Status Report

ISS On-Orbit Status 30 Apr 2002

By SpaceRef Editor

April 30, 2002

Filed under ISS On-orbit status, NASA HQ, US

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously
or below.

Day 544 of continuous station occupancy, and another busy schedule crammed
with joint operations for both crews.

VC SFP Mark Shuttleworth continued with the daily sessions of the South
African experiment CCE (study of microgravity effects on autonomous
cardiovascular activity and skeletal muscles), recording food and fluid
intake, measuring limb circumference and exercising with bungee cords and
the cycle ergometer to determine heart rate, respiratory rate and blood
pressure at specific physical effort levels.

His timeline also included again the Plankton Lens-M study of oceanic
bioproductivity (plankton growth), assisted by VC CDR Yuri Gidzenko.

For the ESCD (embryo and stem cell development) experiment, Shuttleworth
completed a nutrient exchange, injecting fresh nutrient with syringes from
specific test tubes into the specimen tubes. The activities were
photographed.

VC FE-1 Roberto Vittori continued experimenting with new garments in the
VEST program, today during exercise with bungee cords and the VELO cycle
ergometer while being video taped by Gidzenko. He also performed session 3
of the CHIRO experiment (study of the impairment of the muscle contraction
mechanism and the performance of astronaut upper extremities due to
microgravity effects during space flight), as well as another session with
ALTEINO, the study and correlation of phosphenes (observed light flashes)
and heavy charged particles detected in the AST spectrometer installed in
the DC-1 “Pirs” module.

CDR Yuri Onufrienko, assisted by FE-1 Carl Walz, completed the Russian MBI-2
“Diuresis” experiment. The assessment used Reflotron-4 accessories, the
Plasma-03 centrifuge (to determine Hematocrit) and other gear for a
sophisticated analysis of urine and blood and required him to collect urine
samples several times throughout the day and to keep a log on metabolic
intake. The planned collection of venous blood was not performed.

Yuri Gidzenko conducted another run of the Plasma Crystal-3 payload, for
which he activated the turbopump for the vacuum chamber early in the
morning, to be powered down again in the evening (5:10 pm EDT).

Carl Walz and Dan Bursch set up and activated the equipment for the Canadian
Hoffman-Reflex (H-R) experiment, taking turns in conducting the test. The
experiment consists of a knee brace to position/stabilize the subject’s leg
and a number of electrodes and wires. The electrical connections provide a
stimulus at the backside of the knee and then measure the response, i.e.,
the reflexive muscle currents. The data go directly into the HRF laptop PC.
Excellent video was received on the ground. There will be one more H-R
session for the Expedition 4 crew after the flight.

Walz transferred about 20 kg of Lab condensate into a CWC (collapsible water
container), which he then connected to the Russian BPK condensate feed unit.
Condensate sampling was not required.

Carl also inspected the air intake vents at the HRF (human research
facility) rack cooling stowage drawer to evaluate dust accumulation from
on-going operations. His assessment will assist in future planning of rack
cleaning activities.

Onufrienko performed SOSH life support system maintenance and switched the
BMP micropurification unit’s absorbent bed #1 from Regenerate to Purify,
while starting the Regen procedure on filter bed #2.

Dan Bursch continued activity on the BPS (biomass production facility),
pollinating Brassica plants in PGC4 (plant growth chamber #4), where images
showed some new flowers. The ground had scheduled a time gap between the
pollination and the gas sample collection in this chamber to allow the gases
to equilibrate.

Yesterday’s sessions with the PuFF (pulmonary function in flight) experiment
by Bursch and Walz appear to have yielded good data takes for the ground.
POC (Payload Operations Center) was not able to downlink the data files due
to the limited Ku-band coverage and continuing MCOR (medium-rate comm outage
recorder) problem, but will do so later this week. A video taping of Dan
Bursch during the PuFF activities was well received at MCC-H.

MCOR has been non-operational since 4/18. On 4/29, crew performed a recovery
procedure, swapping the laptop battery and redocking the computer, without
success. When the laptop was then replaced with the MCOR spare computer, the
MCOR was able to complete its boot-up process but the MCOR temperature
configuration file change was unable to be performed before the MCOR was
powered down by automatic safeguard switches. The ground is working on a new
plan of action to change the temperature configuration file, which is
required in order to recover MCOR operations.

At 9:58 am EDT, the ISS crew conducted an interactive TV PAO exchange with
attendees at the 39th Space Congress at Cape Canaveral, FL. Despite somewhat
degraded audio, the event went over well, with former NASA astronaut and
Space Congress organizer Brian Duffy on the stage.

SFP Mark Shuttleworth had two live TV sessions with Republic of South Africa
(RSA) press media, via MCC-Moscow, downlinking recorded onboard photo/video
scenes. The SFP also had another time slot set aside for his daily personal
IP telephone conference with the ground. Later in the day, he was scheduled
for a ten-minute ham radio pass with Havenside Community Center in
Chatsworth/Durban, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Durban (Zulu name Tekweni)
lies in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, the ancestral home of the Nguni
people and is the largest and busiest port city on the continent. The
township of Chatsworth/Durban celebrates the First African in Space Amateur
Radio Initiative today with Shuttleworth’s pass.

During suitable observational passes, VC FE-1 Roberto Vittori conducted
photo imagery of Italy. At 2:32 am EDT, he, Gidzenko and Shuttleworth had a
major TV event with Italian and ESA personnel in Rome, Italy, and Brussels,
Belgium. Participants in Brussels were Romano Prodi (President of the
European Commission) and Antonio Rodotà (ESA Director General); in Rome the
call was with Sergio Vetrella (President of the Italian Space Agency ASI),
Umberto Guidoni (ESA astronaut) and a group of Italian children.
Subsequently, Vittori also downlinked a recorded greeting to German
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and visitors at the ILA (International Aerospace
Exhibition) in Berlin, for its opening on 5/6.

Dan Bursch was scheduled for an amateur radio pass at 8:33am EDT with
Woodland Middle School in East Meadow, New York, relayed via Telebridge ham
stations in Hawaii and Maryland.

The Canadarm2 Wrist Roll Joint (WRJ) replacement will be conducted during
the UF-2 mission. The flight spare and the FSE (flight support equipment)
are already at KSC since 4/15. The FSE and the joint, mounted on the FRAM
(flight releasable attachment mechanism), which in turn is placed on a GSFC
Get Away Special (GAS) beam, is planned to be installed on the STS sidewall
on 5/8 for the UF-2 flight, currently scheduled to be launched on 5/30.

Evaluation of air samples from the recent Metox (metal oxide) canister
regeneration test has shown no concentrations of any toxic substances,
albeit an elevated CO2 level for a short time afterwards, but still below
the applicable Flight Rule limit. Agreement has been reached between U.S.
and Russian safety experts to proceed with the regeneration of the
recyclable CO2/contaminant absorbers for the Airlock (A/L) and EMU
spacesuits in the future, with the restriction that crewmembers cannot enter
the A/L in the critical period of T+2 and T+4 hours after begin of
regeneration (T). Checking back for fire at T+10 is also being considered as
an added, but not mandatory, safety feature.

Three technical issues in the Russian segment (RS) are presently being
worked by MCC-Moscow: (1) The TVM terminal computer system in the SM is
still operating on only two of its three redundant subsets; (2) the second
KURS system in the SM still has problems; and (3) the Elektron oxygen
generator, after its recent repair, is operating only on its backup pump,
one of two in the newly installed Liquid Unit, since the main pump is stuck.
The problem appears to be cavitation, due to air accumulated in the system
during its protracted down time, and procedures for a purge (priming) of the
pump are being written. For all three issues, MCC-M as forward plans in the
making.

The ISS is approaching again a period of low Beta angles, during which the
preferred flight attitude (for power generation) would be X-POP (x-axis
perpendicular to orbit plane). However, in order to avoid use of the 4B
gimbal and preserve the 2B gimbal of the P6 module, the U.S. needs to
minimize XPOP phases and continue in LVLH as much as possible. It was
recommended for the Russian side to notify the U.S. side of specific ops
needs for XPOP, which would then be satisfied by selectively and temporarily
going to XPOP.

Target areas for the CEO (crew earth observations) program today were W.
Mediterranean Dust/Smog (interactions among three types of aerosols —
Saharan dust, Mt. Etna gas and ash, and Po valley smog are of interest here.
If possible, the crew was to record the margins of the various air masses,
noting any turbulence, shear features, internal waves, etc.), Central
Philippines (the coral reefs of Palawan and the Sulu Sea west of the
Philippines were along the track. Crew was to look both left and right of
track, particularly as ISS crossed Palawan, and acquire near-nadir views.
They then passed directly over volcanoes Lokon and Empung [easternmost tip
of the Celebes] which have been spouting incandescent gas/ash this week),
Malaysian-Sumatran Fires (Dynamic Event: Once past northern Sumatra the crew
should have lost cloud cover and been able to photograph the many fires that
are burning throughout Malaysia and Sumatra. Of interest: documenting both
regional smoke palls [slight overexposure helpful] and individual
fires/smoke sources. At the W tip of Java the megacity of Djakarta was
directly below), E. Sierra Watershed Lakes (this excellent pass along the
crest of the Sierras afforded a good chance to document both Sierra snow
pack and water levels in Honey and Pyramid Lakes, Carson Sink and Mono Lake.
The Salton Sea was just right of track), Saharan Dust over Cape Verdes
(Dynamic Event: Dust blows off the Sahara, with particularly thick masses
exiting Africa around Dakar, have persisted for several days. From the
crew’s vantage point near the Cape Verde Islands, they were to look left of
track to photograph both extent and thickness of dust moving outward over
the Atlantic), Cuban-Central American Fires (Dynamic Event: As ISS
approached central Cuba, the crew was to document the fires down the length
of the island, and record individual fires where possible. They were to look
across the Yucatan Channel and record regional smoke blankets coming from
the widespread fires on the Yucatan Peninsula and in Nicaragua/Honduras).

U.S. and Russian Segment Status (as of this noon):

Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLSS) and Thermal Control (TCS):
Elektron O2 generator is On, using backup pump (50 Amps). Vozdukh CO2
scrubber is ON in MANUAL cycle mode #5 (vacuum pump failed). U.S. CDRA CO2
scrubber is Off. BMP Harmful Impurities unit: Absorbent bed #1 in Purify
mode, bed #2 in Regeneration mode.

(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]).

Electrical Power Systems (EPS):

Beta Gimbal Assembly (BGA) 2B in Autotrack mode, BGA 4B in Autotrack mode.
SM batteries: Battery #2 is offline (storage mode); battery #6 in capacity restoration (ROM) mode; all other batteries (6) are in “partial charge” mode.
FGB: Battery #2 is offline (storage mode); 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 On (repaired). 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 operational; PL-2 MDM on Standby.
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): 2 redundant lanes (of 3) operational.

Communications 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 non-operational.
Recovery attempted today.

Robotics:

SSRMS/Canadarm2 at Progress viewing position, with Keep Alive power on both strings.
RWS (robotics workstations) are Off.
Troubleshooting continues on SSRMS Prime string Wrist Roll (WR) joint.

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 7:23 am EDT):