NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 19 October 2020

Two veteran International Space Station residents will have a Change of Command ceremony on Tuesday before the Expedition 63 crew returns to Earth the following day. Meanwhile, the Russian portion of the crew has temporarily sealed a leak on the orbiting lab.
Commander Chris Cassidy of NASA will hand over control of the space station to cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov on Tuesday. The duo will be joined by the rest of their crewmates for the traditional event live on NASA TV starting at 4:15 p.m. EDT.

Cassidy will spend one more night in space with Flight Engineers Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner before departing the station on Wednesday inside the Soyuz MS-16 crew ship. They will undock from the Poisk module at 7:32 p.m., re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere just over three hours later and parachute to a landing in Kazakhstan at 10:55 p.m. (Oct. 22, 7:55 a.m. Baikonur time). All the activities will be broadcast live on NASA TV.

Expedition 64 officially begins when Cassidy undocks with his two Russian crewmates. New station Commander Ryzhikov will stay in space until April with Flight Engineers Kate Rubins of NASA and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of Roscosmos.

Russian crew members were able to temporarily seal the air leak teams have been investigating aboard the station. The leak, which has been investigated for several months, continues to pose no immediate danger to the crew at the current leak rate. Roscosmos engineers are working with the station crew to develop a forward plan to permanently seal the suspected leak location.

On-Orbit Status Report

Payloads

Payload Network Attached Storage (PL NAS): In an effort to resolve issues with the PL NAS, which is currently unresponsive, the crew rebooted the unit. More troubleshooting will be required, and there are no immediate impacts. The Payload NAS is a file server with five hard drive bays that provides a total of twenty terabytes of raw disk space when used with four terabyte hard drives. Among other capabilities, the PL NAS supports user file transfers from their machine via web browser, and allows onboard ISS systems to access a shared folder location on the NAS.

Phospho-Aging (PA): The crew collected blood and urine samples in support of the PA investigation. JAXA’s Phospho-aging Mechanism of Accelerated Aging Under Microgravity (Phospho-aging) examines the molecular mechanism behind aging-like symptoms, such as bone loss and muscle atrophy, that occur more rapidly in microgravity. Using analysis of human premature-aging syndromes (progeria) in mouse models, scientists identified calciprotein particles (CPPs) as a pro-aging factor in mammals. CPPs behave like a pathogen, inducing chronic inflammation and systemic tissue damage that could be the mechanism behind accelerated aging in space.

Rhodium Inflight Biomanufacturing: The crew removed science chambers 6-10 from their ambient stowage location, took photos of the science chambers, and then placed them in MELFI. Establishing Biomanufacturing Processes for Human Systems in Remote Environments (Rhodium Inflight Biomanufacturing) examines the effects of spaceflight on microbial production processes. Recent studies show that spaceflight affects the composition and function of microbial communities. A better understanding of these effects could help harness microbial production to produce key chemical compounds needed on space missions as well as in remote, resource-limited locations on Earth.

Systems

Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMU) 3008/3009 Loop Scrub, and Iodination: The crew performed EMU water loop scrubs and then acquired and tested water samples for conductivity on units 3008 and 3009. In addition, the ground team took action to rollback the EDaR software on EMU 3008. EMU Loop Scrubs are required preventive maintenance needed to remove any chemical and biological contaminants from the EMU transport loop.

ISS Emergency Hardware Familiarization Onboard Training (OBT): The crew completed the Emergency Hardware OBT which is designed to familiarize the crew with the locations of equipment and the positions of valves used in emergencies as well as practice communication from the Russian Segment (RS) modules in case of emergency.

On-Orbit Sampling: The crew deployed two Formaldehyde Monitoring Kits (FMKs) in designated sample locations for post-flight analysis of on-orbit formaldehyde levels. The crew also used a Grab Sample Container (GSC) to collect instantaneous air samples for post-flight analysis. Sampling is performed every 45 days.

Completed Task List Activities:

Microgravity Sciences Glovebox (MSG) Cargo Transfer Bags (CTB)s Audit [on-going]
Countermeasures System (CMS) Treadmill 2 System (T2) Monthly Inspection
Today’s Ground Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Ground Support for RRM Ops (Thruster Ops, Video Supt, LS FDIR Inh/Ena)
IAS Config for EMER OBT
UHF 1 activation/deactivation for EMU activities
Airlock LTL Init/Term (for EMU Loop Scrub)
Lab MCA Zero Calibration
EMU Data Recorder (EDaR) Firmware Rollback
Crew Email Migration (Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2016 servers)
Look Ahead Plan

Tuesday, 10/20 (GMT 294)
Payloads:

CAL Science Module 2 Power Off/On
Food Physiology
POLAR1 Hardware Remove
Standard Measures
TangoLab-2 Cardcube Replace
TReK Laptop Off/On
Veggie Monitoring Surface Sample
Systems:

WHC Manual Fill
EHS TOCA Run
HMS AED Inspect
Wednesday, 10/21 (GMT 295)
Payloads:

Food Physiology
HERO Product Photo Ops
Standard Measures
Systems:

PEPS Inspect
HMS CMRS C/O
FMK Stow
Thursday, 10/22 (GMT 296)
Payloads:

No Utilization Activities
Systems:

Extended Sleep Period (Crew Off Duty)
Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

HRF Generic Saliva & Urine Collection
OMIKi-SPK. Experiment setup. Capillary blood collection
HRF Generic MELFI Sample Retrieval And Insertion Operations
Phospho-Aging HRF Centrifuge Setup And Frozen Blood Collection Subject And Centrifuge Run
Regeneration of Micropurification Unit (???) ?1 Cartridge
PL NAS Reboot
Recharging Soyuz 747 Samsung tablet battery
??? (Universal Bioengineering Thermostat). Checking ???-? No.07 thermostat temperature and unobstructed area near ???-? inlet/outlet vents
On-board Training (OBT) ISS Emergency Hardware Familiarization
Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) – JEM
ISS Crew departure preparation
LBNP Training (FINAL) Operator
Phospho-Aging Generic Urine Collection Female
Phospho-Aging Generic MELFI Sample Retrieval And Insertion Operations
Familiarization with Auxiliary Computer System [???]
LBNP Exercise (FINAL)
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Swap
ISS Crew Orientation
Rhodium Inflight Biomanufacturing Science Chamber Ambient Stowage Removal
Inspection of voltage converter ??28-120 (behind SM panel 231?)
Weekly c/o of RS video recording equipment, Handover
Weekly c/o of RS video recording equipment
Rhodium Inflight Biomanufacturing Melfi Sample Insertion 2
Urine Transfer System Offload EDV Swap
Soyuz 745 equipment stowage for return
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Cooling Loop Maintenance Iodination
Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) Recycle Tank Drain/Fill
BIOPOLIMER. Hardware removal from exposure location and transfer to Soyuz
Environmental Health System (EHS) – Formaldehyde Monitoring Kit (FMK) Deployment Operations
Environmental Health System (EHS) Grab Sample Container (GSC) Sampling Operations
Recharging Soyuz 745 GoPro HERO3 Batteries (6)
PILOT-T. Experiment Session 1
Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) – JEM
Recharging Iridium EXTREME 9575 phone in Soyuz 745
Crew Departure Preparations for Return to Earth
Preventive maintenance of MRM2 Passive Docking Assembly (???) and Soyuz 745 hatch sealing mechanisms
Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus 4, Power Off
Program Management/ISS Crew Conference
Resetting of devices and units of SM ???
EVA Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Cooling Loop Scrub
Phospho-Aging Generic Urine Collection Stow
Crew Choice Event
Recharging Soyuz 745 U55 external batteries (2)