NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 12 November 2020 – Preparing for SpaceX Crew-1
The Expedition 64 crew is getting ready to welcome four new crew members to the International Space Station this weekend.
The orbiting trio is also gearing up for a Russian spacewalk that will take place soon afterward.
The SpaceX Crew-1 mission, with Commander Michael Hopkins, Pilot Victor Glover and Mission Specialists Shannon Walker and Soichi Noguchi, is scheduled to launch to the station on Saturday at 7:49 p.m. EST. The Crew Dragon spacecraft, with the U.S. and Japanese quartet aboard, will dock to the Harmony module’s forward-facing international docking adapter on Sunday at 4:20 a.m.
The four Commercial Crew astronauts suited up today and practiced their countdown procedures inside the Crew Dragon at the Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A.
Meanwhile, on the station, NASA Flight Engineer Kate Rubins configured a laptop computer for operations with the Crew Dragon vehicle after it arrives on Sunday. Rubins also cleaned up inside the Harmony module, stowing cargo to accommodate the new crew.
The two cosmonauts aboard the station, Commander Sergey Ryzhikov and Flight Engineer Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, are getting ready for their first spacewalk scheduled for Nov. 18 at 9:30 a.m. The Roscosmos duo took turns exercising on a treadmill today for a cardiovascular assessment as part of their spacewalk preparations. Afterward, the pair installed lights, cameras, and rechargeable lithium-ion batteries on their Orlan spacesuits.
On-Orbit Status Report
Payloads
GRIP: The crew performed an external Hard drive installation to the SSC-6 laptop in preparation for upcoming GRIP operations. The GRIP experiment studies the long-duration spaceflight effects on the abilities of human subjects to regulate grip force and upper limbs trajectories when manipulating objects during different kind of movements: oscillatory movements, rapid discrete movements and tapping gestures.
EarthKAM (Sally Ride Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle Schools): The crew swapped out the EarthKam camera lens to an 85mm lens configuration in support of the Mission 72 objections at the Node 2 window. 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 ISS. 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 EarthKAM team then posts these photographs on the Internet for viewing by the public and participating classrooms around the world.
Standard Measures: The crew performed (day three of four) Flight Day 30 Saliva collections and performed the Fecal collection setup in support of the Standard Measures study. The aim of the investigation is to ensure consistent capture of an optimized, minimal set of measures from crewmembers until the end of the ISS Program in order to characterize the adaptive responses to and risks of living in space. Among other things, the ground teams perform analyses for metabolic and chemistry panels, immune function, microbiome, etc. These measures populate a data repository to enable high-level monitoring of countermeasure effectiveness and meaningful interpretation of health and performance outcomes, and support future research on planetary missions.
Plant Habitat-02: The crew reviewed procedures for the upcoming Radish leaf harvest operations. Assessment of Nutritional Value and Growth Parameters of Space-grown Plants (Plant Habitat-02) cultivates radishes as a model plant that is nutritious and edible, has a short cultivation time, and is genetically similar to Arabidopsis, a plant frequently studied in microgravity. Developing the capability for food production in space requires understanding cultivation conditions such as intensity and spectral composition of light and the effects of the culture medium or soil. This research could help optimize plant growth in the unique environment of space, as well as evaluation of nutrition and taste of the plants.
EML Batch 2 (Electromagnetic Levitator): The crew performed a programming cable installation to allow file transfers between the Mass Memory Unit and the ground. The Batch 2 experiments aim to deepen the understanding of the physical principles that govern solidification processes in metal alloys. The patterns of the crystals resulting from transitions of liquids to solids is of substantial importance to processes in producing materials such as solar cells, thermoelectrics, and metal alloys.
Systems
Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Urine Receptacle Remove and Replace (R&R): Today, the crew removed and replaced the WHC Urine Receptacle and Insert Filter. After replacement, a functionality test of the WHC was performed and the WHC was declared operational.
Crew-1 Preparations: The crew performed two activities in preparation for Crew-1 arrival. The crew relocated and deployed a laptop (SSC) which will be used during Crew-1 approach and docking. The crew will return to reconfigure the laptop at a later date. The crew also reconfigured stowage in the Node 2 Forward Endcone. The Crew-1 vehicle will dock to Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 (PMA-2) which is located at Node 2 Forward.
Nitrogen/Oxygen Recharge System (NORS) Oxygen (O2) Re-pressurization: The ground flight control team performed a re-pressurization of the ISS cabin atmosphere using O2 from a NORS tank. When the NORS tank is empty, it will be returned to ground where it will be inspected, recharged, and manifested on an upcoming resupply mission.
ISS Reboost: Today the ISS performed a reboost using the SM Aft 75P R&D thrusters. This reboost puts the ISS in a good trajectory for the arrival of Russian visiting vehicles next year.
Completed Task List Activities:
None
Today’s Ground Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
Nitrogen/Oxygen Recharge System O2 Repress
Reboost Commanding
Look Ahead Plan
Friday, 11/13 (GMT 318)
Payloads:
Repository (NASA) and Phospho -Aging (JAXA) Urine setup
Standard Measures-Saliva, Body and Fecal collect (NASA)
Plant Hab-02 Leaf gather (NASA)
ISS Experience Node2 setup (NASA)
Systems:
Dragon – Station Support Computer Relocate
Docking Dragon Monitoring Tools Setup
PMA Ventilation Prior to Ingress
Saturday, 11/14 (GMT 319)
Payloads:
Repository (NASA) and Phospho -Aging (JAXA) Urine collect
Systems:
Crew Off-Duty
Sunday, 11/15 (GMT 320)
Payloads:
Repository (NASA) and Phospho -Aging (JAXA) Urine and blood collect
ISS Experience record Crew-1 arrival (NASA)
Actiwatch Plus donning (NASA)
Systems:
Dragon Approach Monitoring
Dragon Vehicle Integration
ISS Safety Briefing
Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
HRF Generic Saliva Collection 10 Minutes
HRF Generic MELFI Sample Retrieval And Insertion Operations
On MCC Go Regeneration of ??? Micropurification Cartridge ?2 (end)
Laptop RSK1 battery checkout
ISS crew and ???? (RSA Flight Control Management Team) weekly conference (S-band)
EML Reprogramming Cable installation
Connecting cable 17??.42?8242?-9080 to local analog switch ???1? (?147).
Gathering and staging medical kit for EVA
Assessment of Cardiovascular Function on Cycle Ergometer.
Study of cardiovascular system response to measured cycle ergometer load (assistance)
Urine Transfer System Offload EDV Swap
In Flight Maintenance (IFM) Waste and Hygeine Compartment (WHC) Urine Receptacle (UR) and Insert Filter (IF) Remove and Replace
Dragon SSC Deploy Part 1 (PARTIALLY DEFERRED)
EarthKAM Node 2 85MM Lens Change
Checking cover closure on SM windows 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14. Note 10
EML Reprogramming Cable removal
[????] Configuration for MRM2
Inventory Management System (IMS) Conference
Installation of US EMU lights, TV cameras, and REBA power units on Orlan-MKS No.4 and No.5.
Node2 Forward Hardware Unstow
Food Acceptability Survey
Install light and video camera ORLAN suits
Comm reconfig for nominal ops
Checking TLM cable connections in SM.
SSC Client Troubleshooting for SSC 11
Atmosphere Control and Supply (ACS) Oxygen Manual Valve Open
Echo External Hard Disk connection to SSC
Monthly health check of RS video recording equipment.
Standard Measures Fecal Collection Setup
On-Board Training (OBT) Conference after OBT events
Plant Habitat-02 Leaf Sampling Procedure Review
Photography of fracture in SM ???
Reminder Standard Measures Body Sampling And Fecal Collection
Reminder Standard Measures 4-Day Saliva Collection
