NASA Space Station Status Report 23 March, 2022 – Today’s Spacewalk Completed

Expedition 66 Flight Engineers Raja Chari of NASA and Matthias Maurer of ESA (European Space Agency) concluded their spacewalk at 3:26 p.m. EDT after 6 hours and 54 minutes in preparation for upcoming solar array installation.
Maurer and Chari completed their major objective for today to install hoses on a Radiator Beam Valve Module that routes ammonia through the station’s heat-rejecting radiators to keep systems at the proper temperature. The crew members also installed a power and data cable on the Columbus module’s Bartolomeo science platform, replaced an external camera on the station’s truss, and conducted other upgrades to station hardware. The pair deferred a few secondary tasks, such as torque resets and cable routing, to a future spacewalk.

It was the 248th spacewalk in support of space station assembly, upgrades and maintenance, and was the second in Chari’s career and the first for Maurer. Chari and Maurer are in the midst of a planned six-month science mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions as part of NASA’s Moon and Mars exploration approach, including lunar missions through NASA’s Artemis program.

On-Orbit Status Report

Payloads:

Cell Biology Experiment Facility (CBEF): Six Plant Experiment Units were retrieved from the CBEF Incubator Unit (IU) Micro-G Sample Tray. Four Plant Experiment Units were then installed into the CBEF IU 1G Centrifuge. CBEF, a JAXA sub-rack facility, is an incubator with an artificial gravity generator. CBEF is housed in the Saibo (living cell) Experiment Rack with the Clean Bench (CB).

NanoRacks Module-102: Photos were taken of NanoRacks Module-102 in the Cupola, and the module was then placed into POLAR-3 for refrigeration. NanoRacks Module-102 is a plant-life experiment studying the growth of chickpeas. It is a custom-built NanoLab with clear sides to allow pictures of the plants inside after operations. While it is installed in Mainframe Alpha, it will have a vinyl cover wrapped around it so that light can bounce around inside the module to help the plants grow.

Rodent Research Facility: The crew performed an inventory audit of the Rodent Research Facility. The Rodent Research Facility provides rodent housing onboard the ISS. Animal research is essential for understanding the impacts of spaceflight on the systems of the human body and for development of potential therapies that will ease harmful responses to spaceflight.

Systems:

USOS Extravehicular Activity (EVA) #80: RBVM Jumper Install EVA: Today, ISS crewmembers Raja Chari and Matthias Maurer completed the USOS EVA #80 with Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) support from Kayla Barron and Tom Marshburn. The main goal of this EVA was to re-install two refurbished RBVM Jumpers and remove and replace (R&R) an External High-Definition Camera (EHDC) on Camera Port 8 (CP8). The RBVM controls the transfer of ammonia between the Radiator Assembly Orbital Replacement Unit (ORU) and the rest of the External Active Thermal Control System (EATCS) loop, and it contains sensors to monitor absolute pressure, temperature, and valve position within the ORU. During the 6-hour and 54-minute EVA, the EV crew completed the following objectives:

Complete CP8 Ethernet Cable routing
Install Parking Position (PAPOS) Cable Adapter and close BTL clamps
Install RBVM Jumper
JAXA EF Multilayer Insultation (MLI) Straightening
R&R CP8 EHDC with Wireless Access Point (WAP) capable unit
Install WAP Cable and Hardware
Mate CP8 Ethernet Cable to WAP Pigtail
MiniPump Panel A316 reconfiguration
Airlock (A/L) PIP Pin photos & HECA imagery
In-Flight Maintenance (IFM) Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Urine Receptacle (UR) and Insert Filter (IF) Remove and Replace (R&R): The crew performed an R&R of the UR and its IF as part of routine preventative maintenance for the WHC. The WHC is a modified ACY (Russian toilet) system that was altered to integrate into a United States On-Orbit Segment (USOS) rack. The UR is made up of a replaceable Russian supplied funnel, urine hose, and receptacle switch for turning the WHC on/off with associated wiring. After replacement, a functionality test was performed.

??? (EDV) Assembly: The crew assembled an EDV from stowed components for the WHC. An EDV is intended for short-term storage and manual water transportation between facilities, and it can be used for liquid waste collection in the ??? (Russian toilet) or WHC.

Completed Task List Activities:

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

USOS EVA #80 Support
Dragon Quiescent Operations Checkout
Crew Health Care System (CHeCS) Commanding and Data Downlink
Look Ahead Plan

Thursday, March 24 (GMT 83)
Payloads:

Actiwatch Setup (NASA)
CBEF Payload Experiment Unit 1G Retrieval (JAXA)
Confocal Space Microscopy (Microscope) and Payload Laptop Terminal 5 (PLT5) Setup
Food Physiology Crew Diet Briefing (NASA)
ISS HAM Kenwood Radio Power Up (COL) (NASA)
J-SSOD-21 Deploys (JAXA)
Light Ions Detector (LIDAL) Move 2 (NASA)
Plant Habitat-05 Photo (NASA)
SAIBO CO2 QD Demate (JAXA)
Standard Measures Saliva, Body and Fecal collect (NASA)
Systems:

Post-EVA Activities (Debrief, RWS Teardown, PBA Relocate, EMU Water Recharge)
Private Astronaut Mission (PAM) Familiarization Big Picture Words (BPW) Review and Conference
Crew Arrival and Departure Preparations
WHC Flush Tank Fill and Depressurization
T2 Daily Inspection
Friday, March 25 (GMT 84)
Payloads:

CAL MTL Jumper Lk Check (NASA)
CBEF Slide Rail Remove (JAXA)
EasyMotion Data Downlink (D/L) (ESA)
GRIP Seated Ops (ESA)
Standard Measures Saliva, Body and Fecal collect, Cognition Test (NASA)
TOUCHS Deinstall (ESA)
Systems:

Crew Departure Preparations
Post-EVA Activities (Airlock Deconfiguration, Battery Ops, Camera Disassembly, Tool Stow)
IFM Crew Quarters (CQ) Starboard Cleaning
T2 Daily Inspection
Crew Dragon Tablet Sync/Stow
IMS Conference
Onboard Training (OBT) ISS Emergency Hardware (HW) Familiarization
SSC 19 and 22 Swap
Urine Transfer System (UTS) Offload EDV Swap
Saturday, March 26 (GMT 85)
Payloads:

Standard Measures Saliva Collect (NASA)
Systems:

Soyuz Nominal Descent Training
EVA Tool Stow
Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Data Preparation for 65S Return
Human Research Facility (HRF) Generic Saliva Collection
HRF Generic MELFI Sample Insertion Operations
EVA Cable Reconfiguration
EVA In-Suit Light Exercise (ISLE) Preparation
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Purge
EMU ISLE Pre-breathe
CBEF Plant Experiment Unit Micro-G Removal
CBEF Plant Experiment Unit 1G Installation
IFM WHC UR and IF R&R
Crewlock Depress
Crewlock Post Depress
Crewlock Egress
SSRMS RBVM Install Support
Route CP8 Ethernet Cable
SSRMS Setup & Translate
RBVM Jumpers Installation
PAPOS Jumper Installation on COL Module
Rodent Research Inventory Audit
Close BTL Cable Clamps
Secure JEM External Facility Berthing Mechanism (EFBM) Multilayer Insultation (MLI) Closed
Retrieve EHDC from Airlock and Perform Bag swap at CP8
Perform P4 IEA Bolt Torque Resets and Complete CP8 EHDC Install
CP8 EHDC R&R
EDV Build
Food Acceptability Survey
NanoRacks Mainframe Alpha Module Removal
NanoRacks Module Photography and Polar Insertion
RGB T-Handles Installation [Deferred]
Urine Transfer System Backup EDV Swap [Aborted]
65S Crew Departure Preparations for Return to Earth
Reconfigure MiniPump Panels A119 NASA Zero-Gravity Lever (NZGL) Connection [Deferred]
Reconfigure MiniPump Panels A316 NZGL Connection
EVA Crew Lock Ingress
EVA Glove Photo Setup
Crewlock Repress
Post-EVA Activities
Photo/TV EVA Camera Disassembly
Post-EVA Glove Photos
EVA Glove Photo Downlink