NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 11 April 2017- Astronaut Shane Kimbrough is back in Houston

NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough is back in Houston just 24 hours after landing in Kazakhstan completing a 173-day mission in space. He arrived home aboard a NASA aircraft Tuesday morning while his two Expedition 50 crewmates, cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko, have returned to Moscow.
Three crew members are staying behind on the International Space Station beginning the Expedition 51 mission. They are waiting for a new pair of residents to arrive in less than two weeks. Commander Peggy Whitson is orbiting Earth and leading the station crew of Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet.

All three crew members are busy aboard the orbital laboratory today maintaining its systems and performing critical space research. Whitson explored how new lights on the station are affecting crew performance and reconfigured science hardware with help from Pesquet. Novitskiy worked on Russian life support systems and studied ways to improve piloting spacecraft on long-term missions.

Two new Expedition 51 crewmates, veteran cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA astronaut and first-time space flyer Jack Fischer, will join their orbiting crewmates April 10. The duo will blast off from Kazakhstan and take a six-hour, four-orbit ride to their new home in space aboard the Soyuz MS-04 spacecraft.

On-Orbit Status Report

Lighting Effects: Upon wakeup, the 49S subject provided a sleep log entry and began the first half of a 48-hour urine collection to support the Sleep Shift and Biochem Profile/Repository portion of the Lighting Effects investigation. Subject conducted four urine collections which are performed within a 24-hour period. Each sample was stowed in the Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) for freezing for return and analysis. The Lighting Effects experiment hopes to better quantify and qualify how lighting can effect habitability of spacecraft. The light bulbs on the ISS are being replaced with a new system designed for improved crew health and wellness. 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. Results from this investigation also have major implications for people on Earth who use electric lights

Device for the study of Critical Liquids and Crystallization (DECLIC) Hard Drive Exchange: The crew exchanged hard drives for the DECLIC investigation. DECLIC High Temperature Insert (HTI)-Reflight (R) studies water near its critical point, the point beyond which water loses its distinction between liquid and vapor and begins to behave as a dense gas. Salt tends to precipitate out from water at temperatures and pressures beyond its critical point. Understanding this behavior will assist designers in building extended-life and low-maintenance supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) reactors that will provide more environmentally friendly waste management systems and reduce operating costs of power plants that use supercritical water for its working fluid.

Dose Tracker: The crew launched the Dose Tracker app before completing entries for medication tracking on an iPad. This investigation documents the medication usage of crewmembers before and during their missions by capturing data regarding medication use during spaceflight, including side effect qualities, frequencies and severities. The data is expected to either support or counter anecdotal evidence of medication ineffectiveness during flight and unusual side effects experienced during flight. It is also expected that specific, near-real-time questioning about symptom relief and side effects will provide the data required to establish whether spaceflight-associated alterations in pharmacokinetics (PK) or pharmacodynamics (PD) is occurring during missions.

Expedite the Processing of Experiments to the Space Station (Express) Rack 6 (ER6) Improved Payload Ethernet Hub Gateway (iPEHG) Installation: The crew removed the Payload Ethernet Hub Bridge (PEHB) from ER6 and installed an Improved Payload Ethernet Hub Gateway (iPEHG) in its place. The iPEHG provides additional payload data band width needed for the TangoLab payload arriving on SpX-11. The iPEHG was checked out and is performing nominally. The PWD was removed and reinstalled back in the same ER6 location, to allow access for installing the iPEHG. While preparing for the iPEHG installation, the crew found damaged threads on one of the Microgravity Rack Barrier Posts and its threaded insert. The plan is to replace the Standoff Bridge Bracket to provide a good installation location for a spare Microgravity Rack Barrier Post.

Remote Power Control Module (RPCM) S11A_C Remote Power Controller (RPC) 3 Status: Yesterday, RPCM S11A-C RPC 3 tripped, removing power from the Starboard Thermal Radiator (STR) Multiplexer/Demultiplexer (MDM). Due to unusual temperatures in the RPCM after the trip, specialists suspected that the trip might have been caused by an RPCM failure rather than a true overcurrent. Multiple attempts to reclose RPC 3 were unsuccessful. Teams are reviewing data to attempt to isolate the failure to the RPCM or the STR MDM.

Nitrogen Repress from Nitrogen/Oxygen Recharge System (NORS): Today, the crew performed the first nitrogen repress from a NORS N2 tank. The tank is now empty and ready for return on SpX-11.

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

Troubleshooting possible cause of generating inadvertent command in FGB Program-Logic Control Device [????] via SM-FGB – X Docking Assembly, preparation.
ISS HAM Radio Power Up
COTS UHF Communications Unit Removal
Dose Tracker Data Entry Subject
HRF Generic Urine Collection – Subject
Meteor Shutter Open
WHC UR and Insert Filter (IF) R&R
PILOT-T. Preparation for the experiment.
HRF Generic Sample MELFI Retrieval Insertion Operations
ExPRESS Rack 6 Rack Preparation
PILOT-T. Experiment Ops
ARED Cylinder Flywheel Evacuation
IPEHG Hardware Install
PILOT-T. Closeout Ops
Verification of ??-1 Flow Indicator Position
Filling (separation) of ??? (???) for Elektron or ???-??.
HRF Generic Sample MELFI Retrieval Insertion Operations
Microgravity Science Glovebox Equipment Inspection and Cleaning
EMU Radio Frequency (RF) Camera Assembly (ERCA) Inspect
CONTENT. Experiment Ops
ExPRESS Rack 6 Rack Reconfiguration
HRF Generic Urine Collection Female – Subject
Galley Potable Water Dispenser (PWD) Installation
HRF Generic Sample MELFI Retrieval Insertion Operations
DECLIC Removable Hard Disk Drive Exchange
Atmosphere Control and Supply (ACS) Nitrogen Manual Valve Open

Completed Task List Items
Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) Quarterly Inspection [Completed GMT 98]
Treadmill 2 System (T2) Monthly Inspection [Completed GMT 98]
Data Prep for Return [Completed GMT 98]
ESA Active Dosimeter Area Monitoring Mobile Unit Stow [Completed GMT 98]
ESA PAO Recorded Message “150 e du Canada” [Completed GMT 98]
ESA PAO Message – Martian Meteorite video [Completed GMT 98]
ESA PAO Message – St. Exupery writing contest winners [Completed GMT 98]
EVA Hardware Audit [Completed GMT 98]
Health Maintenance System (HMS) Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Inspection [Completed GMT 98]
NOD1S4 Zero-G Stowage Rack Strap Install [Completed GMT 98]
Station Support Computer 1 Reseat Hard Disk Drive [Completed GMT 98]
Health Maintenance System (HMS) Spaceflight Cognitive Assessment Tool for Windows (WinSCAT) Test [Completed GMT 99]
RED Video Card Swap [Completed GMT 99]
SSC 4 Primary Hard Drive Swap [Completed GMT 99]
EXPRESS Rack 6 Locker Removal [Completed GMT 100]
NOD1D4 Audit – Part 2 [Completed GMT 100]
Rodent Research Inventory Audit [Completed GMT 100]
Strata Final Card Changeout [Completed GMT 100]

Ground Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.
SSRMS walkoff to N2 PDGF
IPEHG ER6 Activation and Checkout
NORS N2 repress

Three-Day Look Ahead:
Wednesday, 04/12: Cognition, ER6 locker install/CUCU install, Man. Device feedstock canister, extruder, print tray exchange, GLA visual performance test
Thursday, 04/13: Rodent Research inventory, ELF removal, MSL sample cartridge exchange
Friday, 04/14: Lab/N2 JSL router R&R, CB2 hardware setup

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 – Operate
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 – Operate
Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) – Process
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) – Process
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab – Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 – Full Up