NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 5 October 2020 – Cygnus Space Freighter Opened

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter is open for business just five hours after it was attached to the International Space Station today.
The Expedition 63 crew will now begin unloading almost four tons of crew supplies, new science experiments and an advanced space toilet.

After standard depressurization and configuration activities, Commander Chris Cassidy opened the hatch to Cygnus. He entered the cargo craft wearing goggles and a mask to protect against potential dust and debris which is normal procedure when entering a docked cargo ship for the first time. The U.S. resupply ship will stay attached to the Unity module until mid-December when its cargo mission ends.

Cassidy and Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner spent Monday morning monitoring Cygnus approach and rendezvous following its Friday night launch. Cassidy gave the command for the Canadarm2 robotic arm to reach out and capture Cygnus at 5:32 a.m. EDT today. Mission controllers then took over the Canadarm2 and remotely installed Cygnus to Unity about an hour-and-a-half later.

Vagner later joined his fellow cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Anatoly Ivanishin for medical tests while wearing the Lower Body Negative Pressure suit. The specialized suit prevents blood from pooling toward a crew member’s head, a common space symptom called “puffy face,” that may cause head pressure and vision issues. The duo also worked on a variety of Russian science and maintenance tasks today.

On-Orbit Status Report

Payloads

Sally Ride Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle Schools (EarthKAM): The crew deactivated and stowed the EarthKam hardware. EarthKAM allows thousands of students to photograph and examine Earth from a space crew’s perspective. Using the Internet, the students control a special digital camera mounted on-board the ISS. This enables them to photograph the Earth’s coastlines, mountain ranges and other geographic items of interest from the unique vantage point of space. The EarthKAM team then posts these photographs on the Internet for viewing by the public and participating classrooms around the world.

Systems

Northrop Grumman (NG)-14 Mission: NG-14 Cygnus vehicle (S.S. Kalpana Chawla) rendezvoused with the ISS and was captured by the ISS Crew utilizing the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) at 4:32 am CT. Following capture, the Cygnus spacecraft was maneuvered and berthed to the Node 1 nadir Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) by Robotics Ground Controllers and fully integrated with the ISS. Once integrated, the crew ingressed the Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM) to transfer time critical payloads and cold bags from Cygnus to the ISS. The Cygnus NG-14 mission is part of the Commercial Resupply Services-2 (CRS-2) contract and is expected to be berthed to ISS until December 16, 2020.

Completed Task List Activities:

None
Today’s Ground Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Ground Supt for Cygnus Ops
ATS PPL update
Daily File Downlinks
IAS Comm Config for MRM Ops
Look Ahead Plan

Tuesday, 10/6 (GMT 280)
Payloads:

Rhodium Space Rhizosphere Ambient Stow (NASA)
NanoRacks Platform 2 Module 73 Install & Transfer (NASA)
TangoLab-2 Cardcube Replace (NASA)
Systems:

Cygnus Cargo Ops
N1N VOK Stow
CBCS Stow
Wednesday, 10/7 (GMT 281)
Payloads:

Bacterial Genome Fitness ACT (NASA)
SPECTRUM Plate Install (NASA)
AvatarX Setup/Checkout (JAXA)
Astrobee On (NASA)
ROBO Pro Briefing (JAXA)
ISS HAM (NASA)
Systems:

OBT Cyg Emer Rvw
UTS Offload EDV Swap
Thursday, 10/8 (GMT 282)
Payloads:

LSG Restraint Fold & WV Stow (NASA)
Astrobee Battery Change (NASA)
ROBO Pro Final Rounds (JAXA)
NanoRacks Module 73 Remove (NASA)
LSG Sleeve Swap & Crew Restraint Install (NASA)
Food Physiology (NASA)
Systems:

SOKOL Leak Check
LSG Crew Restraint Installation Initial
LSG Sleeve Swap
TOCA Run
Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Robotic Workstation (RWS) High Definition (HD) Monitor Downlink
Robotics Workstation (RWS) Configuration
USOS Window Shutter Close
Cygnus PCS Command and PROX Link Verification
ABOUT GAGARIN FROM SPACE. Hardware Deactivation
Centerline Berthing Camera System (CBCS) Powerup
Cygnus R-BAR Approach
TBU. Check temperature of ???-? #07 thermostat and free zone before inlet and outlet holes of ???-?
Preparation of Items for Return and Removal with Soyuz 745
Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) Cygnus Capture
MRM1 comm config to support tagup
SEPARATSIA. Urine distillation in auto mode with the use of ???-?-??. Current and voltage measurement
CHIBIS Set Transfer
LBNP Orthostatic Test
Remote Workstation Monitor HD Video Downlink Deactivation RWS.
Pressure Management Device (PMD) Equipment Setup
Node 1 Centerline Berthing Camera System (CBCS) Removal
Photo TV High Definition (HD) Cygnus Video Setup
Urine transfer from EDV to Progress 444 (DC1) Rodnik ??2 Tank and flushing ??2 tank B2 connector [ABORTED]
MRM2 comm config to support tagup
Checkout of ??, ??? systems by telemetry from MRM2
N1 Deck MPEV open
Pressure Management Device (PMD) Teardown
Node 1 Nadir to Cygnus Vestibule Outfitting
EARTHKAM. Hardware deactivation in Node 2 and stow
Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) Controller Panel Assembly (CPA) Rotation and Closeout
Cygnus Ingress
ABOUT GAGARIN FROM SPACE. Hardware Activation
Air sample collection using ??-1? absorber in Cygnus
Cygnus Cargo Photo