NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 8 November 2017 – Canadarm2 Training for Cygnus Capture

Two astronauts are training for Monday’s planned arrival of Orbital ATK’s newest Cygnus cargo craft dubbed the S.S. Eugene Cernan. The crew is also analyzing the International Space Station’s atmosphere and studying how crew performance adapts to microgravity.
Orbital ATK is counting down to a Veteran’s Day launch of its Cygnus spacecraft atop an Antares rocket from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The rocket is scheduled to blast off Saturday at 7:37 a.m. EST with about 7,400 pounds of science gear and crew supplies packed inside Cygnus.

Commander Randy Bresnik and Flight Engineer Paolo Nespoli are training today to capture Cygnus with the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Nespoli will command the Canadarm2 to grapple Cygnus at 5:40 a.m. Monday when it reaches a point about 10 meters from the station. Bresnik will back up Nespoli and monitor the spacecraft’s approach and rendezvous.

Astronaut Mark Vande Hei has been helping doctors this week understand the risk of living inside the closed environment of a spacecraft for the Airway Monitoring study. He set up gear to analyze the air in the space station for dust and gases that could inflame an astronaut’s respiratory system. Results will help doctors improve crew health as NASA plans human missions farther and longer into space.

Nespoli started his day studying how floating in space impacts interacting with touch-based technologies and other sensitive equipment. Observations from the Fine Motor Skills study may influence the design of future spaceships and space habitats.

On-Orbit Status Report

Airway Monitoring: Using the Portable Pulmonary Function System (PFS), the crew performed calibrations and conducted high and low nitric oxide (NO) measurements in the US Laboratory. The Airway Monitoring investigation aims to determine the pulmonary nitric oxide turnover in weightlessness and in combined weightless, hypobaric and hypoxic environments, as well as the lung diffusion capacity for nitric oxide. With dust particles present in the ISS atmosphere, this investigation studies the occurrence and indicators of airway inflammation in crewmembers, using ultra-sensitive gas analyzers to analyze exhaled air. This will help to identify health impacts and support maintenance of crewmember well-being on future human spaceflight missions, such as to the Moon and Mars, where crewmembers will have to be more self-sufficient in identifying and avoiding such conditions.

Lighting Effects: A 52S crewmember provided a sleep log entry to track his daily sleep patterns and wakefulness. The Lighting Effects investigation studies the impact of the change from fluorescent light bulbs to solid-state light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with adjustable intensity and color and aims to determine if the new lights can improve crew circadian rhythms, sleep, and cognitive performance.

Fine Motor Skills (FMS): Today a 51S crewmember conducted a Flight Day 104 FMS session that was executed on a touchscreen tablet, where the subject performs a series of interactive tasks. The investigation studies how fine motor skills are affected by long-term microgravity exposure, different phases of microgravity adaptation, and sensorimotor recovery after returning to Earth gravity. The goal of FMS is to answer how fine motor performance in microgravity varies over the duration of a six-month and year-long space mission, how fine motor performance on orbit compare with that of a closely matched participant on Earth, and how performance trend/vary before and after gravitational transitions, including the periods of early flight adaptation, and very early/near immediate post-flight periods.

Earth Imagery from ISS Target Operations: The crew captured video footage of the Atlantic Ocean that continues to Northwest Africa, and footage of a thunderstorm in Italy that continues to East Europe. The crew also captured imagery of the Pacific Ocean before Singapore that continues over the coast between mainland China, Korea and Japan. The Earth Imagery from ISS investigation creates a series of videos, showcasing Earth from space. These videos will be taken with cameras on the International Space Station in 6K hi-resolution, then integrated into videos for screensavers for public enjoyment, exploration, and engagement.

Meteor Hard Drive Swap-out: The crew removed and replaced the hard drive in the Meteor laptop located in the Window Observational Research Facility (WORF). The Meteor payload is a visible spectroscopy instrument with the primary purpose of observing 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. Since the parent comets or asteroids for most of the meteor showers are identified, the study of the meteoroid dust on orbit provides information about the parent comets and asteroids.

Joint Airlock Remote Power Control Module (RPCM) Remove and Replace (R&R): Today the crew rotated the A/L1F1 rack to access and replace the AL1A4A_B RPCM. The post-R&R checkout was successful. This RPCM powers Airlock redundant shell heaters. After the R&R, they inspected the Lower Left Launch Restraint on the A/L1F1 Rack. This Lower Left Launch Restraint was previously reported as stuck in the fully disengaged position. The crew was unable to engage the restraint. The rack is in an acceptable configuration with only 3 of 4 restraints, however.

Cygnus Offset Grapple On-Board Training (OBT): In preparation for Cygnus arrival, the crew practiced vehicle captures with the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS), which was positioned at the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) Flight Releasable Grapple Fixture (FRGF) High Hover position earlier this week in preparation for the training. Following the training, the crew participated in a conference with ground teams to discuss the training session and address any questions.

Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) Overhead 1 (O1) Rack Front Cleanup: The crew prepared the PMMO1 Rack Front to accept cargo during the upcoming Orbital ATK 8 (OA-8) mission by consolidating trash items and staging these items for disposal. During OA-8 cargo operations, these disposal items will be swapped with cargo that arrived on OA-8.

Node 2 Zenith International Docking Adapter (IDA) Control Panel Installation: The crew installed the IDA Control Panel bracket, IDA Control Panel, and cover on a Closeout Panel in Node 2. This Control Panel will be used to control the IDA at Node 2 Zenith during future Commercial Crew vehicles. After installation, the control panel was checked out successfully.

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

Lighting Effects Sleep Log Entry – Subject
Regeneration of Micropurification Unit (???) ?2 Cartridge (start)
Photo/TV (P/TV) Airway Monitoring Video Setup
Calibrations, Low NO and High NO measurements
PMM1O1 Hardware Cleanup
Fine Motor Skills Experiment Test – Subject
Airlock Rack Rotate Down
Video Recording of Greetings
Health Maintenance System (HMS) Spaceflight Cognitive Assessment Tool for Windows (WinSCAT) Test
MELFI Ice Brick transfer 1
Download Pille Dosimeter Readings
Airlock RPCM R&R
Gathering equipment for checkout of water pump removed from Orlan-MK No.5 and procedure review.
Consolidating ESA consumables and trash.
MATRYOSHKA-R. Prep and Initialization of Bubble-Dosimeter Detectors
Airlock Rack Inspection
Checkout of water pump removed from Orlan-MK No.5.
Meteor Hard Drive Swapout
Airlock Rack Rotate Up
Node 2 Zenith International Docking Adapter (IDA) Control Panel Installation
SM ???-1? ???? equipment R&R prep.
Checkout of the Node 2 Zenith International Docking Adapter (IDA) Control Panel.
FROST2 Troubleshoot
Nikon still camera sync with station time
Node 2 Forward Endcone Stowage Replace
Earth Imagery from ISS Crew Preference Target Operations
Filling (separation) of ??? [???] for Elektron or ???-??
VEG-03 Plant Photo
Crew Choice Event
VIZIR. Experiment Ops.
??? maintenance
Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) – JEM
MELFI 3 Ice Brick Insert 4
AIRMON Power off and Stow
Delta file prep
Verification of ??-1 Flow Sensor Position
Biolab Reference Experiment Container Removal
URAGAN. Observation and Photography using VSS
Airway Monitoring Video Stow
On-board Training (OBT) Cygnus Offset Grapple
Audit of ??-3? cradle pockets
Miniature Exercise Device Procedure Review
Miniature Exercise Device Surface Pro 3 Charge
IWIS (Internal Wireless Instrumentation System) TAA (Tri-axial Accellerometer) Hardware Gather
Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (RGN) Wastewater Storage Tank Assembly (WSTA) Fill
Health Maintenance System (HMS) – ESA Nutritional Assessment
Multi-purpose Small Payload Rack (MSPR) Two-Phase Flow Experiment Equipment Activation
Onboard Training (OBT) SSRMS Debrief Conference
Regeneration Micropurification Unit (???) ?2 Absorption Cartridge (end)

Completed Task List Activities
SSC10 (A/L). Connect to Wired
VEG-03 Plant Pillow Water

Ground Activities
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
MAA Powerup for Cygnus Offset Grapple
ACBM Inspection

Three-Day Look Ahead:
Thursday, 11/09: Lab CDRA Maintenance, IWIS TAA R&R, ITCS FSS Refill, Mini Exercise Device
Friday, 11/10: Cygnus OBT, Stowage Consolidation, Earth Imagery, CBCS Install, HRF Operations
Saturday, 11/11: Cygnus Launch, Weekly Housekeeping, Crew Off Duty

QUICK ISS Status – Environmental Control Group:
Component – Status
Elektron – On
Vozdukh – Manual
[???] 1 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV1”) – On
[???] 2 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV2”) – Off
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab – Standby
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 – Operate
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab – Idle
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 – Operate
Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) – Process
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) – Standby
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab – Full Up
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 – Off