NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 4 October 2018 – Crew is Safely Home
Three crew members who have been living and working aboard the International Space Station have landed safely in Kazakhstan.
Expedition 56 Commander Drew Feustel and Flight Engineer Ricky Arnold of NASA, along with Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander Oleg Artemyev of the Russian space agency Roscosmos landed at 7:44 a.m. EDT (5:44 p.m. in Kazakhstan) southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan.
The crew completed hundreds of experiments during its 197-day expedition. Highlights included an investigation to study ultra-cold quantum gases using the first commercial European facility for microgravity research, and a system that uses surface forces to accomplish liquid-liquid separation.
The crew also welcomed five cargo spacecraft that delivered several tons of supplies and research experiments. The 14th SpaceX Dragon arrived in April, shortly after the three crew members did, bringing supplies and equipment, and the 15th Dragon arrived in July. The ninth Northrop Grumman Cygnus resupply spacecraft arrived in May before the end of Expedition 55. A Russian Progress completed a record rapid rendezvous of less than four hours in August. And, the seventh Japanese Konotouri cargo craft arrived just a week before the Expedition 56 trio departed for home.
Both Feustel and Arnold participated in dozens of educational events while in space as part of NASA’s Year of Education on Station, reaching more than 200,000 students in 29 states. Feustel now has logged more than 226 days in space on three spaceflights, and Arnold more than 209 days on two missions.
The duo ventured outside the space station on three spacewalks to effect maintenance and upgrades during Expeditions 55 and 56. Their work included replacing and upgrading external cameras, including those that will facilitate the approach and docking of the Boeing Starliner and SpaceX Crew Dragon commercial crew spacecraft when they begin launching soon from American soil. The spacewalkers also replaced components of the space station’s cooling system and communications network, and installed new wireless communication antennas for external experiments. Feustel has accumulated 61 hours and 48 minutes over nine career spacewalks, and ranks third overall among American astronauts. Arnold has 32 hours and 4 minutes over five career spacewalks.
Artemyev conducted one spacewalk with fellow cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev to manually launch four small technology satellites and install an experiment called Icarus onto the Russian segment of the space station. The spacewalk timed out at 7 hours and 46 minutes, the longest in Russian space program history. Artemyev now has spent 366 days in space on his two flights.
Expedition 57 continues station research and operations with a crew comprised of Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA, Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency) and Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos. Gerst assumed command of the station as Feustel prepared to depart.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin are scheduled to launch Oct. 11 for a same-day arrival, increasing the crew size to five.
On-Orbit Status Report
54S Undock and Landing: The 54 Soyuz vehicle undocked successfully from the Mini Research Module (MRM)-2 Zenith Docking Port at 2:56 AM CT this morning. Following the completion of a fly-around maneuver, during which the crew took photos of ISS in celebration of its 20th Anniversary on-orbit, 54S completed a nominal de-orbit burn, separation of modules, and descent; the Soyuz vehicle landed in Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan at approximately 6:44 AM CT bringing Drew Feustel, Ricky Arnold, and Oleg Artemyev safely home to Earth.
Functional Immune: The crew completed the Functional Immune Health Assessment Questionnaire. Functional Immune analyzes blood and saliva samples to determine the changes taking place in crewmembers’ immune systems during flight. The changes in the immune system are also compared with crewmembers’ self-reported health information. Results are expected to provide new insight into the possible health risks of long-duration space travel, including future missions to Mars, asteroids, or other distant destinations.
Meteor: Today the crew successfully recovered the Meteor laptop and checked the camera settings. The next target of opportunity for the investigation is the Draconids meteor shower with a peak of 08-Oct-2018, but significant meteor flux occurring as early as 06-Oct. The Draconids shower occurs when the Earth passes through the dust debris left by comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner. The Meteor payload is a visible spectroscopy instrument used to observe meteors in Earth orbit. Meteor uses image analysis to provide information on the physical and chemical properties of the meteoroid dust, such as size, density, and chemical composition. The study of the meteoroid dust on orbit provides information about the parent comets and asteroids.
Pressure Management Device (PMD) Unpack and Deploy: PMD is a new device that allows for the depressurization and repressurization of vestibules without venting the air overboard. Scheduled for its first use this Friday, the crew unpacked PMD today and pre-deployed the unit in preparation for use during the upcoming Lab/Node 2 Fine Vestibule Leak Check; successful operation of PMD will help conserve ISS resources when both berthing visiting vehicles and conducting vestibules leak checks.
Completed Task List Activities:
None
Ground Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
54S Undock and Landing Support
Two-Day Look Ahead:
Friday, 10/05:
Payloads
Lighting effects (continuing)
LMM Biophysics MERLIN insertion
Systems
Treadmill 2 Accelerometer Remove and Replace
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Resize
Lab/Node 1 Vestibule Depress and Leak Check
Lab/Node 2 Vestibule Depress and Leak Check
HTV Cargo Operations
Saturday, 10/06: Crew Off-Duty, Housekeeping, J-SSOD-10 satellite deploy
Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
HRF Generic Saliva Collection 10 Minutes
HRF Generic Sample MELFI Retrieval And Insertion Operations
Lighting Effects Sleep Log Entry
Functional Immune Historical Documentation Photography
HRF Generic Ambient Blood Collection
Functional Immune Health Assessment Questionnaire
PROBIOVIT. MICROVIR. BIOPLENKA. Handover for stowage in Soyuz 738
Soyuz 738 Stowage Ops for Return. GoPro HERO3 camcorders adjustment and installation in Soyuz 738 for operation during the descent.
JEM Airlock Depressurization
HRF Generic Ambient Blood Collection Pack And Handover
HRF Generic Ambient Blood Collection Stow
PROBIOVIT. Deactivation of ТБУ-В No.05
Combustion Integrated Rack Upper Rack Doors Open
Combustion Integrated Rack Manifold #4 Bottle Replacement
Combustion Integrated Rack Upper Rack Doors Close
Equipment gather from PMM
Health Maintenance System (HMS) ISS Food Intake Tracker (ISS FIT)
Water Recovery Management (WRM) Condensate Pumping Initiation
Spaceflight Cognitive Assessment Tool for Windows (WinSCAT) Test
Photography of [СА] and returning cargo before Soyuz 738 undocking from the ISS
СОЖ maintenance
Soyuz 738 Transfer Operations Completion Report (S-band)
JEM Airlock Vent
Photography of the external surface of Soyuz 738 [СА] БО hatch/manhole cover
Soyuz 738 БО-СА hatch cover photo downlink (via OCA r/g 0130)
JEM Airlock Vent Confirmation
Comm Config for Soyuz 738 Undocking and Descent
Soyuz 738 Comm Check via RSA2-S/G2
Soyuz 738 Activation. Transfer of Soyuz 738 Emer-1a book to MRM2
Food Acceptability Questionnaire – Subject
HRF Generic Saliva Collection
ISS HAM Radio Power Down in Columbus
HRF Generic Sample MELFI Retrieval And Insertion Operations
ISS HAM Radio Power Down in Service Module
HRF Generic Saliva Collection Stow
Setup and Activation of КСПЭ Equipment for Hatch Closure from MRM2 TV coverage in mpeg2 via Ku-band. Use Sony HVR-Z7E Camcorder
TIME Perception experiment constraints reminder
Battery Stowage Assembly (BSA) Operation Initiation
Control of the closed state of a window №6,8,9,12,13,14 cover
ISA/VAJ Relocate
Soyuz-MRM2 Hatch Closure
Closing of transitive hatches ТПК-МИМ2
HTV Transfer Operations
Soyuz 738- MRM2 Hatch Leak Check
Downlink of TV coverage Hatch Closure data from MRM2
Deactivation of camcorder, TV System monitoring equipment and closing applications
Verification of ИП-1 Flow Sensor Position
Meteor Flash Drive Install
Operation using TПK onboard data files. Soyuz undocking
Ultrasound 2 HRF Rack 1 Power On
Health Maintenance System (HMS) Ultrasound 2 Scan
Functional Immune Health Assessment Questionnaire
USOS Window Shutter Close
Activation of MPEG2 Multicast TV Monitoring Equipment.
Pressure Management Device (PMD) Unpack, Set-up and Deploy (XTP)
Activation of MPEG2 multicast video recording mode.
Switching СО-ТК PEV in MRM2 to CLOSED position
Closing Applications and Downlink of MPEG2 Multicast Video via OCA
ISTOCHNIK-M Preparation For Measurements.
Pressure Management Device (PMD) Equipment Setup and Power
HTV Cargo Operations Conference
Meteor System Disk Recovery
ISTOCHNIK-M. Activation of Soyuz 738 telemetry recording mode
ISTOCHNIK-M Closeout Ops
Soyuz 738 comm reconfig for nominal ops after landing
ISS HAM Radio Power Up
