NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 21 January 2020 – Weekend Spacewalk Coming Up
The Expedition 61 astronauts have one more spacewalk planned this weekend and they will finish the repair of a cosmic ray detector. This will be the ninth spacewalk for the crew, more than in any other increment in the history of the International Space Station.
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch have turned their attention from Monday’s spacewalk to help two crewmates going on a very different spacewalk on Saturday. The pair completed a spacewalk yesterday upgrading power systems on the Port-6 truss structure.
Spacewalkers Andrew Morgan and Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency) will finalize thermal repairs on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) on Saturday. The AMS, installed in 2011 on the Starboard-3 truss structure, is an astrophysics device searching for evidence of dark matter and antimatter.
The duo will set their U.S. spacesuits to internal power Saturday at 6:50 a.m. EST signifying the official start of their spacewalk. NASA TV begins its live broadcast of the planned six-hour AMS repair excursion at 5:30 a.m.
Meir and Koch will be getting up to speed this week with the Canadarm2 robotics procedures necessary to assist Morgan and Parmitano during Saturday’s spacewalk. The quartet gathered together Tuesday afternoon and began reviewing the spacewalk plan with specialists in Mission Control.
On-Orbit Status Report
Food Acceptability: The crew completed a Food Acceptability Survey using the Data Collection Tool on an SSC (Station Support Computer). This investigation seeks to determine the impact of repetitive consumption of food currently available from the spaceflight food system. Results will be used in developing strategies to improve food system composition to support crew health and performance on long duration missions.
Plasma Kristal-4: The crew took photos of the system and packed the hard drives for return on 59-Soyuz. Plasma Krystall-4 (PK-4) is a scientific collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), performing research in the field of “Complex Plasmas”: low temperature gaseous mixtures composed of ionized gas, neutral gas, and micron-sized particles. The micro-particles become highly charged in the plasma and interact strongly with each other, which can lead to a self-organized structure of the micro-particles: so-called plasma crystals. Experiments in the facility aim to study Transport Properties, Thermodynamics, Kinetics and Statistical Physics, and Non-linear waves and Instabilities in the plasmas.
Standard Measures (SM): The crew performed the sample collections and survey for the continuing SM investigation. The aim of the SM 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.
Systems:
AMS-02 (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer) EVA preparation: Today, the crew continued preparations for the final AMS repair EVA by reviewing their AMS EVA procedures. The multiple AMS-02 repair EVAs are being performed to recover the cooling pumps within the AMS-02 experiment. AMS-02 is a state-of-the-art particle physics detector that uses the unique environment of space to advance knowledge of the universe and lead to the understanding of the universe’s origin by searching for antimatter, dark matter and measuring cosmic rays.
Completed Task List Activities:
No items were completed off the task list today
Ground Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
MT translation and EP stow
Wednesday, 1/22 (GMT 022) Crew off-duty day
Payloads:
ISS HAM pass
Probiotics
Systems:
ISS 59S departure preparations
EVA METOX Regeneration
Thursday, 1/23 (GMT 023)
Payloads:
Actiwatch plus
Cold Atom Lab
Food Acceptability
Food Physiology
Myotones
Probiotics
Standard Measures
Vascular Aging
Systems:
ISS 59S departure preparations
EVA METOX regeneration term
Regen ECLSS tank and processing operations
Friday, 1/24 (GMT 024) Crew off-duty day
Payloads:
AMS procedure review
Cold Atom Lab
Myotones
Standard Measures
Vascular Aging
Systems:
ISS 59S departure preparations
HMS Pre-EVA
HMS Fundoscope
Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
AMS Procedure/video review
Standard Measures Body Sampling Survey
Standard Measures Body Sampling Collection
HRF Generic MELFI Sample Insertion Operations
Checkout of Virus Definition File Update on Auxiliary Computer System (???) Laptops and Report
Commemorative Activity
Health Maintenance System (HMS) Periodic Health Status (PHS) Post EVA Examination Setup
Health Maintenance System (HMS) Periodic Health Status (PHS) Post EVA Examination – Crew Medical Officer (CMO)
Orthostatic Stability Evaluation with LBNP
Health Maintenance System (HMS) Periodic Health Status (PHS) Post EVA Examination – Subject
ISS HAM Radio Power Up
Rechargeable EVA Battery Assembly (REBA) Removal
Health Maintenance System (HMS) Post-EVA Periodic Health Status Examination – Stow
Rechargeable EVA Battery Assembly (REBA) Installation
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Resize
Collecting surface samples from FGB equipment and structures
Standard Measures Body Sampling Stow
Portable Onboard Computers (POC) Dynamic Onboard Ubiquitous Graphics (DOUG) Software Review
Food Acceptability Survey
Collecting surface samples from FGB equipment and structures
In Flight Maintenance (IFM) Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Pre-Treat Tank Remove & Replace
SEPARATION. Clamping down circulation loop hose.
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Water Recharge
PK4. Hard Drive packing for return on Soyuz 746
Reading Pille dosimeter data after US EVA
Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Manual Fill Initiation
Transfer of Samples(s) from Glacier to Glacier
PROFILAKTIKA-2.
Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Manual Fill Termination
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Debrief
Battery Stowage Assembly (BSA) Operation Initiation
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Procedure Conference
SPLANKH-2. Diet Restrictions Reminder
