NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 31 May 2018 – Command Hand Over Ceremony Tomorrow

Three Expedition 55 crew members are returning to Earth Sunday, but first the Commander will hand over control of the International Space Station in a ceremony Friday afternoon.
In the meantime, the crew managed to continue ongoing space research and station maintenance.

Cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, who has been leading the station crew since February, will turn over command of the orbital laboratory to NASA astronaut Drew Feustel during the traditional Change of Command Ceremony at 2:25 p.m. EDT Friday live on NASA TV.

Next, the International Space Station Program turns its attention to the undocking Sunday at 5:16 a.m. of Shkaplerov with crewmates Scott Tingle and Norishige Kanai inside the Soyuz MS-07 spacecraft. The trio will parachute to a landing in Kazakhstan at 8:40 a.m. (6:40 p.m. Kazakh time) after 168 days in space. NASA TV begins it live coverage starting at 1:30 a.m. when the crew says farewell and closes the hatches to their Soyuz vehicle.

Feustel worked throughout Thursday installing improved communications gear inside Europe’s Columbus lab module. Flight Engineer Ricky Arnold strapped himself into an exercise bike to research how exercising in microgravity affects the human body.

On-Orbit Status Report

EXPRESS Rack-3 Improved Payload Ethernet Hub Gateway (iPEHG) and Veggie: The crew rotated EXPRESS Rack 3 down in the Columbus module today, installed an iPEHG and then rotated the rack back up. They then reinstalled the Veggie facilities into the rack and checked them out. Ground teams have activated EXPRESS Rack 3 and the iPEHG was loaded with new software to support EXPRESS Rack 3 operations. EXPRESS Rack 3 and the new iPEHG are active and functioning nominally.The iPEHG design corrects performance limitations often experienced by the older PEHGs.

Atomization: The crew performed troubleshooting steps for the Atomization investigation today. For this investigation, water drops are expected to be completely absorbed by the sponge of the water trap, but during checkout of the hardware on May 22nd a few drops of water bounced back towards the observation area. The Atomization experiment investigates the disintegration processes of a low-speed water jet for various jet issue conditions in the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) to validate the new atomization concept by observing the process using a high speed camera. The knowledge gained can be applied to improve various engines utilizing spray combustion.

Manufacturing Device (MD): The crew removed and stowed a 3 dimensional printed item from the MD 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.

Team Task Switching (TTS): A crewmember completed a TTS survey today. When crew members are often required to switch their attention between tasks, performance on each of the tasks can be affected. The objective of the TTS investigation is to gain knowledge about whether or not crew members have difficulty in switching tasks and determine the impacts of these switches, in order to both reduce any negative consequences and improve individual and team motivation and effectiveness.

Solidification Using Baffles in Sealed Ampoules (SUBSA): The SUBSA run was aborted today after one of the sample internal thermocouple readings went negative then started fluctuating randomly. The heater thermocouples and the other sample thermocouple readings were all nominal.

On Board Training (OBT) Soyuz Descent Drill: In preparation for their departure from the ISS on Sunday, 3 June, the 53S Crew completed a nominal descent and landing drill earlier this morning. During this training, the crew was inside their Soyuz spacecraft reviewing and practicing undock and landing procedures.

Water Recovery System (WRS) Condensate Pump Roller Replacement: Today the crew removed and replaced (R&R) degraded rollers and roller bolts on the High Flow Pump using the Pump Recovery Kit. These components were causing unusual squeaking noises as reported by the crew, and their failure could seize the pump. The crew also replaced the associated peristaltic tubing on the WRS Condensate Transfer Manifold before conducting a checkout of the assembly.

Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) Operations: Yesterday, the Robotic Ground Controllers maneuvered the SSRMS and the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) Body as required to perform a survey of the Functional Cargo Block (FGB) Starboard Solar Array Wing (SAW) and the Starboard Thermal Radiator Rotary Joint (TRRJ) using the SPDM Body Cameras. The purpose of the survey was to verify that the FGB Starboard SAW has not moved since it was retracted in 2007 and to collect imagery of the Starboard TRRJ Heat Rejection Subsystem (HRS) Radiator torn cover and exposed core to help assess their condition. The Robotic Ground Controllers performed the survey from five different positions and then configured the SSRMS and SPDM Body for translation. MSS performance was nominal during these operations.

Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) Fluid Control and Pump Assembly (FCPA) Fault: During a UPA process cycle this morning, the FCPA current spiked causing UPA to stop its process cycle. Attempt to restart the FCPA was unsuccessful. Ground teams are currently replanning tomorrow’s timeline to replace the FCPA.

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

HRF Generic Saliva Collection
Microbial Tracking-2 Saliva Collection
HRF Generic Sample MELFI Retrieval And Insertion Operations
Probiotics Saliva Operations
Probiotics Salive Sample MELFI Insertion
Probiotics Question
Max Cycle Ergometer w/ Vibration Isolation & Stabilization (CEVIS) Portable PFS Partial Set Up
Max Cycle Ergometer w/Vibration Isolation & Stabilization (CEVIS) Portable PFS Power Up
Soyuz nominal descent training 2
COL EXPRESS Rack 3 Rack Preparation for Rotate Down
COSMOCARD. Closeout Ops
Radio Frequency Identification Logistics Hardware Locate
SEPARATION. Additional flushing of [???-?-??] urine circulation loop.
PEHG Hardware Install
SREDA-ISS. Preparation Steps and Start Imagery Ops.
SREDA-ISS. Closeout Ops
Wastewater Storage Tank Assembly (WSTA) Fill
Microbial Tracking-2 Saliva Stow
Checking closure of shutters on SM windows 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14
JEM Camera Robot Cable Swap
LBNP Training
USOS Window Shutter Close
SSC Hard Drive Setup
Max Cycle Ergometer w/Vibration Isolation & Stabilization (CEVIS) Portable PFS Partial Stow
PAO Preparation
Public Affairs Office (PAO) High Definition (HD) Config JEM Setup
Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) – JEM
ExPRESS Rack 3 Rack Cleanup after Rotate Up
Water Recovery System (WRS) Condensate Pump Gather
XF305 Camcorder Setup
Atomization Trouble Shooting 1
??? maintenance
Soyuz 737 [???] Activation
VEGGIE Facility Re-installation into EXPRESS Rack
Water Recovery System (WRS) Condensate Pump Safing
Soyuz 737 ???? No.2 Test Before Undocking.
Water Recovery System (WRS) Transfer Pump Roller Remove and Replace (R&R)
VEGGIE1 Facility Re-installation into EXPRESS Rack
INTERACTION-2. Experiment Ops
Maritime Awareness Cable Connect
Water Recovery System (WRS) Transfer Pump Manifold Tubing Remove and Replace (R&R)
MERLIN1 Status Check
Water Recovery System (WRS) Condensate Pump Reassembly
Microbial Air Sampling.
ISS Food Intake Tracker (ISS FIT)
Airlock Foam Unstow
Team Task Switching Experiment Survey
Crew Departure Preparations for Return to Earth
Vascular Echo Clip Relocate
ISS HAM Service Module Pass
Cold Atom Lab SAMS Sensor Move
Max Cycle Ergometer w/Vibration Isolation & Stabilization (CEVIS) Portable PFS Conclude

Completed Task List Activities:
None

Ground Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
ER3 IPEHG configuration
53S Thruster Test

Three-Day Look Ahead:
Friday, 06/01: CQ Cleaning, RFID Tag Install, EHDC Locking Mechanism Adjust, Change of Command Ceremony
Saturday, 06/02: Weekly Housekeeping, Crew Off-Duty
Sunday, 06/02: 53S Undock and Landing

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 – Operate
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 – Idle
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