NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 28 September 2020 – Practising Robotic Skills

A U.S. cargo mission will wait a couple of extra days for weather to clear before launching to resupply the International Space Station this week.
Meanwhile, the Expedition 63 crew has resumed standard operations following a leak test over the weekend.

Scattered thunderstorms and rain are predicted at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia where Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus resupply ship was originally targeted for liftoff Tuesday night. Mission managers rescheduled Cygnus’ launch for Thursday at 9:38 p.m. EDT setting its arrival and robotic capture at the station for Sunday at 5:20 a.m.

NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and cosmonaut Ivan Vagner practiced their robotics skills on a computer today to get ready to capture Cygnus with the Canadarm2 robotic arm on Sunday morning. Cassidy will lead the capture activities while Vagner monitors the U.S. spacecraft’s approach and rendezvous.

NASA TV will broadcast live the launch and capture activities of the Cygnus space freighter. It will arrive at the station packed with nearly 8,000 pounds supplies and gear including an advanced space toilet and brand-new science experiments.

Veteran cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin once again opened up the Combustion Integrated Rack and replaced fuel bottles to support fuel and flames studies inside the research device. He then spent the rest of the day servicing laptop computers and life support systems.

The three-member crew exited their isolation in the Russian segment on Monday morning after a weekend of leak tests and resumed normal operations. Ground teams will analyze the leak test data in their ongoing work to determine the source of the increased leak rate at the station.

On-Orbit Status Report

Payloads

Combustion Integrated Rack/Advanced Combustion via Microgravity Experiments (CIR/ACME)/BRE-2: The crew exchanged a GC (gas chromatograph) argon bottle and opened the valve on the 40% O2/60% N2 bottle on manifold 2. This was performed in support of the continuing BRE part 2 (Burning Rate Emulator) investigation, which is one of the ACME suite of five gas combustion experiments. The BRE experiment runs are focused on spacecraft fire prevention. More specifically, BRE’s objective is to improve our fundamental understanding of materials flammability and to assess the relevance of existing flammability test methods for low and partial-gravity environments.

EarthKAM/Node 2 setup: EarthKAM (Sally Ride Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle Schools): The crew performed the setup and activation of the EarthKam hardware in Node 2. As of this report, 223 schools representing 19,822 students and 33 countries have signed up to request images. This includes one Russian school with 150 students participating. EarthKAM allows thousands of students to photograph and examine Earth from a space crew’s perspective. Using the Internet, the students control a special digital camera mounted on-board the ISS. This enables them to photograph the Earth’s coastlines, mountain ranges and other geographic items of interest from the unique vantage point of space. The EarthKAM team then posts these photographs on the Internet for viewing by the public and participating classrooms around the world.

Systems

Cygnus On-board Training: Today, the crewmembers scheduled to capture Northrop Grumman (NG)-14 performed a Robotics Onboard Trainer (ROBoT) session. ROBoT is an on-orbit version of the ground-based Dynamics Skills Trainer (DST) that simulates robotics operations with graphical feedback. NG-14 (Cygnus) is currently scheduled to launch on October 1st and be berthed to ISS on October 4th.

Northrop Grumman (NG)-14 Arrival Preparations: In preparation for Cygnus arrival, currently planned for October 4th, the crew installed the Centerline Berthing Camera System (CBCS) in Node 1 Nadir hatch window and performed a video system checkout with the ground. The CBCS supports Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) mating alignment operations necessary to berth the Cygnus NG-14 capsule (S.S. Kalpana Chawla) to Node 1.

ISS Leak Isolation Operations: The crew ingressed the USOS segment today after spending the weekend in the Russian Segment to allow ground teams to monitor module pressures. The crew closed several module hatches on GMT 269 as part of a leak isolation test. Following USOS ingress, the crew reactivated the Waste & Hygiene Compartment (WHC) for operations and restowed items that were transferred to the Russian segment during the USOS isolation period.

Completed Task List Activities:

Acoustic Monitor Static Deploy for PMD operations
USOS Isolation Restow
Extravehicular (EVA) Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Hardware Gather
Weekly Cleaning
Starboard Crew Quarters (CQ) Clear
Station Support Computer (SSC) 8 Swap
Columbus K-Bar Gather
PMM1O2 Cleanup Part 3
Today’s Ground Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

N1 CBCS Video Support
ATS PPL Update
OGA Activation
Shell Heater Cmding for EPS Max Power Test
Equinox Max Power Testing
USOS Module Re-Ingress Ground Support
Lab MCA Zero Calibration
Look Ahead Plan

Tuesday, 9/29 (GMT 273)
Payloads:

Astrobee On
Radi-N2 Retrieve
Systems:

MAX CEVIS
UPA Brine Filter Gather
Recycle Tank Drain/Fill
OBT Cygnus ROBoT SS
WHC Pump Separator R&R
Wednesday, 9/30 (GMT 274)
Payloads:

HXP2 Safing Ops
Robo-Pro Rehearsal 2
Systems:

OBT Cygnus Offset Grapple
Thursday, 10/1 (GMT 275)
Payloads:

Avatar-x setup
Astrobee Off
Systems:

EMU Loop Scrub
HMS PHS Exam
EMU Swap
Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Joining of ROS and USOS volumes
USOS Ingress
DC1+Progress #444 Volume Opening
ABOUT GAGARIN FROM SPACE. HAM pass with the students of the International Aerospace School in Blagoveshchensk
Performing of MRM1 hatches opening
Galley Reactivation
Waste & Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Reactivation
Combustion Integrated Rack Rack Doors Open/Close
USOS Item Transfer
Combustion Integrated Rack Valve Cover Photo
USOS Isolation Restow
Combustion Integrated Rack GC Bottle Replacement
PILLE dosimeters readings taking. Memory card replacement
Combustion Integrated Rack Photo Assist
Combustion Integrated Rack Bottle Valve Open
JEM Camera Robot Preparation for Robo-Pro Challenge Final Round
N1 Nadir Hatch to Unlatch Hardstop
Centerline Berthing Camera System (CBCS) and Vestibule Outfitting Equipment Gather
Centerline Berthing Camera System (CBCS) Installation and Checkout
ISS RS Window Glass Inspection and Photography – [??1], [??2] in MRM2 and [??1] in DC1
Regular Maintenance of Broadband Comm System (???) MDM Vent Screens and [???] Equipment Fan
Onboard Training (OBT) Robotics On-board Trainer (ROBoT) Setup
EarthKAM Node 2 Setup and Activation-Russian
Auxiliary Laptop Computer System Virus Definition File Update
Test activation of Atmosphere Purification System Emergency Vacuum Valve [??? ???] using spares
On-board Training (OBT) Cygnus Robotics Onboard Trainer (ROBoT) Session 1
Astrobee Stowage Clear
VZAIMODEISTVIYE-2. Experiment Ops
Preparation for Antivirus Scanning on [???] Laptops