ISS On-orbit Status 27 Aug 2002

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously or below.  Today is Expedition Five’s 73rd day.

After crew wake-up last night at 11:30pm EDT , normal sleep cycle resumes tonight at 5:30pm, with wake-up tomorrow morning at the regular 2:00am (6:00am Greenwich).

CDR Valery Korzun prepared the Service Module’s (SM) Glisser-M video system for downlink.  The connection was established by the automated timeline sequencer (SPP) at 00:30am EDT, and Korzun downlinked the EVA video recorded yesterday to Russian ground sites in a 15-min. comm window.

Later, Korzun and FE-2 Sergey Treschev set up the HDTV (high-definition television) equipment in the SM to record close-out operations for the Japanese MPAC and SEED experiments retrieved yesterday during the EVA.  [The transfer of the payloads to the Soyuz TM-34 and their stowing in the descent module was then taped with the Betacam video camera and photographed with the Nikon still camera.]

FE-1 Peggy Whitson powered up the HRF GASMAP (Human Research Facility/gas analyzer system for metabolic analysis physiology) hardware for the medical PuFF (pulmonary function in flight) experiment for studying the effects of EVA and long-term exposure to zero-G on the pulmonary (lung) function.  After Whitson calibrated the equipment, Valery Korzun completed a 40-min. standard test.  Afterwards, Peggy powered down the HRF GASMAP and stowed the hardware.  [Besides the HRF GASMAP, PuFF utilizes a variety of other equipment such as disposable mouthpieces, a manual breathing valve, flowmeter, pressure-flow module, pressure and volume calibration syringes. Each PuFF session, occurring normally monthly or before and after EVAs, involves five lung function tests.]

Yesterday the PLD1 MDM (payload multiplexer/demultiplexer #1, = computer) failed, when Ku-band coverage was lost during a data dump.  A command was sent to stop the data dump and soon after the MDM switched to Diagnostics mode.  Currently, PLD2 MDM is up and running, performing all necessary payload functions.  Analysis of the PLD1 failure on the ground awaits data dumps, which require considerable time for the downlink and commensurate scheduling.

Peggy Whitson participated in an integrated voice systems check for the Payloads community, which tested the new IVoDS (Internet Voice Distribution System) between the ADVASC (advanced astroculture) team and the ISS, with four parties tied into the system: Payload Comm, ADVASC, CAPCOM, and Peggy.  [IVoDS connects remote payload users into the Huntsville POC (Payload Operations Center) voice distribution system, with connectivity controlled via secure Internet web pages.  Users may configure up to eight loops simultaneously and, for speaking, just key their microphone by mouse-clicking a button on the PC screen. The tests today helped to characterize the delays in switching from loop to loop and those to “enable” and “disable”.]

Whitson completed recharge of the 120V battery for its use tomorrow in a planned PAO video event, during which she will downlink a live Science Tour of the “Destiny” Lab, with Treschev acting as camera operator.  The tour, commencing at 10:30am EDT, will air live on NASA TV.

For the purpose of the Science Tour, Peggy wants to power up the MSG (Microgravity Science Glovebox) rack, which still needs to be cleaned after the recent SUBSA ampoule breakage.  The carefully prepared clean-up procedure should be ready tonight for uplink, to be implemented by the crew on 8/30 (Friday), but there is no problem with tomorrow’s power-up, provided a visual inspection is performed first (Step 1 of the procedure).

Peggy Whitson also completed her weekly data collection session of the NTXN Interactions experiment, entering subjective mood, group and journal impressions in the HRF PC questionnaire.

Daily routine servicing tasks were performed by Treschev (IMS delta file preparation) and Whitson (SOSh life support system maintenance, Lab payload status checkup).

The crew performed their daily physical exercise program on TVIS (treadmill), CEVIS (cycle ergometer), RED (resistive training) and VELO (cycle) with load trainer.  The clamshells and ICSA (internal chassis support assembly) for the TVIS were delivered as scheduled for transport to Russia in preparation for launch on Progress 9P (9/20).

The CCAA (common cabin air assembly) in the Lab was reactivated, after it had been shut down yesterday due to cooling concerns during the lower-pressure period.

Tomorrow, the CDRA (carbon dioxide removal assembly) in the Lab will undergo a vacuum exposure test of its catalyst beds.  Since each channel will be opened for only 5 minutes, gas loss overboard will remain minimal.

The ER2 SD (EXPRESS Rack 2 smoke detector), while exhibiting a small drift, has stabilized and was declared functional by the vendor. It is being watched, to forestall possible future impacts on payload ops.

Moscow reported continued nominal operation of the Elektron oxygen generator in the SM, which still requires manual restart after shutting down every 24 hours.  All other systems in the Russian segment (RS) are unchanged.

RSC-Energia is investigating the temporary air leak yesterday morning, which caused a 27 minute delay of the hatch opening for EVA-8.  The lost time was made up by allowing some of the EVA tasks to be performed during eclipse (Earth shadow), instead of resting as scheduled. EVA-8 took only 5h 21 min, instead of 6 h.   [The small leak (dP/dt = 5 mmHq in 5 minutes; nominal leak rate: 2 mmHg in 5 min.) was traced to a valve between the SM PkhO Transfer Compartment and the FGB.  It persisted after IV Peggy Whitson repressed the PkhO, opened the hatch and cleaned the seal, but it disappeared when she reopened and reclosed the hatch valve.]

TsUP/MCC-M has proposed a reconfiguration of the computer BVS (OpsLAN, operations local area network) in the RS, which has the Wiener power laptop connected to the BRI Smartswitch.  The reconfiguration was to be implemented on 8/30 (Friday), but has now been postponed when, upon review by MCC-H, the procedure was found to be different from the tested version, resulting in reduced capability.  The issue requires joint resolution.

Spin-up of the spare CMG (control moment gyroscope) is planned for tomorrow, for the purpose of isolating the bearing noises heard during the recent test run.

A press conference with the next Soyuz taxi crew, CDR Sergey Zalyotin, FE Frank DeWinne (Belgium) and nominated space flight participant Lance Bass (lead singer of the ‘N Sync pop group), will be held on 8/29 (Thursday) at JSC and aired on NASA TV.  5S/Soyuz TMA-1 is to launch on 10/28, and its crew will return to Earth on 11/8 in TM-34, currently attached to the FGB.

Early this morning, Russian communications services (RSVG) performed maintenance on the primary E-1 fiber optics channel between Moscow’s Ostankino Tower and MCC-M in Korolev.  The ISS mission critical service has four-fold redundancy between TsUP and the Tower (which receives Russian ground site comm via satellite).  Only one of the four paths was down for the service, and there was no impact to ISS support.

Station attitude remains in XPOP (x-axis perpendicular to orbit plane), with CMG momentum management.  It will be switched back to LVLH (local vertical/local horizontal) on 9/6 when the solar Beta angle drops below 30 deg.

Today’s targets for the U.S. CEO (crew earth observations) program were Kabul, Afghanistan (nadir view.  Use ESC [electronic still camera]), Baghdad, Iraq (nadir to slightly left. ESC), Eastern Mediterranean Aerosols (oblique views left for industrial pollutants and right for possible dust.  Nadir pass over Crete. Greek islands to left and right), Western Mediterranean Aerosols (oblique shots left for industrial pollutants and right for possible desert dust.  Corsica left, Sardinia right), Rome, Italy (the city, hard to detect, lies 50 km inland from the small triangular Tiber delta. Nadir and slightly right of track. ESC), Danube River valley (Danube valley should show downstream effects of intense flooding in central Europe.  Detailed views left and right to complement the rich set of photos already downlinked of floods further west), Las Vegas, Nevada (nadir pass. ESC), and Yangtze River Gorge Dam (weather may have cleared for views of one of the largest construction projects in the world on China‚s largest river.  Crew to look for dams where the Yangtze gorge exits onto the plains, right of track).
CEO images can be viewed at the website http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov

U.S. and Russian Segment Status (as of 10:56 am EDT):

• Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLSS) and Thermal Control (TCS):
• Elektron O2 generator is powered On (32-amp mode), on backup pump.  Vozdukh CO2 scrubber is ON in MANUAL cycle mode #5, i.e., 10-min. cycle time (vacuum pump failed).  U.S. CDRA CO2 scrubber is offline.  BMP Harmful Impurities unit: Absorbent bed #1 in Purify mode, bed #2 in Purify mode.

• SM Working Compartment:  Pressure (mmHg) — 759, temperature (deg C) — 26.7, ppO2 (mmHg) — 148.1, ppCO2 (mmHg) — 2.5.
• SM Transfer Compartment:  Pressure (mmHg) — 741, temperature (deg C) — 21.1.
• FGB Cabin:  Pressure (mmHg) — 752, temperature (deg C) — 21.7.
• Node:  Pressure (mmHg) — 750.25, temperature (deg C) — 24.9 (shell); ppO2 (mmHg) — n/a; ppCO2 (mmHg) — n/a.
• U.S. Lab:  Pressure (mmHg) — 751.99, temperature (deg C) — 25.0, ppO2 (mmHg) — n/a; ppCO2 (mmHg) — n/a;
• Joint Airlock (Equip. Lock):  Pressure (mmHg) — 751.99, temperature (deg C) — 28.2; shell heater temp (deg C) — 26.9, ppO2 (mmHg) — n/a; ppCO2 (mmHg) — n/a.
• PMA-1:  Shell heater temp (deg C) — 24.0
• PMA-2:  Shell heater temp (deg C) — 11.8

(Note: Partial pressures ppO2 and ppCO2 in U.S. segment [USOS] not available because MCA [major constituent analyzer] is failed and in Extended Life mode [= a state that preserves mass spectrometer vacuum but produces no pp data]). MSA (mass spectrometer assembly) and VGA (verification gas assembly) were replaced, but some more work needs to be done).

Electrical Power Systems (EPS):

• Both P6 channels fully operational.  Beta Gimbal Assembly (BGA) 2B and BGA 4B in Autotrack mode (solar-tracking).
• SM batteries:   Battery #1 is off-line; all other batteries (7) are in “Full Charge” mode.
• FGB batteries:  Battery #5 is off-line; all other batteries (5) are in “Partial Charge” mode.
• Plasma Contactor Unit PCU-1 in Standby mode; PCU-2 in Standby mode.

Thermal Control Systems:

• Air conditioner SKV-1 is Off; SKV-2 is Off.

Command & Data Handling Systems:

• C&C-3 MDM is prime, C&C-2 is back-up, and C&C-1 is in standby.
• GNC-1 MDM is prime; GNC-2 is Backup.
• LA-1, LA-2 and LA-3 MDMs are all operating.
• PL-1 MDM is Off (Diagnostics); PL-2 MDM is operating.
• APS-1 (automated payload switch #1) and APS-2 are both On.
• SM Terminal Computer (TVM): 3 redundant lanes (of 3) operational.
• SM Central Computer (TsVM): 3 redundant lanes (of 3) operational.

Attitude Source:

• 3 CMGs on-line.
• State vector — US GPS (SIGI string 1)
• Attitude — Russian segment
• Angular rates — US RGA1 (rate gyro assembly 1)

Communications & Tracking Systems:

• All Russian communications & tracking systems are nominal.
• S-band is operating nominally.
• Ku-band is operating nominally.
• Audio subsystem operating nominally.
• Video subsystem operating nominally.
• MCOR (medium-rate communications outage recorder) is operating nominally.

Robotics:

• SSRMS/Canadarm2 at MBS PDGF 1 (mobile base system/power & data grapple fixture 1), in EVA-8 viewing position, with Keep Alive power on both strings (based on MBS).
• MBS: Keep Alive power on both strings.
• RWS (robotics workstations): Lab RWS is Off; Cupola RWS is Off.

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 5:13am EDT [= epoch]):

• Mean altitude — 391.5 km
• Apogee — 402.6 km
• Perigee — 380.4 km
• Period — 92.4 min.
• Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
• Eccentricity — 0.0016347
• Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.59
• Solar Beta Angle — -41.0 deg (magnitude decreasing)
• Altitude decrease — 200 m (mean) in last 24 hours
• Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. ’98) — 21513
• Current Flight Attitude — XPOP (x-axis perpendicular to orbit plane = “sun-fixed‰” [yaw: -0.5 deg, pitch: -5.7 deg., roll: 0 deg]).

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