NASA Space Station Status Report 3 May, 2022 – Change in Command Coming
NASA and SpaceX managers continue to plan for the departure of four commercial crew astronauts aboard the International Space Station this week.
A change of command is also on tap as the 11 orbital residents transition to a seven-member crew before the end of the week.
NASA astronauts Tom Marshburn, Raja Chari, and Kayla Barron, with ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer are nearing the end of their space research mission that began in November. The quartet will first see Marshburn hand over station command to Roscosmos Flight Engineer Oleg Artemyev who will lead Expedition 67 until late summer. The following day, the four astronauts will enter the SpaceX Dragon Endurance, undock from the Harmony module’s forward port, then splashdown off the coast of Florida about 24 hours later.
The four departing astronauts have been handing over their responsibilities to the station’s newest quartet that arrived on April 27 aboard the Dragon Freedom. NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines, and Jessica Watkins with Samantha Cristoforetti from ESA are in the first week of a four-and-a-half-month research mission on the orbiting lab.
Flight Engineers Hines and Watkins partnered once again inside the Columbus laboratory module exploring how microgravity affects their dexterous manipulation. Lindgren worked on cargo operations inside the Cygnus space freighter then took a robotics test that measures behavioral conditions during spaceflight. Cristoforetti worked on exercise machine components and spent time on station familiarization activities.
Over in the Russian segment of the station, Artemyev took turns with Flight Engineer Sergey Korsakov working out for a study exploring ways to maximize the effectiveness of exercise in weightlessness. Flight Engineer Denis Matveev worked on resupply activities inside the ISS Progress 80 cargo craft before cleaning ventilation systems.
On-Orbit Status Report
Payloads:
Behavioral Core Measures (BCM): The crew performed two BCM research sessions consisting of a set of 12 runs/tests each. The Standardized Behavioral Measures for Detecting Behavioral Health Risks during Exploration Missions (Behavioral Core Measures) experiment initially examined a suite of measurements to reliably assess the risk of adverse cognitive or behavioral conditions and psychiatric disorders during long-duration spaceflight, and evaluated the feasibility of those tests within the operational and time constraints of spaceflight for two crewmembers. Subsequent subjects perform a subset of the original activities to measure the performance capabilities of deconditioned crew members to complete either individual or crew telerobotic operations within the first 24 hours after landing. This information could help characterize what tasks a crewmember who has spent months in weightlessness can reasonably be expected to perform after landing on the surface of Mars.
Grip: The crew participated in the Grip supine science-3 sessions. These sessions have same experiment tasks as the seated science-2 sessions, but in the supine position. The Grip experiment studies the long-duration spaceflight effects on the abilities of human subjects to regulate grip force and upper limbs trajectories when manipulating objects during different kind of movements: oscillatory movements, rapid discrete movements and tapping gestures.
Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG)/Transparent Alloys: The science sample cartridge and full data disk were exchanged to allow the continuation of the experiment series. Transparent Alloys consists of numerous experiments including the study of various growth and solidification processes in alloys. Columnar-to-Equiaxed Transition in Solidification Processing (CETSOL), the current experiment series, is designed to identify growth regimes (columnar or equiaxed or mixed) and physical mechanisms in dependence of the experimental parameters (solidification velocity, temperature gradient) for diffusive heat and mass transport and without gravity effects.
Photocatalyst: The crew checked that no items are blocking the intake fans of the Photocatalyst experiment hardware, which is set up in Node 3. Photocatalyst demonstrates the use of a photocatalyst device to clean the cabin air and remove odor caused by volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The device converts VOCs into carbon dioxide and water. The device and a non-photocatalyst control device will operate for at least four weeks before returning to Earth for analysis of the photocatalyst device’s effectiveness.
Standard Measures (SM): Multiple samples were collected, and post-sleep questionnaires filled out in support of the SM investigation. The aim of the investigation is to ensure consistent capture of an optimized, minimal set of measures from crewmembers until the end of the ISS Program in order to characterize the adaptive responses to and risks of living in space. Among other things, the ground teams perform analyses for metabolic and chemistry panels, immune function, microbiome, etc. These measures populate a data repository to enable high-level monitoring of countermeasure effectiveness and meaningful interpretation of health and performance outcomes and support future research on planetary missions.
Veggie/XROOTS (eXposed Root On-Orbit Test System): Big Picture words were reviewed and an XROOTS facility check was performed. Although some earlier difficulty was encountered with water migrating past the root area, the team believes they are making progress in resolving the issue. 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:
Resupply Air Tank (RST) Venting: Today, two Resupply Air Tanks were vented into the PMM module. Resupply Air Tanks are Commercial Off-The Shelf (COTS) standard scuba tanks pressurized with air that vent directly into the cabin to help support the ISS pressure profile. NG-17 brought up 12 Resupply Air Tanks.
Cygnus Cargo Operations: Crew performed cargo transfer operations for Cygnus NG-17. NG-17 is scheduled to unberth on May 29 after 98+ days attached to the Node 1 Nadir port. Cygnus arrived with 3797 kg of supplies and utilization to the ISS on February 21.
Completed Task List Activities:
ESA-NG17-TRASH GATHER
CST-IMV-DUCT-INSPECT
P/TV-D5 BATT-SWAMP
Today’s Ground Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
ESA video system maintenance
PRO EXPRESS Rack Remote Desktop Commanding
BEAM (Bigelow Expandable Activity Module) LGU (Limited Ground User) Data Download
GNC-1 MDM swap to primary
Look Ahead Plan
Wednesday, May 4 (GMT 124)
Payloads:
Actiwatch doff
BCM ROBoT
Cold Stowage DCB pack
ER2 ELC BIOS update
Food Physiology Fecal processing
Grip camera move
Myotones
Photocatalyst filter check
Standard Measures blood, Saliva and Urine collect
Rhodium Crystal Preservation
Systems:
1B Solar Array Wing Blankets Photography
Crew-3 Dragon cargo operations and final stow
Change of Command ceremony/Crew Farewell
T2 monthly maintenance
Thursday, May 5 (GMT 125)
Payloads:
Food Physiology transfers
GRASP review/setup
Systems:
Crew-3 Dragon Undock
Friday, May 6 (GMT 126)
Payloads:
CAL MTL leak check
GLACIER1 hardware inspection
GRASP seated
Photocatalyst filter check (Ax-1/ISS)
XROOTS plant install 1
Photocatalyst filter check (Ax-1/ISS)
Wireless Compose-2 BCG and questionnaire
Systems:
ISS Emergency Simulation
Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
Resupply Air Tank Setup and Initiation
Campout Sleeping Bag Deploy
Campout Sleeping Bag Stow
Food Physiology Fecal Sample Collection
Food Physiology Fecal Sample Collection Hardware Stow
Food Physiology Fecal Reference Material Review and Sample Collection Hardware Setup
Food Physiology MELFI Sample Insertion 1
HRF Generic MELFI Sample Insertion Operations
HRF Generic Saliva Collection 10 Minutes
HRF Generic Urine Collection Male
Handover of Increment 67 Crew
