Space Stations

NASA Space Station Status Report 17 January, 2023 – Spacewalk Set for Friday

By SpaceRef Editor

Status Report

SpaceRef

January 18, 2023

Filed under Expedition 68, International Space Station, ISS On-orbit status, NASA

NASA Space Station Status Report 17 January, 2023 – Spacewalk Set for Friday — Cosmonaut Dmitri Petelin configures optical hardware.

NASA

Spacewalk preparations are continuing aboard the International Space Station as the Expedition 68 crew ensures the operations of research hardware in microgravity.

Flight Engineers Nicole Mann of NASA and Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are scheduled for their first spacewalk together at the end of the week. The astronauts spent a couple of hours on Tuesday morning reviewing procedures they will use to install power upgrades hardware that will ready the orbiting lab for its next roll-out solar array on a future spacewalk.

The duo will set their Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs), or spacesuits, to battery power at 8:15 a.m. EST on Friday signifying the beginning of their spacewalk. Mann and Wakata are expected to work outside in the vacuum of space for about six-and-a-half hours on the starboard side of the space station’s truss structure.

Mann wrapped up her day removing a small satellite deployer from inside the Kibo laboratory module’s airlock. Wakata began his day demonstrating simple space physics experiments for children on Earth before finally calibrating components inside the Combustion Integrated Rack.

NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio spent Tuesday morning tending to research samples and servicing a variety of science gear. Rubio started the day in the Destiny laboratory module nourishing samples and cleaning hardware for a study exploring ways to heal bone conditions on and off the Earth. Rubio then spent the afternoon inside the Columbus laboratory module connecting communications and networking hardware.

NASA astronaut Josh Cassada watered tomato plants growing for the Veg-05 space botany study. Cassada ended his day gathering hardware and setting up Kibo’s Life Science Glovebox for upcoming operations for the bone condition study.

Prokopyev and Petelin spent Tuesday working inside a pair Progress resupply ships on both cargo transfers and air and water tank maintenance. Roscosmos Flight Engineer Anna Kikina worked inside the Zarya module replacing electronics hardware.

U.S. Spacewalk 84 Preview

On-Orbit Status Report

Payloads:

Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR): Preparations were made to support a Fuel Oxidizer Management Assembly (FOMA) calibration. The FOMA calibration is performed periodically and helps to verify accurate readings from the various measurement systems in the CIR. The CIR facility includes an optics bench, combustion chamber, fuel, and oxidizer control, and five different cameras for performing combustion investigations in microgravity. Solid Fuel Ignition and Extinction (SoFIE) is a hardware insert for the CIR that enables a wide range of solid-material combustion and fire suppression studies.

JEM Small Satellite Orbital Deployer-24 (J-SSOD-24): Following the successful deployment of the satellites on January 6^th, the J-SSOD launcher hardware was removed from the JEM airlock slide table and stowed. J-SSOD provides a novel and safe small satellite launching capability for the ISS. The J-SSOD is a unique satellite launcher, handled by the Japanese Experiment Module Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS), which provides containment and deployment mechanisms for several individual small satellites.

JAXA Try Zero-G for Asia: The crew performed several experiments for the student community observing from the ground. JAXA hosts several Educational Payload Operation (EPO) investigations designed to attract public attention for Japanese manned spaceflight activities. The Try Zero-G for Asia is an EPO investigation consisting of several activities in KIBO, the Japanese experiment module on the ISS. Crew members conduct several small experiments submitted by students in countries in the Asia-Pacific region to demonstrate the effects of microgravity.

Veg-05: The plants growing in the two Veggie facilities were inspected, watered if necessary, and photographed. The experiment is growing Red Robin dwarf tomatoes for a little over 3 months and will perform multiple harvests of the fruits produced. The Pick-and-Eat Salad-Crop Productivity, Nutritional Value, and Acceptability to Supplement the ISS Food System (Veg-05) investigation is the next step in efforts to address the need for a continuous fresh-food production system in space.

Systems:

USOS Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Preparation Activities: In preparation for the upcoming 1A ISS Roll-Out Solar Array (IROSA) Prep EVA scheduled for January 20^th, the crew completed EVA procedure review and Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Cuff Checklist Incorporation. The main goal of this EVA is to route cables on two mod kits and install the 1A Mod Kit on the 1A Solar Array Wing (SAW) Mast Canister to prepare these SAWs for future IROSA installations.

Columbus Local Area Network (LAN) Switch (CLSW2) Installation: Today, the crew finalized Patch Panels 2.1 and 2.2 connections in the Starboard Endcone Area, then swapped and connected the AstroPI IR LAN Cable to Patch Panel 2.2 in ongoing efforts to modernize the Columbus Data Management System (DMS). The crew then disconnected the ICE Cubes Facility (ICF) LAN from the Columbus Payloads LAN Switch (CPLSW) and ICF and swapped to a longer cable. This supports systems, subsystems, and payloads for communication in the Columbus module.

Crew Dragon Seat Liner Installation Preparation: Today, the crew gathered tools in preparation for the transfer of a seat liner from 68S Soyuz to Crew-5 Dragon. The seat liner transfer is scheduled for Wednesday, January 18^th to provide additional occupant protection in Dragon following the 68S thermal loop leak anomaly. The seat liner will be transferred back to the Russian Segment after a replacement Soyuz is launched and this temporary configuration is no longer required. Each Soyuz crewmember has a custom molded seat liner that protects the crew during launch, reentry, and landing.

Completed Task List Activities:

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