NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 5 May, 2021 – Life Science Research
Life science was the main science topic aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday.
The Expedition 65 crew is also packing a U.S. cargo ship and maintaining orbital lab systems today.
Four astronauts, who rode to the station aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour, kicked off the day with the first health checkup of their expedition today. NASA Flight Engineers Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, Akihiko Hoshide, and Thomas Pesquet spent a few moments in the U.S. Destiny laboratory module undergoing temperature, blood pressure and ear checks as part of periodic health evaluations.
Kimbrough and Hoshide then took turns loading the Cygnus space freighter from Northrop Grumman with trash and old gear before its departure in a few weeks. Kimbrough spent the rest of the afternoon setting up hardware inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox for a semiconductor crystal experiment. Hoshide serviced fluid systems and cleaned electrical hardware.
McArthur charged computer tablets delivered aboard Endeavour and organized cargo in the Tranquility module. Pesquet replaced components on the Destiny lab’s exercise cycle ahead of a space workout study planned on Thursday.
NASA Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei collected donor samples delivered aboard Endeavour and transferred to the station’s science freezers for the new Celestial Immunity study. The experiment seeks to understand how weightlessness affects the immune system, potentially impacting the development of new vaccines and medicines.
The two cosmonauts aboard the station, Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov, had hearing tests today aboard the orbiting lab. The duo then spent most of the day on a variety of Russian computer and electrical maintenance tasks. Novitskiy also spent a few moments on a study investigating how international space crews get along and work together. Dubrov gathered Russian discarded items for disposal on the U.S. Cygnus resupply ship.
On-Orbit Status Report
Payloads
AC Touch: Per standard procedure, the crew touched both the coated and uncoated coupons for this long-term investigation. Boeing Environment Responding Antimicrobial Coatings tests is an antimicrobial coating on several different materials that represent high-touch surfaces. Some microbes change characteristics in microgravity, which could create new risks to crew health and spacecraft systems, as well as create the possibility of contaminating other planetary bodies. The samples remain in space for approximately six months and then will return to Earth for analysis.
Celestial Immunity: Today’s goal was to perform the first sampling activities for the cell cultures in a 24-well culture plate. However, it was discovered that the fluids in the wells had spilled outside their designated well volumes, which mixed and invalidated the science capture. The team is discussing a forward plan and impacts. This project seeks to gain a broad understanding of how gravity affects overall human immune function and potentially uncover novel pathways of immune function that can be exploited to develop better vaccines and immunobiologics for human use. The project will build on earlier studies that evaluated lymphocyte (a type of white blood cell) function in microgravity. The project will also evaluate whether gravity-regulated immune pathways are affected by age, by examining cells from both young adult and elderly donors in parallel.
ManD: As the next step in the troubleshooting of the Manufacturing Device (ManD), the crew exchanged the feedstock canister with another canister and manually fed the feedstock filament into the extruder area. The Manufacturing Device enables the production of components on the ISS for both NASA and commercial objectives. Parts, entire experiments, and tools can be created on demand utilizing the ManD printer that is installed into an Express Rack locker location. ManD is capable of producing parts out of a wide variety of thermopolymer feedstock, including engineered plastics.
SUBSA (Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules): The crew installed the SUBSA experiment hardware into the Microgravity Science Glovebox. The first SUBSA investigation to be performed will be the BRAINS investigation. BRazing of Aluminum alloys IN Space (SUBSA-BRAINS) examines differences in capillary flow, interface reactions, and bubble formation during solidification of brazing alloys in microgravity. Brazing technology bonds similar materials (such as an aluminum alloy to aluminum) or dissimilar ones (such as aluminum alloy to ceramics) at temperatures above 450°C. It is a potential tool for construction of human space habitats and manufactured systems as well as a repair tool for damage from micrometeoroids or space debris.
Systems
Port Crew Quarters (CQ) Single Fan Failure Troubleshooting – Crew performed additional troubleshooting designed to isolate the cause of the Port CQ Single Fan Failure Caution that has been in alarm since Saturday, May 1. The activity disconnected the Exhaust Airflow Sensor and repowered the rack to determine whether the Single Fan Failure Caution alarmed (indicating that the issue is in the exhaust leg of airflow) or the Dual Fan Failure Warning alarmed (indicating that the issue is in the intake leg of airflow). Following disconnection of the sensor, the Single Fan Failure Caution returned upon rack repower, narrowing the failure to the exhaust leg. The sensor was reconnected, and the team will discuss further steps to isolate this to either a fan or a sensor problem.
Cycle Ergometer with Vibration Isolation and Stabilization (CEVIS) Braking Band Replacement – In order to restore CEVIS Ergometer S/N 1002 as a fully functional on-orbit spare, the crew replaced the worn braking band, inspected and cleaned around the braking band and performed a brief checkout. This ergometer was previously installed in CEVIS and was removed after braking band performance degraded to the point where excessive sticking was causing workload drift in the data.
NiH2 Battery Disposal Robotic Operations – Ground controllers completed operations to remove the NiH2 Battery Flight Releasable Attachment Mechanism (FRAM) from External Stowage Platform 3 (ESP-3) Site 6 and install the NiH2 battery and FRAM on Cygnus Site 1 for disposal. As part of these operations, the Mobile Transporter (MT) was translated from Worksite 2 to Worksite 3. During FRAM mating to Cygnus Site 1, robotic operators applied brakes early to prevent SPDM Arm 1 elbow pitch from entering a singularity, which could cause unpredicted arm motion. Procedures target 147N steady state force to ensure a good seat of the FRAM prior to driving bolts, but the early braking resulted in a 120N force. Teams agreed to proceed with an attempt to fasten bolts, which was successful, and the battery and FRAM were installed nominally on Cygnus Site 1.
Completed Task List Activities:
None
Today’s Ground Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
Solidification Using Baffles in Sealed Ampoules Hardware Setup
Atmosphere Revitalization System (ARS) Node 3 Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Deactivation
HRF Rack 2 Rack Power Down Commanding
Look Ahead Plan
Thursday, May 6 (GMT 126)
Payloads:
Astrobee on
Celestial Immunity
CIR bottle gather
Food Acceptability
Standard Measures/Repository
SUBSA/BRAINS
Systems
Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) Oxygen Generation System (OGS) Hydrogen Sensor ORU Purge Adapter (HOPA) Operations
OGS R&R
Adlink Mini PC Restow
Friday, May 7 (GMT 127)
Payloads:
AC Touch
Astrobee off
Celestial Immunity
CIR manifold bottle replace
ELF sample holder change
ESA EPO AstroPi config
Food Acceptability
Food Physiology
JAXA video take 1
HRF2 troubleshooting deconfiguration
Nanoracks Platform 2 module remove
Standard Measures/Repository
Systems
Crew Provisions Consolidation
Environmental Health System (EHS) – Compound Specific Analyzer-Combustion Products (CSA-CP) Extended Maintenance
In-Flight Maintenance Starboard Stall Mounting Bracket Remove & Replace
Saturday, May 8 (GMT 128)
Payloads:
AWP Doff
Celestial Immunity
Standard Measures
Systems
Weekly Cleaning
Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
Acoustic Monitor Data Transfer and Stow
Audit of FGB fans
Celestial Immunity MELFI Sample Insertion
Celestial Immunity Plate First Sampling
Crew Dragon Forward Monthly PCS Checkout
Fluid System Servicer (FSS) Gather
Fluid System Servicer (FSS) Procedure Review
Gather RS items for disposal in NG-15
Health Maintenance System (HMS) Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Inspection
Health Maintenance System (HMS) Periodic Health Status (PHS) Evaluation – Crew Medical Officer (CMO)
Health Maintenance System (HMS) Periodic Health Status (PHS) Evaluation – Subject
Health Maintenance System (HMS) Periodic Health Status (PHS) Stow Hardware
HRF Generic HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection Operator
HRF Generic MELFI Sample Retrieval And Insertion Operations
HRF Generic Saliva Collection 10 Minutes
JEM 120 to 28 VDC Conv Mesh Cleaning
LSG Primary Crew Restraint Unfold
LSG Work Volume Deploy and stow
Manufacturing Device Canister Swap
On-Orbit Hearing Assessment (O-OHA) with EarQ Software Setup and Test
On-orbit hearing assessment using EARQ
PAO Preparation
Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) – JEM
Recharging air conditioning system [СКВ1] from КВО.6003 bottle. Tagup with specialists
Transfer Cygnus Cargo Operations
Treadmill 2 (T2) Exercise Video Equipment Setup
Video recording of Victory Day greetings
