced by the older PEHGs.
Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) Rack Front Cleanup: The crew prepared the PMM Rack Fronts to accept cargo during the upcoming Orbital ATK 8 (OA-8) mission by moving smaller items off of rack fronts and staging these items for disposal. During OA-8 cargo operations, these disposal items will be swapped with cargo that arrived on OA-8.
Mobile Serving System (MSS) Operations: Robotic Ground Controllers powered off the MSS and translated the Mobile Transporter (MT) from Worksite 7 (WS7) to WS3. After MSS was powered back on, they then configured MSS for the start of Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) preparation operations scheduled to start tomorrow. They finally performed a checkout of the Backup Drive unit (BDU). MSS performance was nominal.
Today’s Planned Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.
Lighting Effects Sleep Log Entry – Subject
ENERGY Diet Log of Breakfast
Relocate Stowage in N2 to Allow Access to N2 Inter-module Ventilation
ExPRESS Rack 8 Rack Rotate Down Preperation
URAGAN. Observation and photography using Photo Equipment
24-hour ECG Recording (start)
Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) Recycle Tank Drain
Water Resource Management (WRM) Condensate Sample Init
TIMER. Initiation
PEHG Hardware Install
24-hour Blood Pressure Recording (start)
MELFI 3 Ice Brick Insert 1
VIZIR. Experiment Ops.
Node 2 Forward Intermodule Ventilation (IMV) Reconfiguration
VHF-2 test from Soyuz 736 via US ground sites
??? maintenance
Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (RGN) Wastewater Storage Tank Assembly (WSTA) Fill
TIMER. Experiment Ops Video Termination and Cleanup
TV conference with VOSKHOD theme-based children’s camp.
Regul-OS antenna feeder system test using FSH3
Photo/TV SAW Mast Port Survey
Water Resource Management (WRM) Condensate Sample Terminate
ENERGY Diet Log of Lunch
BCR/RFID Scanner Reset
Cygnus PROX C/O Review
ExPRESS Rack 8 Rack Rotate Up
Cygnus PROX Switch ON
Video Recording of Greetings
Earth Imagery from ISS Crew Preference Target Operations
Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) – Lab
Procedure review for the LAB1O5 ZSR and LAB1D4 CHeCS Rack Swap
Life On The Station Photo and Video
Preventive Maintenance of SM Ventilation Subsystem. Group ?2 (SKV1)
Polar Hardware Install into Express Rack
Miniature Exercise Device Hardware Gather
Bone Densitometer Rack Installation
At Home In Space Culture Photo
Solar Array Survey Equipment Stow
CONTENT. Experiment Ops
Node 2 Camcorder deactivation
PMM Rack Front Cleanup
VIZIR. Experiment Ops
Node 2 Forward Stowage Replace
USOS Window Shutter Close
??????? Cygnus – ???? ?????? ?????? ?????? ? ??????? PCS ? ??????? BSP-B ? TRX-B
Environmental Health System (EHS) – Formaldehyde Monitoring Kit (FMK) Deployment Operations
Environmental Health System (EHS) Grab Sample Container (GSC) Sampling Operations
EarthKAM Node 2 Lens Change
Monitoring shutter closure on windows 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14
TIMER. Battery Charge
ENERGY Diet Log of Dinner
Completed Task List Activities
Labeling of ROBoT simulator hardware
Ground Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.
67P Reboost
Cygnus PROX Activation/Deactivation
T2 Powercycle
CDRA Blower Test
Three-Day Look Ahead:
Thursday, 11/02: A/L PHA QD, Energy, COL WOOV8 Inspect, Miniature Exercise Device ARED, Lab Rack Swap, Hatch Seal Inspect, Storytime
Friday, 11/03: N3-PMM Leak Check, EXT MDM Build, Cygnus Rendezvous OBT, Food Consolidation
Saturday, 11/04: Housekeeping, Crew Off Duty
QUICK ISS Status – Environmental Control Group:
Component – Status
Elektron – On
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
