NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 2 October 2018 – Change of Command
A NASA astronaut will swap command of the International Space Station with a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Wednesday at 10:10 a.m. live on NASA TV.
Expedition 56 Commander Drew Feustel will be handing the station “keys” over to German astronaut Alexander Gerst during the traditional change of command ceremony.
Expedition 57 officially starts Thursday at 3:57 a.m. EDT when Feustel and Flight Engineer Ricky Arnold undock in the Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft commanded by cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev. Gerst, ESA’s second astronaut to command the station, is remaining onboard to lead Expedition 57 Flight Engineers Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Sergey Prokopyev. The homebound trio will parachute to a landing in Kazakhstan at 7:45 a.m. (5:45 p.m. Kazakhstan time) just two orbits after undocking and 197 days in space.
Astronaut Nick Hague from NASA’s astronaut class of 2014 and veteran station cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin will be the next crew to blast off to the space station. The duo will launch Oct. 11 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and take a six hour ride to their new home in space.
Amidst the crew departure activities today the station residents also worked space science and lab maintenance. Auñón-Chancellor worked on botany research inside the Plant Habitat located in the Columbus lab module. Gerst worked on hardware for the mobiPV study that is researching ways to increase productivity between astronauts and mission controllers. Departing astronauts Arnold and Feustel cleaned up their crew quarters.
On-Orbit Status Report
Functional Immune: The crew performed saliva collection activities as part of the Functional Immune experiment. Functional Immune analyzes blood and saliva samples to determine the changes taking place in crewmembers’ immune systems during flight. The changes in the immune system are also compared with crewmembers’ self-reported health information. Results are expected to provide new insight into the possible health risks of long-duration space travel, including future missions to Mars, asteroids, or other distant destinations.
Mobile Procedure Viewer (MobiPV): The crew performed the hardware checkout today. Although some issues were encountered with the user interface and connectivity, progress was made. MobiPV is intended to allow users to view procedures hands-free and aims to improve the efficiency of activity execution by giving crewmembers a wireless set of wearable, portable devices that utilize voice navigation and a direct audio/video link to ground experts. A smartphone is the primary device to interface with procedures. Images provided in procedure steps can be displayed on a Google Glass display.
Plant Hab-01: The crew performed the science carrier-2 plant thinning. In this activity, the young Arabidopsis plants were thinned from 5-6 in each location, to 1 or 2 plants in each location. This gives the remaining plants a better chance to continue their growth. Understanding how plants respond to the space environment will help crews on future missions successfully grow plants for food and oxygen generation. The Plant Habitat-1 investigation compares differences in genetics, metabolism, photosynthesis, and gravity sensing between various Arabidopsis plant lines grown in space and on Earth. This investigation is expected to provide key insights on major changes occurring in plants exposed to microgravity.
Crew Quarters (CQ) Clean: The 54S USOS crewmembers cleaned their CQs in preparation for their departure this week. During this task, the crew cleaned the intake and exhaust ducts, fans and airflow sensors. Velcro panel fasteners were installed on the Port CQ to replace the previous fasteners; the new Velcro panels will save crew time for future CQ cleanings.
H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) Rack Transfer: Today the crew transferred the Resupply Stowage Rack from Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) to HTV. After the rack transfer was complete, the crew performed hatch seal inspections on the following locations:
PMM
Node 3 – Forward and Starboard
Node 1 – Port and Forward
Lab – Aft and Forward
Node 2 – Port, Starboard, Aft, and Nadir
Columbus
Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Pressurized Module (JPM) – Starboard
HTV
Completed Task List Activities:
None
Ground Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
Lab MCA Zero Calibration
Common Communications for Visiting Vehicles (C2V2) Radio Frequency (RF) Checkout Pass [Planned later today]
Two-Day Look Ahead:
Wednesday, 10/03:
Payloads
BEST experiment 3
Functional Immune (continuing)
LSG Software Load verification
J-SSOD 10 Install part 2
Systems
ER 9B and 10B umbilical mate
Change of Command
SSC Zbook Deploy
HTV Cargo Ops
54S Packing
Thursday, 10/04: 54S Undock and Landing
Payloads
Functional Immune (continuing)
METEOR laptop recovery
Systems
PMD Unpack and setup
Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
HRF Generic Saliva
HRF Generic Sample MELFI Retrieval And Insertion Operations
Functional Immune Saliva Collection Dry Book
Lighting Effects Sleep Log Entry
Auxiliary Computer System [ВКС] Laptops Antivirus Software Checkout and Report
MobiPV Troubleshooting Preparation
8K Setup Red Helium Camera for PLANT HABITAT-01 PLANT THINNING
Sanitary-Hygiene Status Monitoring
BIORISK. Biorisk-KM No.1 Tablet Dismantling and Transfer to stow in Soyuz 738
JEM Regenerative Heat Exchanger (RHX) Water pH testing and Wipe
Plant Habitat-01 Plant Thinning Hardware Gather
FENIKS. Dismantling Bioekologiya kits and handover for transfer to Soyuz 738
JEM System Laptop Terminal Reboot
Plant Habitat-01 Plant Thinning Procedure Review
Sanitary-Hygiene Status Monitoring
Plant Habitat-01 MWA Preparation
Soyuz 738 Samsung tablet recharging (start)
Plant Habitat-01 Door Removal
LBNP Training
Cyclops ICE Experiment Photos
Multi purpose Small Payload Rack 2(MSPR2) Microgravity Measurement Apparatus (MMA) Cable Connection
Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-Cohesive Sedimentation SB-800 Flash Battery Changeout
Crew Departure Preparations for Return to Earth
Plant Habitat-01 Plant Thinning Part 1
8K Recording of PLANT HABITAT-01 PLANT THINNING
Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Full Fill
Glacier Ice Brick/Cold Block Retrieval
ISS Crew departure preparation
mobiPV Setup
СОЖ maintenance
PCS Battery Swap
mobiPV Checkout
Plant Habitat-01 Plant Thinning Part 2
Microbial Air Sampling
Crew Quarters (CQ) Battery Remove and Replace
mobiPV Stowage
Plant Habitat-01 Plant Thinning Glacier Insertion
Plant Habitat-01 Plant Thinning Part 3
Crew Departure Preparations for Return to Earth
Stowage PMM Rack Front Clear
Port Crew Quarters (CQ) Cleaning and Velcro Fastener Installation
Replacement of СРВК-2М Gas-Liquid Mixture Filter
Soyuz 738 Samsung tablet recharging, end
Soyuz 738 stowage ops for return. Note 7
Resupply Stowage Rack (RSR) Transfer from PMM1O2 to HTV-7
Public Affairs Office (PAO) High Definition (HD) Config JEM Setup
PAO Preparation
СРВ-К2М Filter-Reactor R&R
Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) – JEM
Crew Quaters (CQ) Starboard Cleaning
HRF Generic Ambient Blood Collection Setup
Changeout of СРВ-К2М purification column assembly [БКО]
Stowage PMM Replace
HTV-7 Rack Transfer Stowage Restow
USOS Hatch Seal Inspections after HTV-7 Rack Transfers.
Stowage of the equipment for return on Soyuz 738.
ISS HAM Service Module Pass
Crew Quaters (CQ) Starboard Cleaning
Health Maintenance System (HMS) Personal Medication Stow
