ISS On-Orbit Status 23 Jun 2002
All ISS systems continue to function nominally,
except as noted previously. This morning, the ISS
had circled the Earth 20500 times since launch of FGB/Zarya in
November 1998.
After wakeup at 2:00am EDT, the crew joined for breakfast at 2:40am
and then went through another rest day, with a very light task
schedule. [Sleep cycle, currently 2:00am to 4:30pm EDT, will
shift tomorrow one hour earlier (1:30am to 4:30pm). Progress 7
undocking is set for Tuesday morning at 4:26am EDT, preceded by free
drift mode for the ISS and followed by ISS maneuvering to LVLH
experiment attitude (Yaw/Pitch/Roll = 180/280/180 deg).]
At 6:00 am, CDR Valery Korzun and FE-2 Sergei Treschev, with
Russian ground site support, conducted the 30-min. air-to-air
(wireless) TORU test, i.e., between the TORU control station in the
Service Module (SM) and the Progress-257 cargo ship. [TORU
is the manually teleoperated backup approach and docking system for
the automated Progress cargo ships.]
Earlier, Korzun replaced the micropurification unit (BKO) in the
condensate water processor (SRV-K2M) in the SM, which had reached its
service life limit.
Korzun also performed routine BRPK-2 water condensate separator
inspection, servicing of SP urine collection and pretreat assembly
with readout and calldown of the flush counter, and inspection of the
SVO water supply and calldown of its counter data.
FE-1 Peggy Whitson did the daily payload status check, while Treschev
prepared the update of the IMS (inventory management system)
"delta" file.
All crewmembers performed their full physical exercise regimen on
TVIS, RED and VELO.
They also had their weekly PMCs (private family conferences).
Korzun’s and Treschev’s task list today included new target
objectives for the Russian Uragan earth observation program, using
the electronic Kodak 760 camera with F800-mm lens and the LIV
camcorder: Port Kaspiysk, Altai/Sayan mountains, SW shore of
Lake Baikal (at Angara River), Vladivostok and its port Nakhodka,
Taganrog, Rostov, Aksai-Ilek, valleys in Altai Mountains, Uzhgorod in
the Carpathian Mountains, Zhitomir (birthplace of S.P. Korolev),
Kiev, Voronezh, Bazar-Karabulak district (Saratov province),
Aksai-Ilek agricultural test range, Cologne, Bonn and DŸsseldorf on
the Rhine, quarries near Leipzig and Dresden and brown coal surface
mining pits near Leipzig and Cottbus, S slopes of the Tatra
Mountains, Black Sea coastline from the Kerch Strait to Sukhumi.
Today’s targets for the CEO (crew earth observation) program were
Lake Nasser, Toshka Lakes; Egypt (although the pass only
offered oblique views of this target to the right of track, the crew
was asked to document the extent of the new man-made lakes spreading
into the desert west of the Nile. The size and coverage of these
water bodies continues to surprise Egyptian planners) Yellow
River Delta (ISS crews have had few opportunities to acquire
this target so far. Weather is marginal and light is low, but the
crew was to try to map the details of this dynamic delta, especially
noting both the water color and extent of sediment plumes),
Eastern United States (high pressure and fair weather holds
over New England. As the station cleared the coast near Chesapeake
Bay and tracked northeastward, crew was to try oblique and limb views
to the left of track to detect aerosols), Lakes of the Eastern
Sierra (today’s stormy weather was expected to improve over
this target area by the time of this pass. The crew should have had
near-nadir views of Lake Tahoe, Pyramid Lake, and the Carson Sink.
They may also have seen a little fresh snow on the higher
elevations), Minnesota Floods (Dynamic Event Site:
Approximately 300,000 acres of farmland have been flooded in northern
Minnesota this past week. With improving weather in the
forecast for this pass, the crew was to try to document the flooding
by noting standing water and discolored or altered vegetation
patterns), Gulf of St. Lawrence (of interest: using the
long lenses of the ESC [electronic still camera] to map the details
of Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton Island. Such detail helps to
track and understand winter ice formation).
CEO images can be viewed at the website http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov
ISS Orbit (as of today, 6:12pm EDT [=
epoch]):
Mean altitude — 393.3 km
Apogee — 398.0 km
Perigee — 388.5 km
Period — 92.4 min.
Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
Eccentricity — 0.0007029
Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.58
Altitude decrease — 100 m (mean) in last 24 hours
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. ’98) — 20500
Current Flight Attitude — LVLH (local vertical/local horizontal =
“earth-fixed”: z-axis in local vertical, x-axis in velocity vector
[yaw: -10 deg, pitch: -7 deg., roll: 0 deg])
For more on ISS orbit and naked-eye visibility dates/times,
see
