NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 5 November 2019 – Unloading Cargo

A new U.S. resupply ship is open for business and the Expedition 61 crew has begun unloading over four tons of new science experiments and station hardware.
Two astronauts are also studying advanced repair techniques for a cosmic particle detector attached the International Space Station.

The astronauts opened the hatches on Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus resupply ship after its arrival on Monday and immediately started unpacking and activating critical science payloads. Mice delivered aboard Cygnus are now living in station habitats to help scientists understand how microgravity impacts metabolic rates. The rodent study may provide therapeutic insights into Earth-bound ailments such as diabetes and liver disease.

Cygnus science freezers containing valuable research samples for observation are now operating inside station research racks. The crew will utilize the samples to study a variety of microgravity phenomena to benefit Earthlings and astronauts. New experiments will research how microbes affect space hardware and astronauts and explore how weightlessness affects muscle gene expression.

Cygnus also delivered hardware to enable the complex repair job required to upgrade the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer’s (AMS) thermal control system. Astronauts Luca Parmitano and Andrew Morgan are preparing for several spacewalks to cut and reconnect fluid lines to ensure the AMS continues its search for dark matter and antimatter for years to come.

Cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Skripochka logged their meals and medicine intake today to help researchers understand how space impacts bone tissue. The duo worked on a variety of Russian maintenance tasks then reviewed Cygnus emergency procedures with the rest of their Expedition 61 crewmates.

On-Orbit Status Report

Standard Measures: The crew collected blood and saliva samples in support of the Standard Measures investigation. The aim of the investigation is to ensure consistent capture of an optimized, minimal set of measures from crewmembers until the end of the ISS Program in order to characterize the adaptive responses to and risks of living in space. Among other things, the ground teams perform analyses for metabolic and chemistry panels, immune function, microbiome, etc. These measures populate a data repository to enable high-level monitoring of countermeasure effectiveness and meaningful interpretation of health and performance outcomes, and support future research on planetary missions.

ISS HAM: A crewmember completed a contact pass with the Private UKEB School, Izmir, Turkey. ISS Ham Radio provides opportunities to engage and educate students, teachers, parents and other members of the community in science, technology, engineering and math by providing a means to communicate between astronauts and the ground HAM radio units.

Rodent Research-14 (RR-14): The crew transferred Rodent Habitats 1 & 2 to Lab from Cygnus. Rodent Research-14, Microgravity as a Disruptor Of The 12-hour Circatidal Clock (RR-14), uses mice to test the hypothesis that disruptions in a microgravity environment to the circadian rhythm sleep/wake cycle will affect the body on a cellular and key organ level. The importance of this 12-hour clock has been established as a mechanism that controls stress-responsive pathways. The unique environment of the ISS provides an ideal setting to challenge this. In short, exposing cellular systems in mice to the stress of microgravity provides an opportunity to study the response of the 12-hour body clock from cellular adaptation and its effect(s) on organismal behavior.

TangoLab-2 (Space Tango MultiLab Locker): The crew removed Card Cube sample 014 from TangoLab-2 and installed 012. TangoLab-2 is a reconfigurable general research facilities designed for microgravity research and development and pilot manufacturing in the ISS.

Veg-04B: The crew performed a routine plant check, and watered the plants as needed. The Pick-and-Eat Salad-Crop Productivity, Nutritional Value, and Acceptability to Supplement the ISS Food System (Veg-0404A, Veg-04B, and Veg-05) investigation is a phased research project to address the need for a continuous fresh-food production system in space. A healthy, nutritious diet is essential for long-duration exploration missions, which means that the typical pre-packaged astronaut diet needs to be supplemented by fresh foods during flight; the Veggie Vegetable Production System (Veggie) has begun testing aboard the space station to help meet this need, and validation tests have demonstrated that leafy greens can be grown in spaceflight. The research of Veg-04B focuses on the impact of light quality and fertilizer on leafy crop growth for a 56-day grow-out, microbial food safety, nutritional value, taste acceptability by the crew, and the overall behavioral health benefits of having plants and fresh food in space.

Systems:

Cygnus NG-12 Operations: Today, the ISS crew continued to work on Cygnus cargo transfer to the ISS including unpacking and transferring time critical payloads. In addition, the crew also completed the Cygnus Emergency Review On-Board Training (OBT). The Cygnus/NG-12 vehicle is part of the new Commercial Resupply Services-2 (CRS-2) program that includes multiple upgrades that expands the vehicle capabilities.

Completed Task List Activities:
WHC-???-Y-R&R

Ground Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
Payload Operations Support
SSRMS Cygnus Ungrapple
SSRMS IDA-2 Seal Survey

Wednesday, 11/06 (GMT 310):
Vascular Echo scan and BP Measure (CSA)
SAIBO-CBEF Control Unit 2 troubleshooting (JAXA)
HRF Frozen Blood Collect (NASA)
RR-14 Transport stow (NASA)
ER6 Zbook R&R (NASA)
MISSE-F Hardware Gather and MTT setup (NASA)
VEG-04B check (NASA)
BEST Sample Transfer 2 (NASA)
EarthKam Lens change (Joint)
ISS HAM (NASA)

Systems:
Cygnus Cargo Ops
SSC Relocate
Cygnus OBT Emergency Review

Thursday, 11/07 (GMT 311):
AMS EVA Preparations (NASA)
MISSE (NASA)
HRF Saliva Collection (NASA)
BioFabrication Facility (NASA)
NanoRacks ZGO SMPL Photo (NASA)

Systems:
Photo/TV Port Solar Array Survey
Lab CCAA SCP Installation
ISS Emergency Prep
IFM WHC Pre-Treat Tank R&R

Friday, 11/08 (GMT 312):

Payloads:
BioFabrication Facility Tissue Print With Cells Install
Food Acceptability Survey
Rodent Research Water Box and Light Check
Standard Measures Cognition Testing HRF PC1
VEG-04B Plant Check/Watering for each Plant Pillow
PK-4 hard disk Audit, PK-4 Experiment Campaign 8 – Familiarization

Systems:
THC P6 CCAA Swap
ISS Emergency OBT
ISS Emergency Medical Contingency Drill OBT
ISS Emergency Conference OBT
ISS Emergency Simulation OBT

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

Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Cuff Checklist Print and incorporate
Preparation of reports for Roscosmos website and social media
ECON-M. Observation and Photography
KORREKTSIYA. Starting Accelerometry
HRF Generic Saliva Collection 10 Minutes
HRF Generic MELFI Sample Insertion Operations
Daily Planning Conference
Cold Stowage Double Coldbag Unpack
KORREKTSIYA. Log Entry of Liquids and Food (Medicine) Intake
SREDA-ISS. Recharging NIKON Still Camera Battery
PROBOY. RS?1 Laptop Ops.
PROBOY. Penetration Simulator Ops.
Environmental Health System (EHS) Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Water Recovery System (WRS) Sample Analysis
Polar Samples to Cold Stowage
Centerline Berthing Camera System (CBCS) Stow
Transfer Cygnus Cargo Operations
PROBOY. Removal of cable ?2106.00073.100-2
PROBOY. Copy and download data to memory card. Start
TangoLab-2 Card Cube Replace
PROBOY. Copy and Downlink Data
VEG-04B Plant Check/Watering for each Plant Pillow
Temperature measurements of battery modules No.1-No.8 of ???? case and connectors (before mating circuit connectors).
Temperature measurements of battery modules No.1-No.8 of ???? case and connectors,assistance
Rodent Research Animal Transfer 1
Progress 442 (DC1) Stowage and IMS Ops
24-hour ECG Recording (start)
Transfer Cygnus Cargo Operations
24-hour Blood Pressure Recording (start)
AMS EVA MWA Setup
Temperature measurements of battery modules No.1-No.8 of ???? case and connectors, assistance
Temperature measurements of battery modules No.1-No.8 of ???? case and connectors (when ???3 responds).
ISS HAM Service Module Pass
On MCC Go ISS O2 Repress from Progress 442 (DC1) ???? Section 2, initiate
Rodent Research Animal Transfer 2
Vacuum Cleaning ??1 and ??2 airducts in MRM2
On MCC Go ISS O2 Repress from Progress 442 (DC1) ???? Section 2, terminate
KORREKTSIYA. Log Entry of Liquids and Food (Medicine) Intake
Private Medical Conference (PMC)
Filling (separation) of ??? [???] for Elektron or ???-?? (flush water container)
SREDA-ISS. Preparation steps and photo equipment settings adjustment. ??? Maintenance
SREDA-ISS. Hardware focus setup and activation
IMS Delta File Prep
Wireless Instrumentation System (WIS) Station Support Computer (SSC) Relocate Part 1
Restow Vestibule Outfitting Kit (VOK)
Onboard Training (OBT) Cygnus Debrief Conference
On board Training Cygnus Emergency Procedure Review
Transfer Cygnus Cargo Operations
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Procedure Conference
SREDA-ISS. Closeout Ops
On board Training Cygnus Emergency Procedure Review
AMS Capture Cage training
HRF Generic Frozen Blood Collection Hardware Setup
Polar Samples to Cold Stowage
Wireless Instrumentation System (WIS) Station Support Computer (SSC) Relocate Part 1
Environmental Health System (EHS) Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Sample Data Record
On board Training Cygnus Emergency Procedure Review
Environmental Health System (EHS) Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Waste Water Bag (WWB) Change-out
Daily Planning Conference