NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 26 January, 2021 – Spacewalkers Ready
NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover are scheduled to depart the International Space Station’s Quest airlock Wednesday for the first in a series of spacewalks to upgrade station hardware and systems.
The duo will set their spacesuits to battery power about 7:05 a.m. EST tomorrow, signifying the start of their spacewalk. NASA will begin its live coverage on NASA Television and the agency’s website at 5:30 a.m.
During their spacewalk, the two astronauts will focus on completing cable and antenna rigging for the “Bartolomeo” science payloads platform outside the ESA (European Space Agency) Columbus module. The duo also will configure a Ka-band terminal that will enable an independent, high-bandwidth communication link to European ground stations. After completing the upgrades on the Columbus module, Hopkins and Glover will remove a grapple fixture bracket on the far port (left) truss in preparation for future power system upgrades.
The spacewalk will be the third in Hopkins’ career and the first for Glover, and the 233rd spacewalk overall in support of space station assembly and maintenance. Hopkins will be designated extravehicular crew member 1 and wear a spacesuit bearing red stripes. Glover will be extravehicular crew member 2, wearing a suit with no stripes.
Hopkins and Glover arrived at the space station in November as part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission.
On-Orbit Status Report
Payloads
FSL (Fluid Science Laboratory): The crew removed the RUBI Multi-Scale Boiling experiment container hardware and installed the new Soft Matter Dynamics Container. The FSL is a multiuser facility designed by the European Space Agency (ESA) for conducting fluid physics research in microgravity. It can be operated as a fully automatic or semiautomatic facility and can be controlled onboard by the International Space Station (ISS) crew or from the ground in telescience mode.
Story Time From Space: The crew performed a reading of “Willow the Water Bear” to a live audience as part of the educational STEM and Literacy project. Story Time From Space combines science literacy outreach with simple demonstrations recorded aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Crew members read five science, technology, engineering and mathematics-related children’s books in orbit, and complete simple science concept experiments. Crew members videotape themselves reading the books and completing demonstrations. Video and data collected during the demonstrations are downlinked to the ground and posted in a video library with accompanying educational materials.
Veg-03: The crew performed a check and watering of the VEG-03J plants. Organisms grow differently in space, from single-celled bacteria to plants and humans. But future long-duration space missions will require crew members to grow their own food, so understanding how plants respond to microgravity is an important step toward that goal. Veg-03 uses the Veggie plant growth facility to cultivate Extra Dwarf Pak Choi, Amara Mustard and Red Romaine Lettuce using Seed Film which are harvested on-orbit with samples returned to Earth for testing.
ISS HAM: The crew demated the Columbus module ISS Radio Antennas in preparation for upcoming EVA transmission inhibits. ISS Ham Radio provides opportunities to engage and educate students, teachers, parents and other members of the community in science, technology, engineering and math by providing a means to communicate between astronauts and the ground HAM radio units.
CIR-Combustion Integrated Rack – Fluids and Combustion Facility: The crew stowed CIR hardware for return. The Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) includes an optics bench, combustion chamber, fuel and oxidizer control, and five different cameras for performing combustion investigations in microgravity.
Systems
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Preparations: The crew continued preparations for the Columbus Upgrades EVA which is planned for tomorrow, January 27th. The crew performed an EVA procedure review, tool audit and configuration and installed batteries into the Portable Grip Tools (PGT). The crew also setup the robotics workstation and configured laptops in support for tomorrow’s EVA.
Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) Recycle Tank Drain: Today, the crew set up the recycle tank to drain to a ???-?. Following the setup the ground performed the tank drain using the Urine Transfer System (UTS). Once the ground specialists completed the transfer, the crew verified the recycle tank was empty, terminated the drain, and repositioned the fill/drain valve to fill. The crew also swapped the ??? in the offload ??? spot of the UTS.
Completed Task List Activities:
None
Today’s Ground Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
ARS MCA Rapid Sampling
Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) Recycle Tank Drain
Payload Rack Officer Fluids Integrated Rack Deactivation Commanding
ETHOS Caution and Warning Configuration
Airlock Moderate Temperature Loop (MTL) Flow Adjust
Look Ahead Plan
Wednesday, January 27 (GMT 027)
Payloads:
Astrobee batt charge (NASA)
BioNutrient-1 MELFI insert and Crew Survey (NASA)
Capillary Structures Assembly (NASA)
HRF PFS Gas Cylinder Photos (NASA)
AC Touch (NASA)
MSG CTB Audit (NASA)
Systems:
SSRMS EVA Support
Columbus Upgrades EVA
COLKA IVA Cabling Connection
Thursday, January 28 (GMT 028)
Payloads:
Capillary Structures Sorbent Contactor Demo ops (NASA)
COL HAM antenna demate/remate (NASA)
AWP Data downlink and charge (NASA)
Systems:
Water Recovery Management (WRM) Water Balance
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Debrief for US EVA
Portable Onboard Computers (POC) Dynamic Onboard Ubiquitous Graphics (DOUG) Software Review
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Long Life Battery (LLB) Initiate
Friday, January 29 (GMT 029)
Payloads:
AC Touch (NASA)
Food Acceptability (NASA)
VEG-03X plant chk/H2O (NASA)
Astrobee Crew conf (NASA)
RFID reconfig and install on Astrobee/chkout (NASA)
AstroRad Vest Exercise and survey (NASA)
Food Physiology Diet Brief (NASA)
HRF Centrifuge tube carrier replacement (NASA)
Systems:
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Full Water Tank Dump and Fill
Rechargeable EVA Battery Assembly (REBA) Powered Hardware Checkout
On-board Training (OBT) EVA Robotics Onboard Trainer (ROBoT) Session
EVA Tool Config
Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
SSC4 and SSC16 laptop swap
Onboard Training (OBT) Robotics On-board Trainer (ROBoT) Setup
FSL EC SWAP On Board Training
FSL Facility Core Element locking at the end of scientific operations
FSL MULTISCALE BOILING Experiment Container Deinstallation
Equipment Lock (E-LK) Preparation
FSL soft matter dynamics experiment container feedthrough panel reconfiguration
PILLE sensors gathering and setup for USOS EVA
FSL Soft Matter Dynamics Experiment Container Installation
Environmental Health System (EHS) Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Water Recovery System (WRS) Sample Analysis
Relocate PBAs for upcoming EVA
EVA Pistol Grip Battery Install
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Procedure Review
FSL Facility Core Element release in preparation of SMD or RUBI operations
Restow items used for FSL activities.
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Procedure Conference
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Tool Configuring
Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) Recycle Tank Drain
Robotic Workstation (RWS) Setup
Recover SAMS SU Zbook drive by interrupting BIOS startup to secondary drive
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) iPad Contingency Procedures preparation
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Tool Audit
VEG-03 Plant Check/Water
Columbus Ham Radio Demate
HUNCH Tape Dispenser Overview [DEFERRED]
ISS HAM Radio Power Down in Service Module
Environmental Health System (EHS) Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Sample Data Record
Combustion Integrated Rack Hardware Return
Station Support Computer 8 and Portable Computer System Data Acquisition System Setup
Portable Onboard Computers (POC) Dynamic Onboard Ubiquitous Graphics (DOUG) Setup
SSC (Station Support Computer) 5 and 4 move to LAB RWS
Story Time PAO Live Reading Event in High Definition (HD) – JEM
Story Time Historical Photo Documentation
IMS Delta File Prep
Urine Transfer System Offload EDV Swap
Node 104 ZSR Video Survey [DEFERRED]
