NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status Report 3 February, 2022 – Mark Vande Hei Hits 300 Day Mark in Mission

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei has lived in space continuously for 300 days since launching and docking to the orbiting lab on April 9, 2021.
He is on his way to surpassing Christina Koch’s 328-day mission on March 3 and Scott Kelly’s 340 days on March 15. Vande Hei will return to Earth on March 30 with a NASA astronaut record-breaking 355 consecutive days in Earth orbit.

CAPCOM Woody Hobaugh from Mission Control in Houston congratulated both Vande Hei and Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov on reaching their 300-day milestone today. Listen to the audio downlink.

Vande Hei arrived at the station aboard the Soyuz MS-18 crew ship with Dubrov and Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy. Novitskiy returned to Earth on Oct. 17, 2021, with spaceflight participants Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko. Dubrov will remain onboard the station with Vande Hei and parachute to a landing with station Commander Anton Shkaplerov in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz MS-19 crew ship at the end of March.

Meanwhile, aboard the International Space Station today the Expedition 66 crew continued its space biology and human research activities. Scientists will use the data to learn how to improve health in space and Earth.

Flight Engineers Raja Chari of NASA and Matthias Maurer of ESA (European Space Agency) joined each other Wednesday afternoon for a visual function study inside the Kibo laboratory module. The investigation explores how microgravity affects the vascular function and tissue remodeling in the eye. NASA Flight Engineer Kayla Barron participated in another vision study exploring how an astronaut visually interprets motion, orientation, and distance in space.

Chari then examined the eyes of NASA Flight Engineer Thomas Marshburn using medical imaging gear, or optical coherence tomography. Maurer assisted the pair in the afternoon, but started his day setting up virtual reality gear for a training session in the Columbus laboratory module.

Shkaplerov spent Thursday servicing video gear, transferring cargo from inside the Prichal docking module, and setting up Earth observation hardware. Dubrov and Vande Hei partnered together and installed internal wireless gear in the station’s Russian segment during the afternoon.

On-Orbit Status Report

Payloads:

Cell Biology Experiment Facility (CBEF-L): The Plant Experiment Unit (PEU) was detached from the CBEF-L Incubator Unit. CBEF-L is a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) new subrack facility, which is an upgraded facility of the original CBEF currently aboard the ISS. CBEF-L provides new capabilities with additional new resources such as Full High-Definition video interface, Ethernet, 24 VDC power supply, and a larger diameter centrifugal test environment. By using the original CBEF and CBEF-L as one facility for the same experiment, the payload user is provided with an upgraded experimental environment that can handle the processing of more experimental samples for a wider array of experiments.

JEM Small Satellite Orbital Deployer-20 (J-SSOD-20): Photos were taken of the deployed satellites from Launcher 2. The Light-1 CubeSat focuses on the detection of Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs) coming from the Earth’s atmosphere. This feat is achieved by utilizing two detectors that are integrated onboard a compact 3-Unit (3U) satellite bus, proving to be extremely efficient in terms of cost, manufacturing, and assembly time. Light-1 is deployed as a part of the J-SSOD #20 micro-satellite deployment mission and was launched to the International Space Station aboard the SpaceX-24 Dragon Cargo Vehicle. GT-1 is a 1.14 kg 1U CubeSat with experimental deployable solar panels and a deployable UHF radio antenna. The GT-1 mission demonstrates a rapid cradle-to-grave lifecycle of a university level CubeSat.

Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG): The crew reconfigured the MSG Feedthroughs back into the standard configuration from the last payload that was installed. The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) is a rack-level payload facility located in the U.S. Laboratory module on the International Space Station (ISS). MSG provides resources such as power, data, video, heat rejection, vacuum, nitrogen, and containment for investigations. The facility is well suited for handling hazardous materials when crew are present. MSG is capable of accommodating both physical science and biological research payloads.

Retinal Diagnostics: Crewmembers executed the Retinal Diagnostics measurements. The DLR-EAC Retinal Diagnostics Study (Retinal Diagnostics) utilizes a commercially available ophthalmology lens, approved for routine clinical use with mobile devices, to capture images of the human retina in space. The videos/images are downlinked to test and train models to detect retinal pathologies common among astronauts.

Rodent Research-18 (RR-18): Crewmembers performed Rodent ops, Habitat restock and Access Unit cleaning. Astronauts returning from space can experience eye problems, along with headaches and blurred vision. Scientists suspect environmental conditions during spaceflight lead to oxidative stress that adversely affects the eye structure and function. Space Flight Environment Induces Remodeling of Vascular Network and Glia-vascular Communication in Mouse Retina (Rodent Research-18) investigates how spaceflight affects visual function, examining changes in the vascular system of the retina, tissue remodeling and cell-cell interactions in mice.

VECTION: The VECTION hardware was deployed, and a crewmember performed a data collection 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 how it may be changed upon return to Earth. Multiple experimental time points inflight and upon return to Earth allows for the adaptation and recovery process to be investigated.

Systems:

PS-120 Junction Box and AC Inverter Deploy to LAB Utility Output Panel (UOP): The crew deployed a new PS-120 Junction Box and AC Inverter to LAB UOP8-J4 to support future Payloads and System operations. Plugging into and receiving power from the Utility Output Panel, the PS-120 Junction Box provides four switched outlets, each sized for 120 VDC output. In other words, as the UOP acts comparably to an electrical outlet, the PS-120 acts comparably to a power strip for portable equipment.

Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Manual Fill Initiation and Termination: Today, the crew initiated a manual fill of the WHC E??-?? (Water Container) using a Post-Flight Analysis Bag to capture any pressure relief to protect the dose pump. The ???-CB is intended for short-term storage and manual water transportation between facilities. After successfully filling the E??-??, the crew returned the WHC to nominal use.

Extravehicular Activities (EVAs) Preparation: The crew has started preparation for the upcoming iROSA Prep 3A and RPVM Jumper USOS EVAs in March by conducting EVA Tool Gather, EVA M-02 Audit, EVA Joint Airlock Audit of A/L1O0, and EVA Tether Inspection. Today’s EVA Tool Gather provided the crew the opportunity to initially gather and store some of the tools required to perform the activities associated with these EVAs; future gathers will add more tools to this store of equipment. The crew also sorted through Crew Transfer Bags (CTBs) in the EVA M-02 Audit and EVA Joint Airlock Audit A/L1O0 to identify their contents for future use. Unfortunately, the EVA Tether Inspection was deferred based on time constraints. Prior to each series of EVAs, all Tethers planned for use during the series are inspected for structural integrity.

Eye Exams: The crew continued routine Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) eye exams today. OCT is an imaging technique analogous to ultrasound imaging that uses light instead of sound to capture micrometer-resolution, two- and three-dimensional images of tissue; in this case, the objects of interest are the crewmembers’ eyes. Eye exams are performed regularly on-board to monitor crewmembers’ eye health. Eyesight is one of the many aspects of the human body that may be affected by long-duration stays in a microgravity environment.

Completed Task List Activities:

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

JEM Remote Manipulator System (RMS) Ground Control for J-SSOD-20 Deployment
Payload Rack Officer (PRO) Fluids Integrated Rack (FIR) Activation Commanding
PRO Basic EXPRESS Rack 11B Activation and Deactivation Commanding
Mobile Transporter (MT) Pre-Translation Checkout and Translation
Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) Flight Releasable Attachment Mechanism (FRAM) Stow
Look Ahead Plan:

Friday, February 4 (GMT 35)
Payloads:

Astrobee Off (NASA)
BioNutrients Sample Transfer to Cold Stowage and Survey (NASA)
ISS HAM (NASA)
SQuARE (NASA)
Systems:

Crew Off-Duty
Saturday, February 5 (GMT 36)
Payloads:

SQuARE (NASA)
Veggie PONDS Water Fill and Photo (NASA)
Systems:

Crew Off-Duty
Sunday, February 6 (GMT 37)
Payloads:

SQuARE (NASA)
Systems:

Crew Off-Duty
Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Resupply Air Tank Teardown
Astrobee Stowage Replace
Cell Biology Experiment Facility Left (CBEF-L) Plant Exp Unit Detachment
SSC (Station Support Computer) 10 and 20 Swap
Environmental Health System (EHS) Acoustic Monitor Data Transfer
Touching Event for the Touching Surfaces experiment
Basic EXPRESS Rack 11B
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) #1 and #2 Procedure Reviews for Extravehicular Crew
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Airlock Audit of A/LO0 and M-02 Audit
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Tether Inspection [Deferred]
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Tool Gathering
Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCI) Swap
Health Maintenance System (HMS) ISS Food Intake Tracker (ISS FIT)
Health Maintenance System (HMS) OCT2 Exam
Swap IWIS (Internal Wireless Instrumentation System) RSU (Remote Sensor Unit) in FGB with IWIS in NOD1
JEMRMS Small Satellite Deployment Observation
JEM Water Recovery System (JWRS) MELFI Item Check
Lab Window Shutter Close
LSG Primary Crew Restraint Unfold and Fold
LSG Work Volume Deploy and Stow
MSG Feedthrough Reconfiguration
Troubleshoot Network Sever Laptop
Deploy Multi-Port USB Charger in NOD2
PS-120 Junction Box and AC Inverter Deploy to LAB UOP
Retinal Diagnostics Setup and Data Acquisition
Space Automated Laboratory Incubator Card Exchange
SQuARES Fixed Daily Imagery
Temperature and Humidity Control (THC) Intermodule Ventilation (IMV) Flow Measurement Survey
Vection Experiment Operations
VR-OBT Setup and Execution
Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Manual Fill Initiation and Termination
ZBook Hardware Consolidation