ISS On-Orbit Status 3 Mar 2002
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously or below.
For the ISS crew, today was another restful Sunday [while over at the Hubble telescope the STS-109 had a very good day, too, with a seemingly unchanged HST now successfully secured in the Columbia’s cargo bay and both of its solar arrays properly retracted, preparatory to their replacement with new, rigid arrays tomorrow and Tuesday.]
Early in the morning (1:35am EST), CDR Onufrienko sent down the planned TV address to congratulate Academician Boris E. Chertok on his 90th anniversary (see yesterday’s status report) via the Russian LIV television setup, which is activated/deactivated automatically by preprogrammed SPP automated daily timeline system.
The crew divided the mandatory daily servicing tasks between them: Carl handled the maintenance of the SM SOSH life support systems, Yuri took water supply (SVO) and toilet flush (SP) counter readings for calldown to MCC-M, and Dan took care of the autonomous UF-1 payloads status checks.
FE-1 Walz and CDR Onufrienko had their private family conferences today (via S-band), and all crewmembers performed their prescribed physical exercise.
An orbital debris avoidance maneuver planned for last night at 11:02 pm EST was not required.
Today’s optional targets for the CEO program were Taiwan Smog (coastal fog may be present, but crew should have been able to detect Taiwan’s aerosol output. As ISS approached the island from the NW, crew was advised to shoot oblique views to either side of track), E. Mediterranean Dust and Smog (if the high-pressure area still held up, this pass provided good, oblique views of aerosols over Asia Minor and the adjacent coastal waters. Of interest: shooting to the left of track as ISS neared the Black Sea), Tigris-Euphrates, Turkey (of interest: looking to the left of track for oblique views that document the snow pack of this source area for the Tigris-Euphrates Rivers), Lake Nasser, Toshka Lakes; Egypt (much of this large target area will be to the left of track this pass. Of interest: shooting oblique, context views for details of this portion of the Nile River Valley as spring now approaches), Rift Triple Junction, Ethiopia (pass is well to the right of most of this target area. Crew was to try oblique views to the left of track. With the help of afternoon shadows, topographic details of this complex of faults and lava flows were enhanced), Somalia Coast (pass approached the coast from the NW. Detailed context views taken as obliques to either side of track were still useful for detecting vegetation contrasts. Also to be noted: the linear cloud formation of the afternoon sea breeze front), Gulf of St. Lawrence (weather should hold for one more day.Ê For this pass, crew was to note the ice accumulation around Prince Edward Island using oblique views, well to the right of track), Eastern United States (aerosol accumulation should have been peaking for this air mass during this pass. Crew to look to the right of track, southwestward, down the New England Coast).
ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 7:37am EST):
- Mean altitude — 382.4 km
- Apogee — 389.3 km
- Perigee — 375.5 km
- Period — 92.2 min.
- Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
- Eccentricity — 0.0010226
- Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.62
- Altitude decrease — 350 m (mean) in last 24 hours
- Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. ’98) — 18755
- 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
