NASA Space Station Status Report 19 May, 2022 – Countdown Underway for Starliner Launch

Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) mission is counting down to a liftoff at 6:54 p.m. EDT today to begin a 24-hour trip to the International Space Station.
The Expedition 67 crew focused primarily on human research and cargo operations while also preparing for the OFT-2 mission’s arrival on Friday.

Starliner will launch uncrewed atop the United Launch Alliance Atlas-V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. It will automatically dock to the Harmony module’s forward port at 7:10 p.m. EDT on Friday where it will stay for approximately five days of cargo and test operations. NASA TV begins live launch coverage on the NASA app and its website at 6 p.m. today.

On Wednesday, flight controllers notified the space station crew of the possibility of a close pass by orbital debris late Thursday, May 19 and the station executing a debris avoidance maneuver. Additional tracking data received overnight shows there is no longer concern for a close pass and no avoidance maneuver is required.

NASA Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren spent Thursday afternoon setting up hardware and software that will help monitor the arrival of Boeing’s Starliner crew ship on the OFT-2 mission. Earlier, he conducted a pair of tests measuring his cognition and hearing levels to understand microgravity’s long-term effects on humans.

NASA astronauts Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins joined ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti conducting cargo operations inside the Northrop Grumman Cygnus space freighter. The commercial cargo craft arrived at the station on Feb. 21 delivering 8,300 pounds of experiments and hardware. Cygnus will depart the station in mid-June loaded with trash and discarded gear for a fiery, but safe destruction above the south Pacific Ocean.

Hines and Watkins started the day collecting and stowing their blood samples for later analysis. Hines later serviced a variety of life support and research hardware. Watkins monitored her glucose level to understand the cardiovascular risk of living and working in space. Cristoforetti collected air samples to demonstrate analyzing trace atmospheric contaminants using the ANITA-2 (Analyzing Interferometer for Ambient Air-2) device.

Station Commander Oleg Artemyev packed the docked ISS Progress 79 crew ship with obsolete gear and checked its systems ahead of its departure in early June. Roscosmos Flight Engineers Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov worked on Russian life support gear and panel inspections inside the Zvezda service module.

On-Orbit Status Report

Payloads:

ANITA-2: Air samples were manually taken from assigned ISS locations and entered into ANITA-2 for chemical analysis. The Analyzing Interferometer for Ambient Air-2 (ANITA-2) is a compact gas analyzer which can analyze and quantify 33 trace contaminants in the atmosphere aboard the ISS automatically. ANITA-2 can also detect the presence of unknown substances which can be evaluated later on the ground.

Lumina: The Lumina unit was powercycled in order to prepare the unit to handle large file transfers. Fiber-optic Active Dosimeter (Lumina) is an active fiber dosimeter that monitors, in real-time, the received radiation dose by exploiting the capacity of optical fibers to darken when exposed to radiation. The dosimeter provides reliable dose measurements in complex environments such as the ones associated with electrons, protons, gamma-ray or X-ray photons or neutrons.

Space Automated Bioproduct Laboratory (SABL): CO2 Controller S/N-4 was installed into the SABL-2 unit to verify its functionality. The SABL unit supports a wide variety of investigations in the life, physical, and material sciences with a focus on supporting research of biological systems and processes. It has over 23 liters of temperature-controlled volume with LED lighting for scientific hardware and investigations. It can be fitted to provide 5% CO2 (or any required concentration of CO2) for cell cultures or other types of investigations and has two USB 2.0 ports and two Ethernet LAN connections. It also has switchable 28VDC and 5VDC power supplies for investigation use.

Vascular Aging: The Bio-Monitor hardware was stowed, and the Glucose Test hardware was prepared for upcoming test operations. Emerging data point towards linkages among cardiovascular health risk, carotid artery aging, bone metabolism and blood biomarkers, insulin resistance, and radiation. Data indicate that aging-like changes are accelerated in many ISS crew members, particularly with respect to their arteries. As part of the Space Environment Causes Acceleration of Vascular Aging: Roles of Hypogravity, Nutrition, and Radiation (Vascular Aging) investigation, ultrasounds of the arteries, blood samples, oral glucose tolerance, and wearable sensors from ISS crewmembers are analyzed.

Wireless Compose-2: A crewmember donned the SmartTex shirt and performed the Ballistocardiography experiment. The main scientific goal of the Wireless Communication Network (Wireless Compose-2) investigation is to provide a flexible and adaptable wireless network infrastructure to conduct and execute low-power, light-weight, and wireless experiments on the ISS. For this demonstration, Wireless Compose-2 operates several experiments, including an experiment to examine the impact of the space environment on the cardiovascular system. Additionally, Wireless Compose-2 demonstrates the ability of newly developed impulse radio ultra-wide band (IR-UWB) hardware to enable precise localization applications and to analyze the energy harvesting potential on the ISS.

Systems:

Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) Cable Arm Rope (CAR) Removal: As a result of observed rope fraying, both CARs from the ARED pulley system were removed to allow detents to engage so ARED Bar exercises can be performed. The ARED CARs are No-Go for use until mitigation procedures are performed to restore proper functionality; however, the ARED Bar is Go for exercise as long as detents remain engaged.

Environmental Health System (EHS) Coliform Water Sample Analysis: Today the crew completed post-processing analysis of the coliform detection bags. The water samples were acquired on May 17th and allowed to incubate to check for the presence of Coliform bacteria. Following the incubation period, the crew visually analyzed the coliform detection bags and recorded the results. Visual confirmation must be performed within 40-48 hours of the initial sample collection.

Completed Task List Activities:

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

C&T S-Band String 2 Activation
Route/Deroute Video Downlink to Joint Station LAN (JSL)
Look Ahead Plan

Friday, May 20 (GMT 140)
Payloads:

AstroPi Imagery Ops (ESA)
CAL MTL Jumper Leak Check (NASA)
ISS HAM Pass (NASA)
MATISS-3 Install (ESA)
Standard Measures Blood, Saliva, Urine, Body, Fecal Collect (NASA)
Vascular-Aging Blood Collect and Glucose Measurement (CSA)
XROOTS Plant Check (NASA)
Systems:

LAB and CUP RWS Setup
Transfer Cygnus Cargo Operations
Columbus Cabin Photo Audit
OFT-2 Arrival Ops
Saturday, May 21 (GMT 141)
Payloads:

XROOTS Fluid (NASA)
Systems:

OFT-2 Arrival Ops
IFM OGA Spare Pump ORU Flush
Sunday, May 22 (GMT 142)
Payloads:

NanoRacks Airlock Stowage Clear and Vestibule Config and Trash Load (NASA)
Systems:

OGA Post Maintenance Flush/Stow
Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

HRF Generic Saliva Collection
Standard Measures Body Sampling Collection Ops
HRF Generic Urine Collection
HRF Generic HRF Centrifuge Setup and Frozen Blood Collection Ops
ARED Cable Arm Rope Removal
Extravehicular Activity Hardware Gather
Environmental Health System (EHS) – Coliform Water Sample Analysis 44 +/- 4 Hours Post Processing
In-Flight Maintenance (IFM) WRS Hardware Gather
PCS Laptop Relocate
Bio-Monitor Hardware Stow
OFT2 Station Support Computer Relocate
LUMINA Device Power Reboot
Environmental Health System (EHS) LAB REM2 and Rad Detector Orientation Adjustment
ANITA-2 Non-Local Sampling Part 1
On-Orbit Hearing Assessment (OOHA) with Kuduwave Software Setup and Test
Vascular Aging Oral Glucose Tolerance Test Big Picture Words Review
Vascular Aging Glucose Test Setup
LUMINA Data Transfer and Parameters Changes with EveryWear
Vascular Aging FRIDGE Item Insertion
Extravehicular Activity Water Containment Study
Transfer Cygnus Cargo Operations
HRF Generic MELFI Sample Retrieval and Insertion Operations
CST Russian Laptop Setup
ANITA-2 Non-Local Sampling Part 2
Setup for Monitoring CST-100 Rendezvous Operations
Wireless Compose-2 SmartTex-2 Shirt Donning & Experiment Execution
COL Payload Laptop3 Power Deinstallation
COL Payload Laptop1 Lan Connection
Space Automated Bioproduct Lab, CO2 Incubator Installation
Wireless Compose-2 SmartTex-2 Shirt Doffing
Wireless Compose-2 Questionnaire
Wireless Compose-2 SD Card Data Transfer
Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Stall Volume Cleanup