ISS On-Orbit Status 17 Apr 2002

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted
previously or below. Flight Day 10 of Mission 8A — and Day 531
of continuous station occupancy.

Mission 8A/STS-110, extremely successful so far, is coming to an end
in two days. Hatches have been closed at about 12:00 pm EDT,
and undocking is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. After a flyaround, Atlantis
will do a final separation maneuver. Tomorrow it will perform a
"simplex" burn, followed by an orbital adjust burn which
positions it for the landing on Friday, 4/19. After a final
condensate dump tomorrow, landing remains scheduled for Friday with
excellent weather forecast at KSC for the two landing opportunities
at 12:26 pm and 2:02 pm EDT.

The third and last reboost was performed by Atlantis this morning at
7:20 am, lasting for one hour. Total gain in mean altitude from all
three reboost maneuvers is approximately 6 s.mi. (9.6 km).

All planned transfers of N2 (nitrogen) and O2 (oxygen) from the
Shuttle to the ISS were successfully accomplished. The O2
transfer with the ORCA (oxygen recharge compressor assembly) pump was
a "first" for the program.

Two low-priority items remain incomplete: (1) the planned
modification of the "slow" AMPEV (Airlock manual pressure
equalization valve); and (2)  the full release of the safing
bolt of TUS 2 IUA (trailing umbilical system #2/interface umbilical
assembly). With this bolt in, the TUS 2 cable cutter cannot be
actuated from IVA (i.e., remotely from station cabin). However, it
can be activated by an EVA crewmember, and a commensurate Flight Rule
change is being planned. [The cable cutter assembly in each of the
two IUAs allows for remote disconnection of a TUS cable in a
contingency situation. If a reel assembly fails or a TUS cable
jams, the TUS cable can be severed to allow the MT railcar to safely
reach the nearest worksite and receive power to prevent freezing
hardware.]

The BPS (biomass production system) acoustic dosimeter data taken
by the crew yesterday are being analyzed on the ground to evaluate
the effect of the BPS  operating without sound muffler. Early
results indicate that from a hearing aspect the operation without
muffler is not a concern. For full evaluation, spectrum data
(i.e., broken down in specific frequency ranges) will also have to be
analyzed.

EVARM (EVA radiation monitoring) badges from yesterday’s EVA-4 are
being read today. 8A appears to have been a very prolific
flight for EVARM, and the experiment team indicated its eagerness to
deliver this data to the Principal Investigator for analysis.

CDR Onufrienko deactivated the BTR (biotechnology refrigerator) and
moved the unit between two lockers in EXPRESS Rack 4 (ER4). Part of the deactivation process was performed from the ground
because of intermittent communications flow.

FE-2 Dan Bursch installed the newly arrived ARCTIC 1
refrigerator/freezer in the ER4 locker previously occupied by BTR. He used the Nikon F5 camera to document the installation,
focusing on the cable and water line connections. The ARCTIC
freezer will be activated later today in preparation for the upcoming
BPS harvest activities.

Bursch also collected water samples from the BPS nutrient delivery
system (NDS) and humidity control system (HCS) reservoirs. After the collection, he was then to replenish the NDS
reservoir with sterile deionized water to further nurture the growing
plants.

The problems encountered two days ago in rebooting the ER4 have been
isolated to the EMU (EXPRESS memory unit), which caused health and
status problems. Once the proper subset identifier was loaded from
the ground, the rest of ER4 recovery was nominal. An EMU recovery
plan is in preparation which will be implemented after joint ops. There are no impacts to the science operations.

New data from the GPS antennas on the S0 truss indicate that
performance (S/N) of the #2 antenna has significantly improved after
the removal of the obstructing MLI (multi-layer insulation) blanket
by Jerry Ross during EVA-4 yesterday.

Flight attitude of the ISS continues to be LVLH (local vertical/local
horizontal = “earth-fixed”: z-axis in local vertical, x-axis in
velocity vector). Change-over to XPOP (x-axis perpendicular to
orbit plane = “sun-fixed”) will not occur until about 5/12.

Earth observation targets today were Aral Sea, Amu Darya
River (ISS passed SE of the Aral Sea, with an opportunity to
take a regional, full-frame view of this rapidly disappearing inland
sea. In addition, crew was to document water levels and agricultural
activities along the Amu Darya River, which once entered the Aral Sea
from the south), Black Sea Coast, Caucasus Mts., Volga River
and Delta (of interest: documenting the Black Sea coast at the
NW end of the Caucasus Range, then down the length of the Caucasus.
Water levels in the chain of lakes lying NE of, and parallel to, the
mountain range should also be recorded. Detailed views of the Volga
River delta  will document the progressive drowning of this span
of the Caspian seacoast; water between coastal dunes and dredged
channels that have become submerged and/or breached are of particular
interest), South American Coastal Cities (several of
the world’s fastest-growing population centers were along track:
sprawling Buenos Aires, Argentina  and Montevideo, Uruguay
 are on the Rio de la Plata estuary. Brazilian cities Porto
Alegre, Sao Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro were next in the progression.
The delta of Rio Doce with its sweeping beach ridges was on the right
as ISS headed out to sea), Algerian Coast, Sardinia, Rome,
Adriatic, Mt. Etna (interactions of airborne dust from the
Sahara and smog from European urban-industrial centers may have been
observable. Crew was to note particular the edges of either dust or
smog masses [slight overexposure helpful], especially where the two
might meet. Rome was just left of track; look right toward Mt. Etna
which has been puffing ash over the countryside during the past
several days. Crew to look left again and record SE-traveling smog
over the Adriatic), Sechura Desert, Peru; Maranon River,
Megafans (clear weather should prevail over the coastal
Sechura desert, northern Peru. Of interest: documenting any surface
water, as well as agricultural activity in the area. Once across the
narrow reach of the Andes, broad alluvial fans — megafans — spread
eastward from the mountain front; crew was to document these
little-studied features, as well as the course of the Maranon River,
a significant tributary of the Amazon), Montserrat and
Soufriere Volcanoes, Lesser Antilles (Montserrat  and the
Soufriere Hills of Guadeloupe Island  have both been active in
recent days. Montserrat lies off the NW tip of butterfly-shaped
Guadeloupe Island. These volcanoes mark the boundary between the
Caribbean and Atlantic tectonic plates; the Caribbean plate is
overriding the Atlantic in this region), Gulf of Fonseca
Mariculture, Guatemalan-Nicaraguan Volcanoes (around the SE
end of the Gulf of Fonseca  crew was to document developments in
the maricultural projects in Nicaragua, Honduras. Cosiguina, site of
the largest historical volcanic eruption in the W. Hemisphere, was
right of track at the mouth of the Gulf. Crew to look left, parallel
to the coast, for any signs of activity at Sta. Maria and other
Guatemalan volcanoes. Once across the isthmus, detailed photos of the
Islas de la Bahia and of Belize reefs are needed. Any new fires in
Cuba?), Southern Tuamotu Archipelago (the southern
Tuamotus are more emergent, compared with the mostly submerged atolls
farther north. Marutea was on track and the Gambier Islands just to
the right. Crew to record details of the reefs and lagoons for use in
international reef-mapping efforts), Lakes Erie & Ontario,
Cities, Gulf of St. Lawrence (the southern shore of Lake Erie
passed left of track; Pittsburgh was to the right. Crew had
opportunities to photograph southern Lake Ontario, Buffalo, Toronto,
and Montreal en route to the head of the Gulf of St. Lawrence),
San Diego, Salton Sea, Grand Canyon (ISS intercepted the
coast at San Diego; on the left was the Salton Sea which will begin
drying as a result of recent resolution of international water rights
issues. ISS photos will serve as valuable baseline data. The Colorado
River delta was to the right; continuing upriver Lake Mead, the Grand
Canyon, and Lake Powell were on left and parallel to track. Weather
and flight path looked good for taking a stereo photo mapping strip
[60% frame overlap] of Grand Canyon and Lake Powell), Island
of Hawaii (Big Island), Kilauea (ISS passed pass SE of Hawaii
and had an opportunity to take a full-frame view of the island.
Kilauea has been active in recent days; crew was to record any ash or
steam plumes, as well as recent ash accumulations or lava flows),
Oregon Coast, Cascade Range, Crater Lake (from the coast
inland, crew was to look left of track and photograph the line of
volcanoes that make up the Cascade Range. Crater Lake was immediately
right of track and Portland to the left. The Pacific oceanic plate is
being subducted beneath North America and melts at depth; that melted
material rises to the surface via volcanoes such as Mt. Shasta and
Mt. Hood), E. Australia (the Darling River drainage
lies along and left of track. Crew was to photograph the very broad
alluvial fans spreading outward into the basin from the Great
Dividing Ranges of eastern Australia. Beyond the mountain front,
clouds were likely preventing recording fires and land clearing in
the highlands), Guadalcanal Island, Indispensable Reefs
(Guadalcanal Island was immediately 45left [W] of track and
weather appeared favorable for photographing this historic island. As
ISS approached Guadalcanal, crew was to take near-nadir mapping
photos of the Indispensable Reefs and Kennel Island [on
track]).