NASA Space Station Status Report 27 June, 2022 – Cygnus Cargo Ship Prepares for Departure
A U.S. resupply ship is being prepared for its departure from the International Space Station on Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, the Expedition 67 crew continued its space gardening and human research activities today to promote mission success and improve health on Earth.
NASA astronauts Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins spent Monday wrapping up cargo operations inside the Cygnus space freighter from Northrop Grumman. ESA (European Space Agency) Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti joined the pair disconnecting power and ventilation systems and finally closing the vehicle’s hatch.
Cygnus will be detached from the Unity module overnight by the Canadarm2 robotic arm remotely controlled by engineers on the ground. The Canadarm2 will maneuver Cygnus away from the station and release the cargo craft at 6:05 a.m. EDT completing a four-month stay at the orbital lab. NASA TV starts its live Cygnus release coverage at 5:45 a.m. on Tuesday on the agency’s app and its website.
Hines finished his work day servicing oxygen components on a U.S. spacesuit. Watkins and Cristoforetti also partnered together and filmed station operations to train future crews preparing for upcoming missions to the orbiting complex. Watkins later setup camera gear that students on Earth can operate remotely and photograph landmarks on the ground. Finally, Cristoforetti swapped batteries inside the Astrobee robotic free-flyers and worked on NanoRacks Bishop airlock maintenance.
Advanced space research is always ongoing amidst the constant array of visiting vehicles and other mission activities taking place at the orbital lab. Monday’s science experiments mainly focused on growing plants without soil, cardiac research, and Earth observations.
NASA Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren kicked off another plant growing session for the XROOTS space botany study. He set up seed cartridges and root modules for the experiment to demonstrate using hydroponic and aeroponic techniques to grow edible plants in microgravity. Growing crops in space can reduce costly cargo missions and help sustain crews as NASA and its international partners plan missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Roscosmos cosmonauts Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov worked on cardiac research today exploring how the human circulatory system adapts to weightlessness. Matveev later worked on nanosatellites to be deployed on an upcoming Russian spacewalk. Korsakov also conducted ear, nose, and throat research. Commander Oleg Artemyev worked on Russian maintenance activities and later filmed station operations for audiences on Earth.
On-Orbit Status Report
Northrup Grumman 17 (NG-17) Cygnus Reboost: On Saturday June 25th, the ISS successfully performed a reboost using Cygnus Delta Velocity (?V) Engine (DVE) starting at 17:27 GMT with a posigrade burn duration of 5 min and 1 sec resulting in a ?V of 0.3 m/s and a delta altitude (?H) of 0.54 km. The Cygnus reboost was the first “full” reboost by a USOS Visiting Vehicle since the retirement of the Space Shuttle in July 2011.
Preparation for NG-17 Cygnus Unberth and Release: Today, the crew configured Cygnus and the Node 1 vestibule to prepare for Cygnus departure tomorrow. This morning, the Crew removed intermodule ventilation and closed the Cygnus hatch. Once the hatch was closed, the crew installed the Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) Center Disk Cover and four CBM Controller Panel Assemblies (CPAs) onto an Active CBM bulkhead and then closed the Node 1 nadir hatch. Cygnus is ready for unberth tomorrow at approximately 1:55 am CST with release planned to occur at 5:05 am CST.
Payloads:
Cold Atom Lab (CAL): A visual inspection was performed of the CAL Moderate Temperature Loop (MTL) Jumper to check for leaks and reported the observed leakage. The MTL Jumper has been susceptible to a small leak and periodic crew monitoring has been implemented while the ground assesses future remediation options. The CAL produces clouds of atoms that are chilled to about one ten billionth of a degree above absolute zero — much colder than the average temperature of deep space. At these low temperatures, atoms have almost no motion, allowing scientists to study fundamental behaviors and quantum characteristics that are difficult or impossible to probe at higher temperatures. In microgravity, researchers may be able to achieve even colder temperatures than what is possible on the ground and observe these cold atom clouds for longer periods of time.
Sally Ride Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle Schools (EarthKAM): The EarthKAM hardware components were set up in the Node 2 nadir window for a week-long imaging session. 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.
NanoRacks Bishop Airlock (NRAL): The crew reviewed the big picture words in preparation for the testing of the system’s trash deployment capability later in the week. NRAL is the first-ever commercially owned and operated airlock on the ISS. It provides a variety of capabilities including jettisoning of payloads such as CubeSats, deployment of external payloads, support for small exterior payloads and locker-sized internal payloads, recovery of external on-orbit replaceable units (ORUs), and the ability to move hardware outside in support of extravehicular activities (EVAs). It is approximately five times larger than the JEM Airlock so it can accommodate more and larger payloads. NRAL’s capabilities support many different types of scientific investigations.
Nutrition Monitoring for the International Space Station (NutrISS): The crew set up the NutrISS bioimpedance device and performed a measurement session. They also filled out a questionnaire related to the session. Long-duration spaceflight induces relevant changes in body composition and a loss of body mass. In the NutrISS investigation, a periodic assessment of body composition (body weight, fat mass, and fat-free mass) during spaceflight aboard the ISS is carried out using a dedicated bio-impedance analysis device to allow for the measurement of long-term energy balance modification over time. It is hypothesized that an adjusted diet maintaining a near-neutral energy balance, and/or increasing protein intake can limit microgravity-induced bone and muscle loss.
eXposed Root On-Orbit Test System (XROOTS): A nutrient mix and fill were completed, followed by the insertion of the seed cartridges and root modules to formally begin the second plant growth session. Over the next 30 days, the crew will observe and assist with the seed germination and growout of the plants. The XROOTS investigation uses hydroponic and aeroponic techniques to grow plants without soil or other growth media. Video and still images enable evaluation of multiple independent growth chambers for the entire plant life cycle from seed germination through maturity. Results could identify suitable methods to produce crops on a larger scale for future space missions.
Systems:
Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) Upper Stop Cable Remove and Replace (R&R): Following its failure Saturday, the crew successfully R&R’d the upper stop cable on ARED. The upper stop cables are use-to-failure hardware. The failure of a cable is when the arm is unable to be racked. With the successful R&R, ARED is considered fit for use. ARED uses adjustable resistance piston-driven vacuum cylinders along with a flywheel system to simulate free-weight exercises in normal gravity.
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Secondary Oxygen Pack (SOP) Checkout: The crew performed a full checkout of the SOP installed on EMU 3009. The SOP provides oxygen for breathing, ventilation, pressurization, and cooling in the event of a malfunction of the primary oxygen tanks or a suit leak. The SOP is contained within the EMU backpack, attached to the bottom portion of the Primary Life Support System (PLSS). The PLSS houses the equipment responsible for providing all of the necessary consumables to sustain a crew member during an Extravehicular Activity (EVA). The crew installed the EMU 3009 upside down in the EDDA to access the bottom side of the PLSS and completed the SOP Checkout.
Crew Handover Video: Today, the crew recorded videos for future crew handovers and pre-flight familiarization to help crew adjust to ISS daily life. In the recording, the crew gave tips for the life onboard, setting up Public Affair Events (PAOs), exercising, IT onboard, and any other topics at the crew’s discretion.
Completed Task List Activities:
Stations Support Computer 22 and 16 Swap
Today’s Ground Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
Common Communications for Visiting Vehicles (C2V2) Activation
Cygnus Configuration for Departure from Node 1 Nadir
EVA EMU Secondary Oxygen Pack Checkout
Look Ahead Plan
Tuesday, June 28 (GMT 179)
Payloads:
AMOS
Astrobee Routine Maintenance
BCM ROBoT
ELF Sample Holder Exchange
NRAL Stowage Clear and Vestibule Configuration
Standard Measures Post Sleep
TReK Laptop Power-Cycle
Systems:
Nitrogen Purge ORU Flight Support Equipment (FSE) Transfer
Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) Cygnus Release and departure monitoring.
Cygnus NG-17 Departure
Crew Handover Recordings for Daily Crew-Life
Wednesday, June 29 (GMT 180)
Payloads:
AMOS
BCM ROBoT
EarthKAM Lens Change
GLACIER/MELFI Transfers
MERLIN Icebrick Remove
MSG Activation
NRAL Trash Deploy
Systems:
Crew Handover Recordings for Daily Crew-Life
ISS Video Survey
Water Recovery Management (WRM) Water Balance
Thursday, June 30 (GMT 181)
Payloads:
Actiwatch HRF1 Setup
COSMIC USB Cycle
DOSIS LED Check
Intelligent Glass Optics
Russian Experiment MELFI Insertion
WICO Measurements
XROOTS Fluid Recovery and Wick Open
Systems:
Lab/N3 Cable Management
Airlock Node 1 MTL Swap
ARED Quarterly Maintenance
T2 Monthly Inspection
SSC HDD Swap
EVA SLE Training
CST-100 USB Drive Formatting
Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
Air Quality Monitor Vent Vacuum
ARED Upper Stop Cable R&R
Astrobee Battery Gather, Charge, Swap, and Stow
Atmosphere Control and Supply (ACS) Oxygen Manual Valve Close
Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis Measurement
Left Mouse Habitat Unit Cage and Interface Unit Removal
Cold Atom Lab MTL Jumper Leak Check
Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) Controller Panel Assembly (CPA) Rotation and Closeout
Contingency Water Container – Iodinated (CWC-I) Degas
Crew handover recordings for daily crew-life [Deferred]
Cygnus Cargo Closeout
Cygnus Egress
Cygnus PCS Command and PROX Link Verification
Cygnus/Node 1 Vestibule Configuration for Demate
EarthKAM Node 2 Setup and Activation
ELF Item Gathering
EVA EMU SOP Checkout
FSL Front panels photo documenting
Gather Vestibule Outfitting Kit (VOK)
IMS Update
Life On The Station Photo and Video
N1 Deck hatch MPEV open
NRAL Vestibule Outfit
NUTRIENT Solution Fill and Mix
NUTRISS MO8 Questionnaire
PCS Laptop Relocate
Pressure Management Device (PMD) Part 1 and Part 2
Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in JEM
Robotic Workstation (RWS) Setup
Space Acceleration Measurement System RTS/D1 Screen Cleaning
Station Reorganization
Urine Transfer System Offload EDV Swap
USOS Window Shutter Close
XF705 Camcorder Setup
XROOTS Experiment Install
XROOTS Light Setup
XROOTS MWA Preparation
