ISS On-Orbit Status 22 Apr 2002
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted
previously or below.
After yesterday’s rest day for recovery and time adjustment to
regular sleep cycle, today’s crew schedule also was relatively light
and mostly dedicated to payload ops.
Crew was asked to power cycle the IV-CPDS (intravehicular
charged-particle spectrometer) again (done last on 4/19) as close as
convenient to 12:00 pm EDT and call down to MCC-Houston once the
activity was complete so ground commanding could be initiated.
FE-2 Dan Bursch was requested to put the BPS (biomass production
system) experiment back into a nominal configuration with full
primary in the water systems. The emergency BPS operations he
performed so well on 4/19 (Friday) were a short-term fix that
prevented tremendousscience loss. In addition, Dan’s re-priming
operations today supplied much-needed additional water for the
plants. [Due to the added re-priming activities, POC
(Payload Operations Center) has deleted the gas sample crew
assessment and PGC4 (plant growth chamber #4) Pollination/Video
activitiespreviously scheduled for today. The Brassica plants in PGC4
will continue to flower and a PGC4 Pollination operation is also
planned for 4/24; therefore removing that activity from today is only
a minimal impact to the validation experiment].
FE-1 Carl Walz meanwhile completed ZCG (Zeolite crystal growth)
operations, i.e., ZCG video, ZCG furnace activation and two ZCG
monitorings. [The ZCG furnace activation procedure involved
switching on the zone-1 heater and mixer circuit breakers, powering
up CPUs (central processor units), mixing the autoclaves, then
powering up the main furnace heater. ZCG is the first
microgravity payload that requires ARIS (active rack isolation
system) isolation performance, so the ground was very excited about
this major ARIS milestone. Carl was reminded that ARIS is
currently in Active mode to support ZCG science, and to be "as
gentle as possible" while activating ZCG, since a disturbance
large enough to cause the rack to bump its snubbers could cause ARIS
to transition to No-Go state (which could have a detrimental impact
on ZCG science).]
Carl Walz conducted a ham radio exchange with two French schools
in Arles, France, the Ecole Louis Pergaud and the Lycee Jeanne d’Arc.
The chat was conducted in English, and the students had submitted
pre-collected questions.
CDR Yuri Onufrienko downlinked a TV address/greeting for tomorrow’s
closing conference of the Humanity-Earth-Space Annual National
Competition of Environmental Research and School Science Projects,
hosted by the Yu. A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC) at Star
City near Moscow: "We are hoping that participation in this
competition has helped you gain a better insight into the importance
of environmental issues, analyze previously collected research data,
and apply your findings in actual activities to protect the
environment. The primary objective of this competition is to involve
you in the resolution of environmental issues in our city and
region".
The crew performed their regular daily physical exercise on TVIS
(treadmill with vibration isolation and stabilization), RED
(resistive exercise device) and VELO (Russian cycle ergometer).
CDR Onufrienko also completed regular daily maintenance of the SOSH
life support system, as well as the Stage 8A autonomous payload
status checks.
Today’s target areas for the U.S. CEO (crew earth observation)
program were E Mediterranean Dust/Smog (from the coast of
Libya across the Peloponnesus, crew was to look right of track for
possible interactions between N-moving dust and S-moving smog masses.
Crossing the Aegean and continuing up the Dardanelles, they were to
watch for smog from the Istanbul urban-industrial agglomeration;
Istanbul was just right of track), W Mediterranean
Dust/Smog (a major storm system over Spain was setting up a
circulation pattern that carried Algerian dust NE-ward over the
Mediterranean. Crew was asked to record any dust blows off the
Algerian coast as they traveled along the edge of the weather
front), Eastern United States (satellite images of the
SE U.S. show fires now burning in S. Georgia. With two years of
subnormal rainfall, the Piedmont is dry and fires are becoming
common. For this pass just outboard of the East Coast, smoke palls
are more likely than smog just now), Gulf of St. Lawrence
(this was an excellent pass for recording any ice that might
remain from this uncommonly warm winter. As ISS traveled along the
north side of the St. Lawrence Seaway, the crew was to photograph ice
in the bays and also to check the area between Anticosti Island and
the Canadian mainland. From there toward the Strait of Belle Isle,
they were to look right of track toward the N coast of Newfoundland
and document ice caught in the coastal coves and bays), E. Sa.
Nevada Lakes (after crossing the southern San Joaquin valley
and the Sierra Nevada, Mono Lake was just right of track. Water from
Mono Lake is no longer being piped to urban Southern California; the
crew was to document the Lake water level, as well as any surrounding
wetlands. Mono is one of the few lakes on the dry side of the Sierra
and is an important stopping place for migratory birds).
