NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 23 April 2018 – Chatting with NASA’s New Administrator and the Vice President

Today – Live Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event from ISS: Following today’s swearing-in of NASA Administrator Bridenstine, the US crew spoke with US Vice President Pence and Bridenstine about their experiences on the ISS and their time at NASA.
Bridenstine was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Thursday, April 19, to serve as the agency’s 13th administrator. Prior to this position, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives for the state of Oklahoma, where he held positions on the House Armed Services Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee. Bridenstine also is a pilot in the U.S. Navy Reserve and the former executive director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and Planetarium.

Multi-Use Variable-G Platform (MVP): The crew inserted food cylinders in the food chambers in each Drosophila module in the MVP today. They collected solid and liquid samples, fixated them and inserted them into a Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI). MVP is used to conduct research in space with a wide variety of sample types, such as fruit flies, flatworms, plants, fish, cells, protein crystals and many others. It includes 2 internal carousels that simultaneously can produce up to 2 g of artificial gravity. Each carousel hosts 6 separate removable experiment modules on each carousel. Video and still imagery, including microscopy, can be included. The platform provides temperature and humidity controls and monitors and records oxygen and carbon dioxide levels.

Mouse Stress Defense: The crew replaced waste collecting equipment and odor filters in the Mouse Habitat Cage Units today. Microgravity provokes cellular mechanical stresses and perturbs cellular signaling, leading to reduction of muscle and bone density. To overcome these stresses, one of the promising strategies is to activate Nrf2, a master regulator of antioxidant pathway. Mouse Stress Defense investigates how Nrf2 contributes to effective prevention of space-originated stresses.

Water Processor Assembly (WPA) Maintenance: There has been an increased ionic breakthrough on both WPA Multi-Filtration (MF) beds identified by a steep increase in the conductivity of the bed’s effluent. The beds were previously sampled to determine the species that is saturating the bed. Those samples, however, were inconclusive and it is believed the bicarbonate converted to carbon dioxide (CO2) and permeated through the sample bags. Today the crew collected new samples of the effluent from MF Beds 1 and 2 using ITCS sample bags that will not allow for CO2 permeation. These samples will be returned for analysis. The crew also replaced the WPA Separator Filter located on the Mostly Liquid Separator (MLS) and replaced a Waste Water Filter.

Remote Power Controller Module (RPCM) Remove and Replace (R&R): The N21B4B_B Remote Power Controller (RPC) 16 tripped on April 12, 2017 removing power from the Node 2 Moderate Temperature Loop (MTL) System Flow Control Assembly (SFCA) valve. Today, the crew, with ground team support, performed a power down, R&R, and successful checkout of RPC 16 and the Node 2 MTL SFCA.

Dragon Cargo Status: Over the weekend, the crew performed 6 hours of cargo ops, completing message #3. ISO estimates 14h 30m of cargo operations remain to complete Dragon loading prior to vehicle unberths on May 2.

Camcorder Deploy: Today the crew unpacked, configured and deployed five new camcorders that were delivered on SpaceX-14. These new camcorders will replace old camcorders that were stowed in a trash location for later disposal.

Today’s Planned Activities
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Regeneration of Micropurification Unit (???) ?1 Absorption Cartridge (begin)
Powerdown Deck Crew Quarters Laptop
FAZOPEREKHOD. Experiment Setup and Start ops.
NOD2O4 Closeout Panel Audit
PILOT-T. Preparation for the experiment
Environmental Health System (EHS) Rad Detector Power Off
Columbus Equipment power off
??? maintenance
PILOT-T. Experiment Ops and Data Downlink
Mouse Stress Defense Item Gathering
Mouse Stress Defense Ice Brick Stowing
PILOT-T. Experiment Ops
Cleaning of gas-liquid heat exchangers 1,2,3 (???) screens in FGB
XF305 Camcorder Setup
Mouse Stress Defense Cage Maintenance for Micro-G 3
Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Water Recovery System (WRS) Sample Analysis
PILOT-T. Closeout Ops
PHASE CHANGE Closeout Ops
Photo/TV Camcorder Setup Verification
PHASE CHANGE Experiment Setup and Start ops
MOTOCARD. Experiment ops, session 1
SSC HP Printer Checkout
MOTOCARD. Experiment Assistance. Video of the locomotor test
Crew Medical Officer (CMO) On Board Training (OBT)
MOTOCARD. End of Video-recording And Closeout Ops Tagup with specialists
Mouse Stress Defense Cage Maintenance for 1G 3
PHASE CHANGE Closeout Ops
Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Sample Data Record
Water Processor Assembly (WPA) Waste Water Filter R&R
Remote-Power-Controller-Module (RPCM) N21B4B_B Removal and Replacement
Vacuum cleaning ventilation grille on FGB interior panels (201, 301, 401)
URAGAN. HA “Video-spectral System” Solid-State Accumulator’s Contacts Cleanup and Test Shooting
Water Process Assembly (WPA) Multifiltration Bed (MF Bed) Efflent Samples
NOD2O4 Closeout Panel Audit
Photo/TV XF305 Camcorder Deploy and Trash
PCS Battery Swap
Camcorder setup to capture ??-2 exercise
Station Support Computer 9 Relocate to NOD3
Emergency Operations (EMER) Chip Measurement System (CMS) Battery Changeout
Regen Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) 6.3 Gather
Testing ??-2 Treadmill (Exercise 3)
Health Maintenance System (HMS) Profile of Mood States (POMS) Questionnaire
Public Affairs Office (PAO) Social Media Event
In Flight Maintenance (IFM) Separator Filter Removal and Replace (R&R)
Removal of Video Equipment Used to Capture ??-2 Exercise and Downlink the file
Portable CO2 Monitor Calibration
Exercise Data Downlink via OCA
Multi-use Variable-g Platform MWA Preparation
Water Processor Assembly (WPA) Waste Water Filter R&R Kabin Replacement
IVA Toolbox Drawer 2 Tool Labeling and Socket Peg R&Rs
Multi-Use Variable-G Platform Sample MELFI Insertion
Multi-use Variable-g Platform Sample Fixative
GEMATOKRIT. Equipment setup
Public Affairs Office (PAO) High Definition (HD) Config LAB Setup
PAO Preparation
Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) – Lab
Regeneration of ??? ?1 Absorption Cartridge (term)
Columbus GFI Test – Inverter reconfiguration
Columbus Equipment power up
Environmental Health System (EHS) Rad Detector Power On

Completed Task List Activities
JAXA Report Part 6
Columbus Photo Documentation [completed Saturday]
ARED Upper Stop Cable Remove and Replace [completed Sunday]
Recorded Greeting Request Rice Space Day [completed Sunday]
Recorded Greeting Request Space Center Houston [completed Sunday]
Ground Activities

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
RPCM N21B4B_B R&R Powerdown and Recovery

Three-Day Look Ahead:
Tuesday, 04/24: Pretreat Tank R&R, PCG, JSL Firewall, OGS O2 FSE Removal, HRF BRIC T/S, UPA S/W 6.3 Setup, Dragon Cargo Ops, Educational Imagery Recording, Circadian Rhythms
Wednesday, 04/25: Veggie Ponds Exp, Dragon Cargo Ops, ETVCG Teardown, Mouse Stress Defense
Thursday, 04/26: Node 3 LTL PPA R&R, EVA Preps (Tether/RET Inspect, EMU Swap, EMU Water Dump), Locker Reconfig, Dragon Cargo Ops, Dragon LiOH install, Meteor Hard Drive Swapout, Mouse Stress Defense, Circadian Rhythms.

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