NASA Space Station Status Report 25 April, 2022 – SpaceX Crew-4 Launch Set for Wednesday

The Expedition 67 crew is gearing up for the arrival of the SpaceX Crew-4 mission following Sunday’s departure of the Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) crew.
The International Space Station will also see another spacewalk to set up a new robotic arm.

The orbiting lab’s four astronauts from NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) slept in on Monday after seeing off the Ax-1 crew on Sunday evening. Commander Tom Marshburn and Flight Engineers Raja Chari, Kayla Barron and Matthias Maurer woke up just before lunch time on the orbital lab and worked on housecleaning duties while testing a garment that may prevent space-caused dizziness and blurred vision, also known as orthostatic intolerance.

The next mission, SpaceX Crew-4, to visit the space station is at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The four commercial crew astronauts are in final preparations for launch aboard the Dragon Freedom targeted for 3:52 a.m. EDT on Wednesday. Commander Kjell Lindgren, Pilot Robert Hines and Mission Specialists Jessica Watkins and Samantha Cristoforetti, would dock to the station several hours later to begin a four-and-a-half month stay on the orbiting lab.

Two cosmonauts are once again getting ready for a spacewalk to activate the European robotic arm (ERA) attached to the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. Flight Engineer Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev are scheduled to exit the Poisk module’s airlock at 10:30 a.m. EDT on Thursday for a six-and-a-half hour excursion to set up the ERA for its first motion. The ERA is the station’s third robotic arm and will operate on the space lab’s Russian segment for both payload and spacewalk operations.

Roscosmos Flight Engineer Sergey Korsakov joined his cosmonaut crew mates today and reviewed the spacewalk tasks planned for Thursday. Korsakov will be inside the station assisting the spacewalkers and helping them in and out of their Orlan spacesuits. Artemyev and Matveev will release the ERA launch locks on Nauka, install new handrails, and monitor the robotic arm’s first motion.

On-Orbit Status Report

Axiom-1 (Ax-1) Private Astronaut Mission (PAM) Undock and Landing: SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour undocked from the ISS on Sunday, April 24th at 8:10 PM CT to return private astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria, Larry Connor, Mark Pathy, and Eytan Stibbe following a successful 15 day docked mission. The vehicle splashed down near Jacksonville, Florida at 12:06 PM CT.

ISS Reboost: The ISS performed a reboost using the aft Progress 79P R&D thrusters on Saturday, April 23rd at 8:25 AM CT. The reboost was originally planned as a Pre-determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM) to clear the risk posed by a conjunction with a piece of space debris; however, the ground decided to perform the maneuver regardless if the risk dropped due to its downstream benefits. This reboost optimizes the Expedition 67 reboost plan to meet several high priority objectives, including Russian visiting vehicle phasing, NG-17 reboost capability, and a nominal ISS altitude strategy. The burn duration was 10 minutes 23 seconds with a Delta-V of 1.0 m/s.

Systems:

JEM Wireless Instrumentation System (WIS) Remote Sensor Unit (RSU) B4 Sensor Corrections: The crew corrected the 600mm JEM WIS Air Flow sensor on JEM WIS RSU B4 serial number (S/N) 1001 and the 380mm sensor on JEM WIS RSU B4 S/N 1002 for nominal configuration. The JEM WIS environmental monitoring function consists of the Cabin Advanced Network Apparatus (CANA) and the JEM Cabin Access Point (J-CAP). The CANA acquires JEM cabin environmental data utilizing wireless sensors like these two RSUs.

Station Cleaning: The crew performed housekeeping tasks in a prioritized manner to clean the USOS following Ax-1 undock and prior to Crew-4 arrival. Crew-4 is planned to launch on Wednesday, April 27th from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Once at station, Crew-4 will participate in a direct handover with the Endurance Crew to adapt to space and be familiarized with the station’s configuration.

Nitrogen/Oxygen Recharge System (NORS) Nitrogen (N2) Tank Repress Part 2 and Termination: Today, the crew configured valves in the Airlock to perform a Nitrogen repress from the installed NORS N2 tank. After the ground executed the repress, the crew returned the valves to their pre-repress configuration.

Completed Task List Activities:

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

GIVUS Data Dump
NORS N2 Tank Repress Commanding
Thermal Amine Scrubber (TAS) Mode Change
Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) Walkoff
Mobile Transporter (MT) Translations [In Work]
Zenith International Docking Adapter (IDA) Multilayer Insulation (MLI) Survey [In Work]
MT Diagnostic Buffer Collection List (DBCL) Dumps [In Work]
Look Ahead Plan

Tuesday, April 26 (GMT 116)
Payloads:

DOSIS 3D Hardware De-install from RS (ESA/Joint)
ELF HW Gather (JAXA)
FLARE (SCEM) Gas Supply Config (JAXA)
MetaSpace Protocol with Exercise (ESA)
Photocatalyst Filter Check (Ax-1/ISS)
Systems:

NORS N2 Transfer Termination
NORS O2 Transfer Initiation
Crew Dragon Endurance Departure CBT
OGS IMV Adapter Preparation for Use
RS EVA #53 Tether Inspection and Tool Gather & Transfer
Wednesday, April 27 (GMT 117)
Payloads:

Actiwatch Donning (NASA)
Astrobee Stowage Replace and Power Down (NASA)
CAL MTL Jumper Check (NASA)
EML Gas Valve Configuration (ESA/Joint)
FLARE (SCEM) Gas Valve Ops 4 (JAXA)
J-FROST 2 CPU Checkout (JAXA)
Photocatalyst Filter Check (Ax-1/ISS)
Rhodium Crystal Preservation Preparation for CS Transfer (NASA)
Standard Measures Saliva Setup (NASA)
VEGGIE HW and Display OBT (NASA)
XROOTS HW Gather and Review (NASA)
Systems:

Crew-4 Launch and Dock
Crew Dragon Endurance Deorbit Paper Sim
Station Cleaning
Endurance Crew Campout Initial Setup
Thursday, April 28 (GMT 118)
Payloads:

AstroPi Transfer to COL and Lens Adjust (ESA)
Calliope HW Stow (ESA)
MetaSpace protocol with Exercise (ESA)
Systems:

RS EVA #53
Endurance Crew Campout Initial Setup
Crew-4 Crew Dragon Cargo Transfer
ISS Safety Briefing
ISS Crew Handover
Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Station Cleaning Before Crew-4 Arrives
Photocatalyst Filter Check
Watch Charge for Crew Dragon Endurance
Space Station Computer (SSC) Reconfiguration
NORS N2 Tank Repress Part 2 and Termination
Orthostatic Intolerance Garment (OIG) Don
OIG Doff
Transparent Alloys Data Disk Exchange
Health Maintenance System (HMS) ISS Food Intake Tracker (ISS FIT)
Cold Atom Lab MTL Jumper Leak Check
Airborne Particulate Monitor (APM) Status Check
JEM WIS RSU B4 Sensor Corrections
Remove Crew Dragon Endurance Watch from Charger
Crew-4 Arrival Preparations