NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 25 December 2017 – Happy Holidays

The crew has the day off today.
APEX-05 Operations: Over the weekend, the crew photographed all of the APEX-05 petri plates, which includes twenty petri plates in the Veggie facility and four spares secured to the Advanced Biology Research Facility (ABRS) photo-grid on the maintenance work area. Today the crew took additional images of the four spare petri plates. When plants are grown in the confines of the International Space Station (ISS), they do not seem to get enough air and as a result, exhibit a stress response in their genes and proteins. The Spaceflight-induced Hypoxic/ROS Signaling (APEX-05) experiment grows different wild and mutant varieties of Arabidopsis thaliana, in order to understand how their genetic and molecular stress response systems work in space. The plants grow from seeds in the Veggie plant growth facility aboard the ISS, are frozen, and returned to Earth for detailed laboratory analysis.

Space Headaches: Two 53S crewmembers completed daily questionnaires to support a week-long ESA Space Headache session which started onboard Soyuz prior to docking. The Space Headaches investigation requests crewmembers to respond to a questionnaire that may help in the development of methods to alleviate associated symptoms and improvement in the well-being and performance of crewmembers in space. Headaches during space flight can negatively affect mental and physical capacities of crewmembers that can influence performance during a space mission.

Synthetic Bone BioCell Operations: Using the MSG laptop screen as a workaround for the non-functional video monitor, the crew completed microscopy and fixation operations of Synthetic Bone Biocells from Habitat B. The crew also completed a media exchange for Habitat C. Synthetic Bone uses BioCells from Habitats A, B, and C to test the functionality and effectiveness of new material that can assist in recovery from bone injuries or dental work during long-term space travel. Determining how well Tetranite integrates with bone cell cultures can also inform general strategies for addressing bone loss in space. Synthetic Bone examines the cellular response to a new type of bone adhesive in the microgravity environment of space. This experiment uses facilities aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to grow bone cells in the presence of a commercially available bone adhesive, and a new product called Tetranite. Sets of bone cell cultures grow with the different adhesives for 20 days and are then fixed, frozen, and returned to Earth for detailed analysis in a fully equipped biological laboratory.

Dragon Cargo Transfer: Today the crew completed the planned Dragon cargo unloading operations, with the exception of a few locations that contain items that aren’t immediately needed and will be removed at a later time. In the coming days, the crew will begin packing and loading the cargo that will be returned on Dragon.

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

Glacier Media Kit Remove
Synthetic Bone Microscope Operations
Synthetic Bone Biocells Media Ops
Cargo Transfer to Dragon
MELFI Sample Bag Insertion
Glacier Media Kit Remove
Auxiliary Laptop Computer System Virus Definition File Update
Preventive maintenance of DC1 ???-O hatch sealing mechanisms and Progress 436 (AO) [???] hatch
??? maintenance
APEX-05 Spare Petri Plate Photo
MELFI Sample Bag Insertion
Dragon Cargo Operations Conference
Preparation for Antivirus Scanning on [???] Laptops

Completed Task List Activities
Empty CWCI relocate
JAXA Video Take part 2
ESA Astropi Fix
IPAD IPV Config
ISS Crew Handover

Ground Activities
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
Synthetic Bone Support
Standard commanding

Three-Day Look Ahead:
Tuesday, 12/26: RR-6, Cell Science Validation, Dragon Cargo Ops, Crew Handover, APEX-5, JEMAL Pressurization, WHC Maintenance, Amyloid, Made in Space
Wednesday, 12/27: 67P Undock, HRF Collections, Arthrospira; JEM Gas Trap, Dragon Cargo Ops, PAO EDU Imagery, MELFI EU Braycote, Crew Handover, APEX-5, Microbial Tracking, JAXA Video Part 3
Thursday, 12/28: Dragon Cargo Ops, EVA SLE Rotation, IFM N2 Nadir Bolt 1-3 R&R, EVA Safer Swap, Cell Science Validation, APEX-5 Harvest, Marrow Air

QUICK ISS Status – Environmental Control Group:
Component – Status
Elektron – Off
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 – Idle
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