NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 2 March 2017
The International Space Station fired its engines Wednesday night slightly raising its orbit to accommodate a crew exchange in April. In the meantime, the six-person Expedition 50 crew continued learning how living in space affects the human body.
The station’s third module, the Zvezda service module which launched in 2000, fired its main engines for 43 seconds overnight. The orbital reboost places the station at the correct altitude for the departure of three Expedition 50 crew members April 10. Just ten days later, two new space residents will arrive completing the Expedition 51 crew.
Scientists are exploring the best nutrition requirements to keep astronauts healthy and productive during long-term space missions. Astronaut Thomas Pesquet is contributing to that research today beginning a prescribed diet for the next 11 days. During that period he will collect urine samples and measure his breathing for the Energy study. Results will help researchers plan meals to ensure successful missions farther out into space.
Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson, who will become station commander April 9, peered at stem cells through a specialized microscope on today. She is helping scientists understand how microgravity increases stem cell replication possibly improving disease treatments on Earth.
On-Orbit Status Report
Lab Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Maintenance: Yesterday the crew installed the newer generation beds, like those in Node 3 CDRA, into Lab CDRA. Today, the crew repaired the CDRA Valve Power Cable W9P12 by splicing in two new wire segments and performing a 120V power check of the connector prior to installing CDRA into the LAB AR Rack. Initial CDRA power and data checkout was nominal. The full Lab CDRA checkout is in work.
Pressurized Mating Adaptor (PMA) 3 Ingress Prep: The crew is scheduled to ingress the PMA3 tomorrow morning. Today the crew reviewed the PMA3 ingress procedure and gathered required hardware for tomorrow’s activities.
Energy Requirements for Long-Term Space Flight (Energy): Today is Day 1 for the Energy investigation; yesterday the subject began the 11 day diet and today began the urine collection for both the subject and control subject. This morning, the subject configured the Pulmonary Function System (PFS) and performed a series of Oxygen Uptake Measurements (OUMs) after prescribed meals and scheduled fluid collections. The Energy investigation measures adaptations in the components of total energy expenditure of crewmembers, so that an equation to determine the energy requirements of crewmembers during space flight may be derived. Such knowledge of energy requirements is of a great importance to ensure health, good performance and the overall success of a mission, and also contributes to ensure adequate exercise load and cargo allotments for food during space flight.
Advanced Plant Experiments (APEX)-04 Photo: The crew retrieved one of the APEX-04 petri plates and photographed it on the Advanced Biology Research Facility (ABRS) photogrid. The picture will be downlinked for ground teams to evaluate the growth status. The APEX-04 (Epigenetic change in Arabidopsis thaliana in response to spaceflight – differential cytosine DNA methylation of plants on the ISS) experiment investigates how spaceflight can affect an organism on a molecular level without altering its outward appearance. Previous research has demonstrated that large numbers of plant genes are expressed differently in space compared to plants on Earth, which can alter how plants grow. This investigation studies the entire genome of thale cress plants grown in space, creating maps of spaceflight-specific changes in certain groups of genes. Results give new insight into plants’ molecular responses to spaceflight, which benefits efforts to grow plants in space for food and oxygen.
Microgravity Expanded Stem Cells (MESC) Microscope Operations: The crew removed a BioCell from the Space Automated Bioproduct Laboratory-2 (SABL2) and placed it on the microscope stage configured outside the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG). The crew worked with ground specialist to image areas of the BioCell plate. Following the focused imaging, the crew reinserted the BioCell back into the SABL. MESC will aid researches determine the efficiency of using a microgravity environment to accelerate expansion (replication) of stem cells for use in terrestrial clinical trials for treatment of disease.
ISS Reboost: Last night the ISS performed a nominal reboost using the SM main engines, TIG 061/03:10 GMT burn duration 43 seconds. The reboost set up the planned conditions for the upcoming landing of 48S on 10-April and launch of 50S on 20-April 20. The 50S launch will utilize the 4-orbit rendezvous.
Mobile Servicing System (MSS) Operations: Robotics operations for Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) Instrument Panel (IP) extraction from the SpX-10 Dragon Trunk have begun.
Today’s Planned Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.
Energy PFS Powerup
Energy Urine Sample Collection
Regeneration of ??? ?1 Micropurification Cartridge (start)
Energy PFS Instrument Check
ENERGY Double Labeled Water Intake
In Flight Maintenance Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Preparation.
Energy Oxygen Uptake – Part 1
Pressurized Mating Adapter 3 Big Picture Word Review
IDENTIFICATION. Copy ???-? micro-accelerometer data to laptop
Electrostatic Levitation Furnace(ELF) sample holder packing for SpX-10 early destow
Water Recovery System Waste Water Tank Drain Termination
In Flight Maintenance Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Preparation.
Standardized Breakfast
Replacement of ??-2 Treadmill Belt.
Energy Oxygen Uptake – Part 2
In-flight Maintenance (IFM) Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Chassis Installation
Empty bladder for ENERGY
Energy Oxygen Uptake – Part 3
Start transfer from CWC-I No.2379 (NODE1; 20.4 L) to EDV No.1234 (00068255R, ???1???1_109)
??? maintenance
Terminate water transfer from CWC-I to ???
Progress 435 (DC1) Cargo Transfers and IMS Ops
Energy Urine Sample Collection
Energy Oxygen Uptake – Part 4
BIOPLENKA. Removal of Samples from the Thermostat, fixation of Constanta cassette No.1-6 biofilm.
Energy Urine Sample Collection
Lab Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Bed Equipment Stow
Energy Urine Sample Collection
BIOPLENKA. Removal of Cryogem-03 after Completion of the Experiment
APEX-04 Petri Plate Photo
Meteor Shutter Open
Rodent Research Access Unit Clean
Energy PFS Conclude
Progress 435 (DC1) Cargo Transfers and IMS Ops
Pressurized Mating Adapter 3 (PMA 3) Hardware Gather
ENERGY Diet Log of Lunch
Columbus Video Camera Assembly 1 Adjustment
Preparing For Upcoming MagVector Science Run
ESA Weekly crew conference
RS remote laptop testing after BRI cleaning.
Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (RGN) Wastewater Storage Tank Assembly (WSTA) Fill
Inventory Management System (IMS) Conference
Public Affairs Office (PAO) High Definition (HD) Config LAB Setup
Microscope Hardware Unstow
PAO Preparation
Delta file prep
Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) – Lab
Dose Tracker Data Entry Subject
Micrgravity Expanded Stem Cells Microscope Ops
Activation/Deactivation of MPEG2 Multicast TV Data Monitoring a (Ku-band)
Cleaning dust filter cartridges ??1-4 in SM
Fluid Shifts Dilution Measures Setup
Download of BRI log from RSS1
CONTENT. Experiment Ops
JEM System Laptop Terminal Reboot
Flight Director/ISS CREW CONFERENCE
Microscope Hardware Temporary Stowage
Completed Task List Items
None
Ground Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.
Lab AR Rack Activation
Lab CDRA Checkout
SAGE IP Extract
Three-Day Look Ahead:
Friday, 03/03: Node 2 Power Cable (HMU 220) Rerouting, PMA3 Ingress, ESA Energy, Node 3 IMV Valve Scavenge
Saturday, 03/04: Weekly Housekeeping, Microgravity Expanded Stem Cells (MESC) Session
Sunday, 03/05: Microgravity Expanded Stem Cells (MESC) Session
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
