NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 1 April 2012
ISS On-Orbit Status 04/01/12
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Sunday – Crew off duty. Ahead: Week 19 of Increment 30 (six-person crew).
>>>Soyuz TMA-3M/29S crewmembers Oleg Kononenko, Don Pettit & André Kuipers are today completing their 100th day of living aboard the ISS.<<<
After breakfast, FE-4 Kononenko performed the routine inspection of the SM PSS Caution & Warning panel as part of regular Daily Morning Inspection.
Also during morning inspection, FE-2 Ivanishin conducted the periodic checkup of the circuit breakers & fuses in the DC1 Pirs Docking Compartment. [The monthly checkup in DC1, MRM1 & MRM2 looks at AZS circuit breakers on the BVP Amp Switch Panel (they should all be On) and the LEDs (light-emitting diodes) of 14 fuses in fuse panels BPP-30 & BPP-36. MRM2 & MRM1 were derived from the DC1 concept and are very similar to it.]
FE-1 Shkaplerov completed the routine daily servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM and FGB. [This included the weekly collection of the toilet flush (SP) counter and water supply (SVO) readings for calldown to TsUP-Moscow, as well as the weekly checkup on the Russian POTOK-150MK (150 micron) air filter unit of the SM’s & FGB’s SOGS air revitalization subsystem, gathering weekly data on total operating time & “On” durations for calldown. SOZh servicing includes checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers.]
Anatoly Ivanishin inspected the cultures taken with the ECOSFERA equipment for Stage 2 of the microbial air sampling run for the MedOps SZM-MO-21 experiment on 3/30 from ATV cabin surfaces, logging the results. The Petri dishes with the cultures had been stowed in the KRIOGEM-03 thermostatic container at +37 deg for incubation. [The equipment, consisting of an air sampler set, a charger and power supply unit, provides samples to help determine microbial contamination of the ISS atmosphere, specifically the total bacterial and fungal microflora counts and microflora composition according to morphologic criteria of microorganism colonies. Because the Ecosphere battery can only support 10 air samples on one charge, the sample collection was being performed in two stages.]
CDR Burbank opened the protective window shutters of the Lab WORF (Window Observational Research Facility) for the ISSAC (ISS Agriculture Camera) equipment and activated the ISSAC laptop, so ground images can be captured by ground commanding. [ISSAC takes frequent visible-light & infrared images of vegetated areas on the Earth. The camera focuses principally on rangelands, grasslands, forests, and wetlands in the northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountain regions of the United States. The images may be delivered directly upon request to farmers, ranchers, foresters, natural resource managers and tribal officials to help improve their environmental stewardship of the land. The images will also be shared with educators for classroom use.]
Moving with the RSE1 A31p laptop to the MRM1 (Mini Research Module 1) Rassvet for the running experiment TEKh-22 “Identifikatsiya” (Identification), Anatoly downloaded to the laptop the new batch of structural dynamics measurements of the IMU-Ts microaccelerometer of last night’s test reboost, then returned it to the SM for subsequent downlink to the ground via OCA. [IMU-Ts is a part of the MRM1 SBI onboard measurement system, installed in PGO behind panel 104.]
Before sleeptime, Oleg Kononenko will initiate battery charging for the Russian GFI-8 “Uragan” (hurricane) earth-imaging program with FSS science hardware. [The FSS system consists of an image recording module with lens and a spectroradiometer module with an electronics module. FSS includes the ME Electronics Module & MRI Image Recording Module.]
At ~7:05am EDT, Anton, Anatoly & Oleg supported a Russian PAO TV event using US Ku-band assets, downlinking their responses to questions from Russian school students and teachers for Cosmonautics Day (April 12). [In April 2012, an independent non-profit entity “Atomic Industry Information Center” is planning to conduct a number of events dedicated to Cosmonautics Day. High school students and teachers from 14 Russia’s cities, who participate in these events, would like to ask the cosmonauts on the ISS some questions. “What kind of tasks are cosmonauts are solving?”; “Do cosmonauts have any free time and how do they use it?”; “How were your trained for the mission?”; “Do you exercise in space?”; “What kind of emotions do you experience in open space?”; “What do you feel like eating in space and what do they feed you up there?”; “Do you have any other living creatures besides people on the space station (pets or test animals)?”; “Did you see a black hole?”; “Did you see aliens?”; “Do you have Internet on the ISS? Do cosmonauts have blogs on social network pages?”; “Do cosmonauts play computer games?”; “Is it true that cosmonauts are exposed to high radiation levels?”]
CDR, FE-4 & FE-6 were scheduled for their weekly PFCs (Private Family Conferences), via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on an SSC laptop), Oleg at ~6:20am, Dan at ~11:30am, Don at ~12:00pm EDT. André had a PSC (Private Special Conference) at ~10:00am EDT.
The crew worked out with their regular 2-hr physical exercise protocol on the CEVIS cycle ergometer with vibration isolation (CDR, FE-6), TVIS treadmill with vibration isolation & stabilization (FE-1, FE-2, FE-4), ARED advanced resistive exerciser (CDR, FE-4, FE-5, FE-6), T2/COLBERT advanced treadmill (FE-5), and VELO ergometer bike with load trainer (FE-1, FE-2). [FE-6 is on the special experimental SPRINT protocol which diverts from the regular 2.5 hrs per day exercise regime and introduces special daily sessions, followed by a USND (Ultrasound) leg muscle self scan in COL. Today’s SPRINT exercise was on CEVIS, followed by ARED+T2, T2, ARED+CEVIS (VO2max) & CEVIS in the next 4 days. If any day is not completed, Don picks up where he left off, i.e., he would be finishing out the week with his last day of exercise on his off day If any day is not completed, Don picks up where he left off, i.e., he would be finishing out the week with his last day of exercise on his off day.]
Tasks listed for Shkaplerov, Kononenko & Ivanishin on the Russian discretionary “time permitting” job for today were –
* A ~30-min. run of the GFI-8 “Uragan” (hurricane) earth-imaging program with the NIKON D3X digital camera with Sigma AF 300-800mm telelens, focusing on the volcanoes volcanoes, San Cristobal, Arenal, Poas, Galeras, Reventador, Tanguraua, Sangay & Hudson, Mt. Ankouma, Bolivia, and the glaciers of Patagonia;
* A 10-min. photography session for the DZZ-13 “Seiner” ocean observation program, obtaining HDV (Z1) camcorder footage of color bloom patterns in the waters of the South-Western Atlantic, then copying the images to the RSK-1 laptop,
* A ~30-min. session for Russia’s EKON Environmental Safety Agency, making observations and taking KPT-3 aerial photography of environmental conditions on Earth using the NIKON D3X camera with the RSK-1 laptop, and
* More preparation & downlinking of reportages (written text, photos, videos) for the Roskosmos website to promote Russia’s manned space program (max. file size 500 Mb).
ISS/ATV Test Reboost Update: Last night at 5:54pm EDT, a one-burn ISS test reboost with ATV-3 “Edoardo Amaldi” OCS (Orbit Correction System) thrusters was successfully conducted for a duration of 6 min 51 sec (351 sec), achieving a delta-V of 1.0 m/s (planned: 1.0 m/s) and increasing mean altitude by 1.73 km (planned: 1.73 km). After the burn, ISS was at 389.7 km mean altitude, with 395.6 km apogee height and 383.7 perigee height. Purpose of the reboost was to test ATV OCS reboost functionality as well as set up phasing for 28S undock/landing (4/27), Progress 47P launch & Soyuz 30S launch.
No CEO (Crew Earth Observation) targets uplinked for today.
ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 8:26am EDT [= epoch])
Mean altitude – 389.9 km
Apogee height – 399.0 km
Perigee height – 380.7 km
Period — 92.35 min.
Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
Eccentricity — 0.0013543
Solar Beta Angle — 32.3 deg (magnitude increasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.59
Mean altitude gain in the last 24 hours — 1460 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 76,606
Time in orbit (station) — 4881 days
Time in orbit (crews, cum.) — 4168 days
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time and subject to change):
————–Six-crew operations—————-
04/19/12 — Progress M-14M/46P undock
04/20/12 — Progress M-15M/47P launch
04/22/12 — Progress M-15M/47P docking
04/27/12 — Soyuz TMA-22/28S undock/landing (End of Increment 30)
————–Three-crew operations————-
04/30/12 — SpaceX Dragon launch (12:22pm EDT; target date)
05/15/12 — Soyuz TMA-04M/30S launch – G.Padalka (CDR-32)/J.Acaba/S.Revin
05/17/12 — Soyuz TMA-04M/30S docking (MRM2)
————–Six-crew operations—————-
07/01/12 — Soyuz TMA-03M/29S undock/landing (End of Increment 31)
————–Three-crew operations————-
07/15/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/31S launch – S.Williams (CDR-33)/Y.Malenchenko/A.Hoshide
07/17/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/31S docking
07/20/12 — HTV3 launch (~10:18pm EDT)
07/31/12 — Progress M16M/48P launch
08/02/12 — Progress M16M/48P docking
————–Six-crew operations—————-
09/17/12 — Soyuz TMA-04M/30S undock/landing (End of Increment 32)
————–Three-crew operations————-
10/15/12 — Soyuz TMA-06M/32S launch – K.Ford (CDR-34)/O.Novitskiy/E.Tarelkin
10/17/12 — Soyuz TMA-06M/32S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
11/01/12 — Progress M-17M/49P launch
11/03/12 — Progress M-17M/49P docking
11/12/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/31S undock/landing (End of Increment 33)
————–Three-crew operations————-
12/05/12 — Soyuz TMA-07M/33S launch – C.Hadfield (CDR-35)/T.Mashburn/R.Romanenko
12/07/12 — Soyuz TMA-07M/33S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
12/26/12 — Progress M-18M/50P launch
12/28/12 — Progress M-18M/50P docking
03/19/13 — Soyuz TMA-06M/32S undock/landing (End of Increment 34)
————–Three-crew operations————-
04/02/13 — Soyuz TMA-08M/34S launch – P.Vinogradov (CDR-36)/C.Cassidy/A.Misurkin
04/04/13 — Soyuz TMA-08M/34S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
05/16/13 — Soyuz TMA-07M/33S undock/landing (End of Increment 35)
————–Three-crew operations————-
05/29/13 — Soyuz TMA-09M/35S launch – M.Suraev (CDR-37)/K.Nyberg/L.Parmitano
05/31/13 — Soyuz TMA-09M/35S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
09/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-08M/34S undock/landing (End of Increment 36)
————–Three-crew operations————-
09/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-10M/36S launch – M.Hopkins/TBD (CDR-38)/TBD
09/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-10M/36S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
11/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-09M/35S undock/landing (End of Increment 37)
————–Three-crew operations————-
11/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-11M/37S launch – K.Wakata (CDR-39)/R.Mastracchio/TBD
11/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-11M/37S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
03/xx/14 — Soyuz TMA-10M/36S undock/landing (End of Increment 38)
————–Three-crew operations————-
