NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 13 March 2019 – Crew Set to Expand to Six
The last full day of Expedition 58–before the launch, docking and consolidation of crews to become Expedition 59–was mostly spent on housekeeping items for the continued, successful operation of the International Space Station.
NASA astronaut Anne McClain floated through the Tranquility and Zvezda service modules, deploying acoustic monitors. She paused in the U.S. lab at an EXPRESS rack to install communications gear and perform additional maintenance. David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency also worked with EXPRESS today, moving Space Automated Bioproduct Labs from rack-1 to rack-2. This miniature laboratory within the larger orbiting laboratory supports life science research, hosting microorganisms (bacteria, yeast, algae, fungi, viruses, etc.), small organisms, animal cells, tissue cultures and small plants for evaluation in space.
Expedition Commander Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos replaced fuel bottles on the Combustion Integrated Rack, which allows the crew members to conduct fluids and combustion studies in microgravity.
Today in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch, and cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, were certified for flight by the Russian state commission and held their final news conference.
Tomorrow, the soon-to-be station residents will hitch a ride aboard a Soyuz MS-12 for blastoff at 3:14 p.m. EDT on, coincidentally, 3/14. After a relatively speedy six-hour flight, the Soyuz is expected to dock to station’s Rassvet module at 9:07 p.m. Expedition 59 will begin officially at the time of docking.
The events will unfold live on NASA TV, with launch coverage beginning at 2 p.m. and docking coverage at 8:15 p.m., respectively. After a brief break, tune in at 10:30 p.m. for the hatch opening and welcome, which will return the orbiting laboratory’s population to six–including three NASA astronauts. And, just in time for Women’s History Month, this launch marks the fourth Expedition crew with two female astronauts.
On-Orbit Status Report
Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) Manifold Bottle Replacement: The crew removed a 50% ethylene fuel bottle and replaced it with a 100% ethylene bottle. They also installed a 100% helium bottle. This is in support of the ongoing BRE (Burning Rate Emulator) experiment, which is part of the ACME (Advanced Combustion via Microgravity Experiments) suite of experiments. The BRE experiment runs are focused on spacecraft fire prevention. More specifically, BRE’s objective is to improve our fundamental understanding of materials flammability and to assess the relevance of existing flammability test methods for low and partial-gravity environments.
Circadian Rhythms: In conclusion of the current experiment run, the crew member removed the Double Sensors and Thermolab Unit, cleaned the Double Sensors and stowed the equipment. This completed the 4th session for this crewmember. Circadian Rhythms investigates the role of synchronized circadian rhythms, or the “biological clock,” and how it changes during long-duration spaceflight. Researchers hypothesize that a non-24-hour cycle of light and dark affects crewmembers’ circadian clocks.
Express Rack (ER)-1 Upgrade: The crew replaced the Payload Ethernet Hub Gateway (PEHG) within ER-1 in the Lab and replaced it with a new Improved Payload Ethernet Hub Gateway (iPEHG). This upgrade is part of an ongoing effort to replace PEHG within Payload Racks with iPEHG. The new iPEHG provides 100 Mbps ethernet services, digital video enabled over ethernet, and increased High Rate Data Link (HRDL) fiber optic bandwidth. While the rack was rotated, the crew also took the opportunity to remove the UBNT (Ultrasound Background Noise Test) hardware from this area. The UBNT experiment was completed some time ago, and a rack rotation is required to access much of the hardware.
Completed Task List Activities:
UNSC Message Video
Expo-Science, Science Fairs
Ground Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
ER-1 commanding in support of IPHEG Upgrade
Look Ahead:
Thursday, 03/14 (GMT 073):
Payloads:
Actiwatch Spectrum,
HRF2 supply/resupply
ISS Experience
LSR filter install
Time Perception
Team Task Switching
Systems:
58S Launch – 2:14 PM CT
58S Docking – 8:07 PM CT
Friday, 03/14 (GMT 074): (Crew Off Duty)
Payloads:
None
Systems:
None
Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
Space Automated Bioproduct Lab 1 and 2 Unit Relocate
Acoustic Monitor Setup for Static Measurements
ALGOMETRIYA. Preparation and conducting measurements in the tenso- and thermo-algometry mode
ExPRESS Rack 1 Rack Preparation
Verification of ??-1 Flow Sensor Position
Weekly monitoring of video recording equipment performance on the ISS RS
IPEHG Hardware Install Part 1
MOTOCARD. Experiment Session
SABL 1 Door Open
In Flight Maintenance (IFM) LAB1O2 Ultrasonic Background Noise Test (UBNT) Removal
Environmental Health System (EHS) Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Water Recovery System (WRS) Sample Analysis
IPEHG Hardware Install Part 2
ALGOMETRIYA. Strain Measurements (Tensoalgometry) Mode
Combustion Integrated Rack Upper Rack Doors Open
Combustion Integrated Rack Manifold #4 Bottle Replacement
LSG Right Filter Bank Removal
ExPRESS Rack 1 Rack Reconfiguration
Combustion Integrated Rack Manifold #1 Bottle Install
LSG LSAH Adaptor Installation
On-Orbit Hearing Assessment (O-OHA) with EarQ Software Setup and Test
Combustion Integrated Rack Upper Rack Doors Close
Filling (separation) of ??? [???] for Elektron or ???-??
Glacier Express Rack Install (with Water Lines)
??? maintenance
EXPRESS Rack 1 Locker Install
Environmental Health System (EHS) Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Sample Data Record
Space Acceleration Measurement System Control Unit Activation
Water Recovery Management (WRM) Condensate Pumping Initiation
Perfect Crystals Hardware Restow
