NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status April 26, 2021 – Crew-1 Getting Ready to Leave

Four astronauts aboard the International Space Station are preparing to return to Earth in a few days.
The Expedition 65 orbital residents are also conducting space science while preparing to send off a Russian cargo craft.

There are two four-member SpaceX crews aboard the station today including a three-member Soyuz crew. The four SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts are turning their attention to returning to Earth this week after being in space since Nov. 16.

Crew-1 commander Michael Hopkins joined Pilot Victor Glover and Mission Specialists Shannon Walker and Soichi Noguchi for a conference with mission managers on the ground today. The quartet is working on the proper time to undock the Crew Dragon Resilience from the station and splashdown off the coast of Florida this week.

The station’s newest Crew-2 astronauts are in their first week aboard the station and getting used to life on orbit. Crew Dragon Endeavour commander Shane Kimbrough along with Pilot Megan McArthur and Mission Specialists Thomas Pesquet and Akihiko Hoshide docked to the station on Saturday at 5:08 a.m. EDT to begin a six-month space research mission.

As the Crew-2 Dragon was heading for the space station about 1 p.m. Friday, the NASA/SpaceX team was informed that a piece of unidentified space debris might pass close to the Dragon spacecraft. U.S. Space Command, which tracks orbital debris (or space junk), informed the team that the closest approach to dragon would be at 1:43 p.m. Since there wasn’t time to compute and execute a debris avoidance maneuver with confidence, the SpaceX team elected to have the crew put on their pressure suits as part of standard safety protocols. Upon further analysis, the command’s 18th Space Control Squadron determined the object was a false report, and there was never a collision threat to the Crew-Dragon. The crew successfully docked to the station and is continuing its mission in orbit.

Station Commander Walker will hand over station control to Hoshide on Tuesday at 1:25 p.m. Hoshide will assume command of Expedition 65 during the change of command ceremony live on NASA TV.

Staying aboard with Crew-2 are three crewmates who rocketed to the orbiting lab aboard the Soyuz MS-18 crew ship on April 9. NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei is on his second station mission having served previously as an Expedition 53/54 flight engineer. This is the third station visit for cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy who was last aboard the station in 2013 and 2016. Cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov is on his first space flight.

There was time for science in space today with the crew servicing combustion research gear and transferring frozen biological samples into science freezers. Hardware for an experiment supporting pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries is also being packed for return to Earth soon.

A Russian cargo craft, the ISS Progress 75, is due to depart from the Zvezda service module on Tuesday at 7:11 p.m. This will complete a year-long stay on the station’s Russian segment one day before it reenters Earth’s atmosphere above the Pacific Ocean for a fiery, but safe destruction.

On-Orbit Status Report

Payloads:

ACE-T-2 (Advanced Colloids Experiment-Temperature-2): The crew changed out the ACE (Advanced Colloids Experiment) Module inside the LMM (Light Microscopy Module) AFC (Auxiliary Fluids Container) for the next ACE-T2 science runs. The Advanced Colloids Experiment-Temperature-2 (ACE-T-2) experiment looks at the assembly of complex structures from micron-scale colloidal particles interacting via tunable attractive interactions. The samples contain suspensions of trifluoroethyl methacrylate (FEMA) colloidal particles (10%vol) of type A and B in binary solvents composed of water (H2O, 68%mass) and lutidine (32%mass), that upon nearing the critical solvent temperature, give rise to critical Casimir interactions between the particles. Regulating the temperature enables control of the particle interactions, which for these mixtures of particles A and B are different, leading to the growth of complex structures. This experiment helps provide a better understanding of how complex interactions lead to complex structures and the dynamics of growth of these structures.

GRIP: The crew performed the first part of GRIP seated position science tasks (1 and 2 out of 3). The GRIP experiment studies the long-duration spaceflight effects on the abilities of human subjects to regulate grip force and upper limbs trajectories when manipulating objects during different kind of movements: oscillatory movements, rapid discrete movements and tapping gestures.

RTPCG-2 (Real-Time Protein Crystal Growth-2): The crew removed excess moisture from the EasyXtal plates and prepared the plates for return on Crew-1 Dragon. Phase II Real-time Protein Crystal Growth on Board the International Space Station (RTPCG-2) demonstrates new methods for producing high-quality protein crystals in microgravity. Previous work has shown that microgravity can sometimes produce high-quality protein crystals that can be analyzed to identify possible targets for drugs to treat disease. RTPCG-2 tests high-quality proteins crystals for detailed analysis back on Earth

VECTION: The crew executed a Vection Experiment Session. The objective of the study is to determine to what extent an astronaut’s ability to visually interpret motion, orientation, and distance may be disrupted in a microgravity environment, and how it may adapt and be changed upon return to Earth. Multiple experimental time points inflight and upon return to Earth allow for the adaptation and recovery process to be investigated.

ISS HAM: A crewmembers made ISS HAM contacts with St. Margaret’s School, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 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.

Systems:

MISSE Transfer Operations – On Friday, 4/23, during Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) 14 MISSE Sample Container (MSC) Transfer ops, ROBO encountered what appeared to be a stuck Robot Micro Conical Tool (RMCT) drive mode indicator on RMCT 1 while attempting to get off of an installed MSC. This resulted in approximately 1.5-hour delay in release of MSC-3. After further investigation, it was determined that the mechanism was making all expected mode transitions, and that the mode indicator was stuck. ROBO was able to unstick the mode indicator during subsequent modding to the Collet. Also, during MISSE-14 MSC transfer ops on Friday, ROBO encountered a Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) Arm 1 safing event while attempting to release an installed MSC. It is believed that this safing occurred due to the Force Movement Sensor (FMS) drifting during the 1.5-hour delay caused by the RMCT-1 drive mode indicator anomaly. This issue was resolved by slightly widening the Force/Moment Accommodation (FMA) limits.

On Saturday, 4/24, during MISSE Trolley Bare Bolt operations, ROBO did not get the expected end item after uplinking a command to enable Auto-Wiggle for the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM). The telemetry received after this command indicated that there was an incorrect scaling factor in the command system when compared to the command template. Ground teams discovered that there was a conversion issue that accounted for the scaling discrepancy. A Software Change Request (SCR) will be implemented to correct the command template, and to document the commanding workaround for contingency Wiggle operations.

Mobile Transporter (MT) Translation – On Sunday, 4/25, the MT translated from worksite 2 to worksite 7. This translation was in support of the scheduled MISSE transfers to bring the MISSE Transfer Tray (MTT) back to the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Airlock.

75 Progress Prop Purge – On Sunday, 4/25, there was a successful 75P propellant purge in preparation for 75P departure on Tuesday, 4/27.

Crew Orientation – On Monday, 4/26, Crew-2 crewmembers continued working through their ISS orientation sessions as well as their increment handover and adaptation sessions. The first two weeks after a crewed vehicle arrives and has docked, the new ISS crew will have 1 hour a day to adjust to living in space.

Polar Sample Transfer: – On Monday 4/26, Polar samples were transferred from Cold Stowage. Crewmembers set up camcorders and transferred samples from Cold Stowage to Polar using Ice Bricks and a Double Coldbags in preparation for Dragon descent. Live HD camcorder video streamed the entire duration to document crew operations; video not recorded for downlink.

Completed Task List Activities:

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

Columbus EPM high rate data downlink
Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer Operations and Commanding
Multiple User System for Earth Sensing Platform Resources and Commanding
Look Ahead Plan:

Tuesday, April 27 (GMT 117)
Payloads:

Vascular Echo BP closeout (CSA)
Phospho Aging blood and urine collections (JAXA)
Micro-Temperature log retrieve (JAXA)
Food Acceptability (NASA)
HRF Saliva. Urine and Blood Collect (NASA)
Food Physiology Fecal collect (NASA)
Standard Measures Cognition test and questionnaire (NASA)
MSL SCA Exchange B3#1 (NASA)
Systems

Polar Express Rack Uninstall, Transfer, And Crew Dragon Install
Final Payload Load for Crew-1 Departure
Space Acceleration Measurement System Sensor Recable
Wednesday, April 28 (GMT 118)
Payloads:

AC touch (NASA)
Vascular Aging BioMonitor Stow (CSA)
Phospho Aging blood and urine collections (JAXA)
AWP Doff (NASA)
GRIP Supine session and partial stow (ESA)
Standard Measures Ambient Blood and questionnaire (NASA)
Food Physiology Fecal processing and HISD photo (NASA)
Story Time in Space-8 Software install (NASA)
Systems

Deroute SSC 23 drag-through cables and temp stow
On Board Training (OBT) ROBoT T&C Self Study
ADLINK Troubleshooting Gather activity
Contingency Manual Fluid Transfer from EDV to Resupply Tank
Thursday, April 29 (GMT 119)
Payloads:

GRASP Seated session (ESA)
Phospho Aging Blood and Urine collect (JAXA)
ACME Controller replace (NASA)
Story Time in Space Experiment with Thermal White Sphere (NASA)
Systems

In Flight Maintenance (IFM) Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Pre-Treat Tank Remove & Replace
ACME Controller Replace 1
Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) Recycle Tank Drain
Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

ACE-T2 Module Configuration
Antimicrobial Coatings Documentation Photos
Antimicrobial Coatings Touch
Bio-Monitor Wearables Change Out
Bio-Monitor Wearables Stow
Campout Sleeping Bag Deploy and Stow
Crew Departure Preparations for Return to Earth
Dragon Monthly Conference
ESA FSL SW Flashdrive relocation
Handover of Increment 65 Crew
Health Maintenance System (HMS) Periodic Health Status (PHS) Evaluation Setup
Health Maintenance System (HMS) Periodic Health Status (PHS) Stow Hardware
HMS Stowage Cleanup
HRF Generic Ambient Blood Collection Setup
HRF Generic MELFI Sample Retrieval and Insertion Operations
HRF Generic Saliva Collection 10 Minutes
ISS HAM Columbus Pass Kenwood
JEM WIS RSU B4 Sensor Correction for RSU B4 S/N 1001 at JPM1F0
Male UCD Mate Review
MobileHR Pedal Crank Set audit
MSRRVelcro Deploy
On Board Training (OBT) ROBoT T&C Self Study
Onboard Training (OBT) Robotics On-board Trainer (ROBoT) Setup
Polar Sample Transfer 1 From Cold Stowage
Progress 445 (DC1) Cargo Transfers and IMS Ops (including ???3 unit and NALB pate)
Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) – JEM
Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) – Lab
Real-time Protein Crystal Growth Maintenance Work Area Preparation
Real-time Protein Crystal Growth Plate Packing
Real-time Protein Crystal Growth Plate Wicking
Roll Up and Stow Sleep Bag
Transfer Crew Dragon Cargo Operations
Transfer Cygnus Cargo Ops
Vascular Aging 13-hour Blood Pressure Monitoring Crew Time Payback
Vascular Aging 13-Hour Blood Pressure Monitoring Initialization
Vascular Aging 13-hour Blood Pressure Monitoring Mobil-O-Graph Unit Power Off
Vection Crew Member Training