ISS On-Orbit Status 25 Feb 2002

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously or below. This is Week 11 for Increment 4.

After wakeup (1:00am EST) and systems checks, the crew had pre-breakfast sessions with the periodic Russian medical assessments MO-7 (calf volume measurement) and MO-8 (body mass measurement). While the MO-7 procedure is straightforward, MO-8 requires ten minutes time each for setup and teardown. The tests themselves take about 10 min. for MO-7, 15 min. for MO-8.

CDR Onufrienko performed daily routine systems service tasks: checkout of the IK0501 gas analyzer for its partial pressure readings, regeneration startup on absorption bed #1 of the BMP micropurification system, maintenance of SOSH life support systems, and daily report preparation for the evening DPS (daily planning conference) with the ground.

Onufrienko also completed a major maintenance job on the ASU toilet system in the SM, removing and replacing the pretreat and water dispenser unit (DKiV), its container (EK) and the hose connecting it to the SPK-U urine collection subsystem.

FE-1 Walz worked briefly on the EHS IV-CPDS (crew health care systems — intravehicular charged-particle spectrometer) by power-cycling the unit as a test. The CPDS is part of the suite of radiation measuring instruments on board the ISS. Later in the day he also did so with the TEPC (tissue equivalent proportional counter), another radiation gage.

Today’s timeline called for OHA (on-orbit hearing assessment) by all three crewmembers, last time done two months ago. After Carl Walz set up the necessary equipment, the OHA acoustic countermeasure assessment was completed by Yuri, Dan and himself. For the periodic hearing tests, the crew is using special EarQ software on their medical laptop, individually molded Prophonics ear plugs, Bose ANR (acoustic noise reduction) headsets, and a sound meter for background measurements.

Walz and Bursch were scheduled to perform the first part of the new EPO (educational payload operations) experiment, which consisted of taking video of three demonstration activities: pouring liquids into a container, demonstrating the difference between weight and mass using a postal (spring-powered) scale, and demonstrating inertial balance. On Friday, 3/1, they will conclude EPO activities by performing four demos involving the application of tools in microgravity, using selected tools from PERS (payload equipment restraint system) and the IVA tool kit. Today’s activity had been postponed from the original date on 2/4 because of the station’s power outage event on that day.

Bursch also had half an hour scheduled for printing out new ODF (orbit data file) procedures uplinked via S-band/OCA, Êto replace outdated pages in the crewâs ODF hardcopy books.

All three station residents performed their daily physical exercise.

Two orbit correction maneuvers (reboost & phasing adjust) by the Progress 6P are currently scheduled for the ISS, the first on 3/6 (delta-V: 3.0 m/s), the second on 3/13 (7.6 m/s).

Todayâs target areas for the CEO (crew earth observations) program were European Smog (a weather permitted on this pass, as ISS crossed Italy, crew was to look to the left of track for oblique views of the Po Valley or to the right of track down the Adriatic Sea for smog plumes), Eastern United States (this pass was well off shore of the US East Coast. Of interest: looking to the left of track for aerosols drifting over the coastal waters there), and Gulf of St. Lawrence (a fine pass for near-nadir views of the entire northern coast of the Gulf of St Lawrence. Of interest: documenting the condition of the pack ice forming there. On the second pass, crew was to concentrate on the treacherous southwestern corner of the island of Newfoundland for ice pack accumulation and large masses off shore there).

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 7:18am EST):

• Mean altitude — 384.5 km
  
• Apogee — 391.9 km
  
• Perigee — 377.1 km
  
• Period — 92.2 min.
  
• Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
  
• Eccentricity — 0.0010965
  
• Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.61
  
• Altitude decrease — 285 m (mean) in last 24 hours
  
• Solar Beta Angle: -60.2 deg (magnitude increasing)
  
• Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. â98) — 18661
  
• Current Flight Attitude — XPOP (x-axis perpendicular to orbit plane [yaw: ~0 deg, pitch: 5 deg., roll: 0 deg])

  
  

For more on ISS orbit and naked-eye visibility dates/times, see
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/station/viewing/issvis.html