NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 21 March 2017 – Preparations Underway or Friday Spacewalk

Three astronauts are preparing for a Friday morning spacewalk to upgrade and maintain the International Space Station’s external systems. The three cosmonauts stayed focused today on their set of Russian space experiments and life support work.
Astronauts Shane Kimbrough of NASA and Thomas Pesquet from the European Space Agency are reviewing procedures for the spacewalk set to begin Friday at 8 a.m. EDT with live NASA TV coverage at 6:30 a.m. NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson joined the pair for the review and will assist the spacewalkers from inside the station.

Friday’s spacewalk will see Kimbrough and Pesquet begin setting up the station for future commercial crew missions. They will prepare the Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 for removal from the Tranquility module to the Harmony module. The astronauts will also replace computer relay boxes with software upgrades for future dockings of commercial crew vehicles.

In the midst of the spacewalk work today, Pesquet received a call from the French President Francois Hollande who toured an observatory with school children outside Lyon, France. Kimbrough and Whitson answered questions submitted by social media fans on Facebook Live Tuesday morning

Cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Andrey Borisenko documented what they ate for breakfast and lunch today for a pair of nutrition studies. The experiments are researching how diet affects a crew member’s metabolism and bone structure while living in space. Flight Engineer Sergey Ryzhikov spent the day checking Russian life support gear and sampling drinking water.

On-Orbit Status Report

Intracranial Pressure & Visual Impairment (IPVI): The crew obtained both front-on and profile view pictures to check for facial edema followed by a conference with ground teams. Scheduled at Launch + 4 months (L+4m), the IPVI investigation studies changes to crewmembers’ eyes and optic nerves by analyzing arterial blood pressure and blood flow to the brain before and after spaceflight. The IPVI investigation uses non-invasive methods as compared to current invasive methods (spinal tap) to measure intracranial pressure.

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) #40 Preparations: The crew participated in a briefing covering the following preparations:

Crew member specific reminders
Suit specifics and refreshers
Key points in an emergency
EVA day procedure sequence
EVA day comm overview for suits
Hardware management
The crew is also performed the following:

Onboard Training (OBT) EVA Robotics Onboard Trainer (ROBoT) session.
Verified Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER) is functional prior to EVA.
Installed Rechargeable EVA Battery Assembly (REBA) in EMUs 3006 and 3008.
Verified EMU 3006 and 3008 glove heater functionality.
Environmental Health System (EHS) Surface Sample Kit (SSK), Microbial Air Samper (MAS): The crew pre-gathered items for MAS and SSK sampling planned for tomorrow.

Mobile Servicing System (MSS) Operations: Yesterday and overnight, Robotics Ground Controllers powered up the MSS and walked the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) off the Lab Power Data Grapple Fixture (PDGF) onto the Functional Cargo Block (FGB) PDGF. They then performed a survey of the Starboard side of 48 Soyuz (48S). When the survey was completed, Controllers walked the SSRMS off the FGB PDGF onto the Lab PDGF and maneuvered the SSRMS to a park position. MSS performance was nominal.

Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) 275 Recovery: Overnight, TDRS 275 returned to service for S-Band and Ku-Band. The communications satellite had been out of service due to timeout event which occurred on 3/16/17. The TDRS Network continues to investigate the root cause of the anomaly.

Today’s Planned Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.

KORREKTSIYA. Logging Liquid and Food (Medicine) Intake
MORZE. Logging Liquid and Food (Medicine) Intake
Photography of RS windows (3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 26 in SM)
VIZIR. Experiment set up and start using ???? P/L
Diagnostics of FGB Power Supply System Filter Units (??-2) and Main Bus Assembly (???-2) with Infra-Red camera.
Monitoring RS structural shell surfaces using Multipurpose Eddy Current Device ???-2? (Cross-section of SA setup).
Collecting atmospheric condensate samples [???] from [???-?2?] up to Gas-Liquid Mixture Filter (???) to Russian Samplers, terminate
Sampling atmospheric condensate [???] upstream of ???-?2? ??? (Water Purification Column Unit), configuration set up, sampler installation (drink bag)
Data prep on monitoring RS structural surfaces for downlink via OCA
In Flight Maintenance (IFM) Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Full Fill
Sampling atmospheric condensate [???] upstream of ??? ???-?2?, Sampler Change out (drink bag)
Intracranial Pressure & Visual Impairment (IPVI) Face Photo-taking
ASEPTIC. Samples photo after incubation
???-? water sampling to drink bags
VIZIR. ???? Closeout Ops
Charging EVA Camera D4 Battery
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Procedure Review
SVO-ZV water sampling to Russian drink bags
ASEPTIC Photo Edit and Downlink
Filling (separation) of ??? (???) for Elektron or ???-??
Preparing for Changing Replaceable Condensate Removal Lines.
ASEPTIC. Cryogem-03 Removal
Delta file prep
MORZE. Experiment setup
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Airlock Unstow
Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue (SAFER) Checkout
On-board Training (OBT) EVA Robotics Onboard Trainer (ROBoT) Session
Robotic Workstation (RWS) Teardown
Surface Sampler Kit (SSK) and Microbial Air Sampler (MAS) Gather
Rechargeable EVA Battery Assembly (REBA) Installation
Sampling Condensate Water [???] upstream of [????-2?] ??? (Water Purification Column Unit), sampler (drink bag) removal, configuration teardown
Rechargeable EVA Battery Assembly (REBA) Powered Hardware Checkout

Completed Task List Items
ARED Detent Follow Up (Completed GMT 79)
Carbon Dioxide Monitor (CDM) Set-up (Completed GMT 79)
ESA Active Dosimeter Area Monitoring Mobile Unit Stow (Completed GMT 79)
EVA Fluid QD Fam (Completed GMT 79)
Crew evaluation of EveryWear Medical Module Medication list (Completed GMT 79)
PMM Cleanup (Completed GMT 79)
Carbon Dioxide Monitor (CDM) Data Download (Completed GMT 79 and 80)

Ground Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.
ROBoT OBT support
SSRMS walkoff from N2 PDGF A to MBS3

Three-Day Look Ahead:
Wednesday, 03/22: MELFI Icebrick Install, MSL SCA Exchange, Surface/Microbial Sampling, BEAM Ingress/Google Streetview, EVA Preps (ROBoT, Camera Config), CMO OBT
Thursday, 03/23: EVA Preps (Procedure Review/Conf, Tool Config, Equip Lock Prep, Tool Audit)
Friday, 03/24: EPIC MDM/SPDM Lube EVA, Orbital-7 Launch

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 – Standby
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 – Operate
Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) – Process
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) – ReProcess
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab – Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 – Full Up