NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 5 March 2020 – Go for Dragon re-supply mission

NASA and SpaceX mission managers have given the “go” for Friday’s launch of the Dragon cargo ship at 11:50 p.m. EST.
The Expedition 62 crewmembers continue to get ready for Dragon’s arrival at the International Space Station on Monday.

Dragon will lift off atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket loaded with fresh supplies to replenish the crew and new experiments including live mice for more space research. NASA astronauts Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir will be on duty Monday morning inside the cupola to capture Dragon at 7 a.m. EDT with the Canadarm2 robotic arm. NASA TV is covering the launch and capture activities live.

The duo will spend portions of Thursday and Friday brushing up on the robotics skills necessary to grapple the resupply ship as it orbits about 10 meters from the space station. Morgan will lead the capture activities on Monday as Meir backs him up and monitors the spacecraft’s approach and rendezvous.

Meanwhile, research aboard the station is ongoing as the three-member crew explored how microgravity affects biology and physics to benefit humans on and off Earth.

Meir continued test operations on a 3D bioprinter to demonstrate the feasibility of manufacturing human tissue and organs in space destined for patients on Earth. She later nourished bone cells being compared to magnetically levitated samples on Earth. Results could provide therapeutic insights for bone ailments such as osteoporosis.

Morgan started Thursday drawing his blood sample and spinning it in a centrifuge before stowing the collection in a science freezer. Later, he set up experiment gear inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox to study transparent alloys and understand the dynamics and formation of microstructures on Earth.

Commander Oleg Skripochka started the day maintaining power and life support systems inside the Russian segment of the orbital lab. The veteran cosmonaut also spent time Thursday on a pair of experiments researching station ergonomics and crew psychology.

On-Orbit Status Report

BioFabrication Facility (BFF): The crew removed the test Cartridge from the BFF facility. The BFF is dedicated to manufacturing human organs and tissues in space, primarily for use by patients on Earth. Besides printing tissue, the BFF also can help maintain the health of deep space exploration crews by producing food and personalized pharmaceuticals on demand.

Transparent Alloys-SEBA: The crew installed the Transparent Alloy hardware into the MSG Work Volume and took documentation photos. The aim of the Transparent Alloys-SEBA (Solidification along an Eutectic Path in Binary Alloys) experiment is to study the morphological instabilities of directional solidified, transparent binary eutectic alloys under purely diffusive conditions. This experiment provides a real-time observation of the dynamics of eutectic front structures with a micron-scale resolution, over a large (centimetric) space scale, and over long (several 10 hours) periods of time. These observations are strongly sensitive to convective motions in liquid, which, in ordinary conditions on earth, entail a detrimental redistribution of the solute on a scale comparable to the container size. Such convective motions are suppressed in microgravity.

OsteoOmics: The crew was performing the BioCell Media Changeout for BioCell Habitat S/N 1 but the activity was aborted when the crew reported visible contamination in each of the six cells. The Cells were double bagged and placed into cold stowage for return. Two of the media syringes were bagged and placed into cold stowage for return. Millions of Americans experience bone loss, which results from disease or the reduced effects of gravity that can occur in bed-ridden patients. OsteoOmics tests whether magnetic levitation accurately simulates the free-fall conditions of microgravity by comparing genetic expression osteoblastic cells, a type of bone cell, levitated in a high-field superconducting magnet with cells flown in low-Earth orbit. This information helps scientists determine the molecular and metabolic changes that take place in magnetic levitation and real microgravity.

Systems

SpaceX (SpX)-20 Arrival Preparations: In preparation for SpX-20 Dragon capture, currently planned for March 9th, the crew completed an offset grapple OBT training session where they took turns flying the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) into the grapple envelope of the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) Flight Releasable Grapple Fixture (FRGF). This training is designed to maintain the crew’s robotics training proficiency.

Completed Task List Activities:
None

Today’s Ground Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
ACLS from Standby to CCA SA Operations
EPS Solar Array Voltage Maximum Power
OsteoOmics-2 Media Change Support
PRO LSG Facility Commanding
MSS Reconfiguration for SpX-20 Capture
Transparent Alloys Hardware Setup Support
SIGI Rate Data Dump [aborted]
BFF Cassette Swap Support

Friday, 3/6 (GMT 066)
Payloads:
Fluid Science Lab- MultiScale Boiling Exp Container removal and stow (ESA)
FSL Soft Matter Dynamics H/W install (ESA)
CBEF Disinfection Condition chk for Space Moss (JAXA)
JEM Water Recovery (JWRS) cable connection t/s (JAXA)
Food Physiology Briefing (NASA)
MELFI Icebrick installs (NASA)
Transparent Alloy Cartridge Install (17 day run) (NASA)
Food Acceptability (NASA)
OsteoOmics Media Changeout S/N 2 (NASA)

Systems:
Dragon Rendezvous Operations Review
RWS Camera Overlay Calibration
Dragon Robotics Onboard Trainer OBT Session 2

Saturday, 3/7 (GMT 067)
Payloads:
No crew activities

Systems:
Crew off duty

Sunday, 3/8 (GMT 068)
Payloads:
HRF Saliva Collect Setup (NASA)

Systems:
Crew off duty

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

Reminder HRF Generic Frozen Blood Collection
Reminder Portable O2 Monitor (POM) Reading
HRF Generic HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection 25 Minutes Subject
HRF Generic HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection Operator
HRF Generic HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection Configuration
HRF Generic HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection Spin Conclude
HRF Generic MELFI Sample Insertion
HRF Generic HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection Conclude And Stow
Actiwatch Plus HRF Rack 2 Setup Alternate
SEPARATION. Preparing a bootable flash drive.
TIMER. Preparation, marker setup and measuring.
Red Eye Stowage Preparation
Transparent Alloys Hardware Setup
TIMER. Specialized Movements.
Health Maintenance System (HMS) ISS Food Intake Tracker (ISS FIT)
BioFabrication Facility Test Cassette Removal
Actiwatch Plus HRF Rack 2 Stow Alternate
TIMER. Closeout Ops
Node 3 PCS Power on Cobalt Brick
FSL-SMD-RUBI-SWAP activity Big Picture Words read
On-board Training (OBT) Dragon Offset Grapple
PAO Preparation
Public Affairs Office (PAO) High Definition (HD) Config JEM Setup
TV Conference with the participants of the contest “Planet Duty Officer”
Installation of warning labels on DC1 panel.
OsteoOmics-2 Media Relocate
Dragon Cargo Operations Conference
Rerouting cables for ??-2 treadmill strain gauge – gathering tools, r/g review.
LSG Primary Crew Restraint Unfold
OsteoOmics-2 Media Change
On MCC Go: Vacuum Cleaning of ??28-120 Voltage Converter for SM printer (behind panel 231?)
Replacing E-K pre-treat container and [E-K] hose in [???] system
LSG Primary Crew Restraint Fold
CONTENT. Experiment Ops
OsteoOmics-2 MELFI Sample Removal
Reminder Portable O2 Monitor (POM) Reading