NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 26 March 2018 – Crew Medical Officer On-Board Training
Three new Expedition 55 crew members are beginning their first full workweek aboard the International Space Station.
They and the rest of the crew are getting ready for a spacewalk on Thursday and next week’s arrival of the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft.
NASA astronauts Ricky Arnold and Drew Feustel are preparing for a spacewalk just six days after arriving at their new home in space. The duo reviewed their spacewalk procedures today with fellow astronauts Scott Tingle and Norishige Kanai. The veteran spacewalkers will install communications antennas and replace a camera assembly during the excursion set to begin Thursday at 8:10 a.m. EDT. NASA TV broadcast the spacewalk activities live beginning at 7 a.m.
Expedition 55 Commander Anton Shkaplerov has been packing a Russian resupply ship with trash and old gear readying it for its departure on Wednesday. The Progress 68 (68P) cargo craft will undock from the Pirs docking compartment Wednesday at 9:50 a.m. It will reenter Earth’s atmosphere April 25 for a fiery demise over the Pacific Ocean. The 68P has been attached to the station since Oct. 16.
The next cargo craft due to resupply the station is the SpaceX Dragon. After its launch April 2 at 4:30 p.m. Dragon will take a two-day flight to the station. The commercial cargo craft will be robotically captured and installed next Wednesday at 6 a.m. to the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module.
Kanai and Tingle will be at the robotics controls inside the cupola when they capture Dragon with the Canadarm2 robotic arm. The duo practiced the Dragon rendezvous and capture procedures today. The crew has also been configuring the orbital lab for the new science experiments Dragon is delivering next week.
On-Orbit Status Report
Lab Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Status: The Lab MCA 72 hour dryout completed period ended on Friday 23 March. This weekend, telemetry indicated that the water readings were too high to proceed with a successful activation and calibration. As of this morning, the water readings were no longer off-scale high; however they were too high to proceed with nominal activation. A Failure Investigation Team (FIT) met today at 12:00 PM CDT and, based on their findings, another attempt at activation will be performed early tomorrow morning if the indications are within their nominal ranges.
Lack of Data from Microgravity Experiment Research Locker Incubator (MERLIN) 1 and Station Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS): After the Improved Payload Ethernet Hub Gateway (iPEHG) transition over the weekend, MERLIN 1 and SAMS, located in Express Rack 3 (ER3), were not receiving data. Ground teams reloaded the Columbus iPEHG configuration file and performed a reboot without success. Troubleshooting today uncovered incorrect data in the PEHG Software, resulting in the data routing issue. Teams properly configured the iPEHG and successfully recovered communication with the MERLIN and SAMS sensor.
Manufacturing Device (MD): The crew removed and stowed a 3D printed item from the Manufacturing Device today. The Manufacturing Device supports the production of components on the ISS for both NASA and commercial objectives. It is capable of producing parts out of a wide variety of thermopolymers including engineered plastics.
Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS): Japanese ground controllers will use the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS) to move CATS from the JEM Exposed Facility (EF) #3 location to JEM EF#8 tonight. The CATS Payload lost power on October 30, 2017. Subsequent attempts at troubleshooting the power and data connections were unsuccessful in recovering the payload at JEM EF Site #3. The CATS investigation uses a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system to measure the location, composition and distribution of pollution, dust, smoke, aerosols and other particulates in the atmosphere. CATS is mounted on the JEM EF Facility and is used to study the atmospheric constituents that impact global climate. By gaining a better understanding of cloud and aerosol coverage, scientists can create a better model of the Earth’s climate feedback processes.
Transparent Alloys Operation: The crew removed and stowed the Transparent Alloys cartridge and hardware and restored the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) to its standard configuration this morning. For the Transparent Alloys investigation, the morphological instabilities of directional solidified, transparent binary eutectic alloys under purely diffusive conditions are studied. Real-time observations are made of the dynamics of eutectic front structures with a micron-scale resolution over a centimetric space scale, during long periods of time. Such observations are very sensitive to convective motions in the liquid, which are suppressed in microgravity.
Lighting Effects: A 53S crewmember completed a daily sleep log entry this morning upon waking to record his sleep patterns and wakefulness. The Lighting Effects investigation studies the impact of the change from fluorescent light bulbs to solid-state light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with adjustable intensity and color and aims to determine if the new lights can improve crew circadian rhythms, sleep, and cognitive performance. Results from this investigation also have major implications for people on Earth who use electric lights.
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Preparations: Today the crew will continued preparations for US EVA #49 – Node 3 External Wireless Communications (EWC) installation, planned for Thursday March 29, 2018. The crew continued with EVA tool configuration, reviewed on-board training material for fluid Quick Disconnects (QDs), reviewed EVA translation paths using Dynamic Onboard Ubiquitous Graphics (DOUG), and reviewed EVA procedures. At the end of the day, the crew had a conference with ground EVA specialists in order to discuss any question on the activities they performed today or will perform during the upcoming EVA.
Crew Medical Officer (CMO) On-Board Training: Two crewmembers performed computer-based CMO training. This training is done periodically to ensure the CMOs maintain proficiency in responding to crew health emergencies.
Dragon On-Board Training (OBT): Today the crewmembers scheduled to capture SpX-14 Dragon performed on-board training where they reviewed the mission profile, rendezvous procedures and crew interfaces for monitoring and commanding to Dragon. SpX-14 is on track to launch April 2, 2018 and berth to ISS on April 4, 2018.
Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) Relocation: Tonight, ground controllers will relocate the CATS payload from the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Exposed Facility Unit (EFU)-3 to EFU-8. This relocation will ensure the viability of the EFU-3 location, needed to support the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 payload arriving later this year, after commanding to the CATS payload was lost late last year.
Today’s Planned Activities
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
Lighting Effects Sleep Log Entry
HRF Generic Urine Collection
Transparent Alloys Cartridge Stow
ELEKTRON pre-activation purge
54S SM-AGAT-U55 external batteries charge (2 items) (init)
54S post-docking Samsung tablet charging (init)
HRF Generic Sample MELFI Insertion Operations
HRF Generic Urine Collection Stow
????????????-2. Individual BD-2 strategy test protocol creation. Specialist conference
54S Gas-Analyzer Deactivation
Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Water Recovery System (WRS) Sample Analysis
????????????-2. Science ops prep. Specialist conference
Transparent Alloys Hardware Stow
????????????-2. Science ops assistance
????????????-2. BD-2 science ops run (individual strategy test). Specialist conference
????????????-2. Closeout ops (assistance)
????????????-2. Closeout ops. Specialist conference
VEG-03 Dual Facility Watering for each Plant Pillow
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) QD Training Review
KONSTANTA-2. Retrieve the cartridge from [???-?] and stow at panel to warm up for one hour
Manufacturing Device ABS Print Removal, Clean and Stow
ISS Crew Orientation
Removal equipment transfer to 68P (DC1) along with IMS updates
Profile of Mood States (POMS) Questionnaire
KONSTANTA-2. 1st study setup and run. Specialist conference
Station Support Computer (SSC) 17 Laptop Relocate
KONSTANTA-2. Photography during the science operation
68P (DC1) stowage completion report. Specialist conference
On-Board Training (OBT) Dragon OBT Conference
Crew Medical Officer (CMO) On Board Training (OBT)
On-board Training (OBT) Dragon Rendezvous Review
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Tool Configuring
Combustion Integrated Rack Upper Rack Doors Open
Combustion Integrated Rack Manifold #4 Bottle Replacement
54S cargo ops, IMS update
Combustion Integrated Rack Upper Rack Doors Close
Dynamic Onboard Ubiquitous Graphics (DOUG) Software Review
SM ventilation systems maintenance. Group A
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Procedure Review
54S SM-AGAT-U55 external batteries charge (2 items) (term)
54S post-docking Samsung tablet charging (term)
KALTSIY. Science ops session 2
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Procedure Conference
53S Gas-Analyzer Deactivation
Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Sample Data Record
Portable air samples with Portable O2 Monitor and CDM
Completed Task List Activities
None
Ground Activities
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
Standard Commanding
Three-Day Look Ahead:
Tuesday, 03/27: TVCIC Bolt R&R, METEOR HDD Swap, AstroPi Upgrade, Veggie03 Harvest, Dragon OBT, Lighting Effects, EVA Prep, MSG Fan Cleaning
Wednesday, 03/28: 68P Undock, Emergency Roles Review, EVA Tool Config/Procedure Review, Dragon ROBoT OBT, CUCU Checkout, Veggie-03 Ops
Thursday, 03/29: US EVA 49
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 – Operate
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 – Standby
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab – Standby
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3
Standby – Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA)
Standby – Urine Processing Assembly (UPA)
Standby – Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab
Full Up – Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 – Off
