NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 1 January 2009

Happy New Year!

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Off-duty day for the Expedition 18 crew of CDR Mike Fincke, FE-1 Yuri Lonchakov, FE-2 Sandra Magnus.

Fincke & Magnus continued ARED (Advanced Resistive Exercise Device) installation on “overtime”, after having activated the Node-1 video equipment to provide the ground with visual monitoring capability as before. [The CDR & FE-2 have been working with ground specialists on removing a stuck bolt on the launch restraint of the left cylinder flywheel (by filing through both the surrounding shaft and the restraint bolt itself), also on providing enough slack to the ARED capacitor cable & main power cable to allow free movement of the VIS (Vibration Isolation System), and on flipping the lift bar which had been installed backwards. Since the crew hasn’t had any resistive (anaerobic) exercise since 12/29, procedures have also been developed to temporarily install the IRED (Interim RED) in Node-2 if necessary next week.]

Lonchakov completed the routine daily servicing of the SM (Service Module)’s SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS). [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists, among else, of checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers, replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers and performing US condensate processing (transfer from CWC to EDV containers) if condensate is available.]

For today’s VolSci (Voluntary Science) program, Sandy is scheduled to set up the camcorder equipment and then record a number of scripted scenes for the VLE-1 (Video Lesson ESA-1) program "An ordinary meal". [Based on an uplinked storyboard, Sandy is to film Mike in various scenes on the theme “A Celebration Meal” in the SM, Node-1 & Node-2, highlighting the importance of communal and celebratory eating, particularly in space where it provides a key opportunity for communication between crew members. It also is to describe where the food is stored on board the ISS and the differences between American and Russian food. The clips are intended to provide 16-18 years old European students with selected aspects of life on board the ISS, focusing on the social and cultural value of food and the research on plant growing in a microgravity environment. The footage will help to directly compare and contrast food on Earth and in Space.]

The station residents conducted their regular daily 2.5-hr. physical workout program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the CEVIS cycle ergometer (CDR, FE-2), TVIS treadmill (CDR, FE-1, FE-2), and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1).

The voluntary “job jar” task list for Mike Fincke still shows his fourth filling out of the regular FFQ (Food Frequency Questionnaire) on the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer).

The CDR & FE-2 are timelined to exchange New Year’s wishes with their families on scheduled PFCs (Private Family Conferences) via S-band/audio & Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on an SSC laptop), Sandy at ~12:45pm, Mike at ~2:20pm EST.

SHERE Update: After yesterday’s VolSci session on SHERE (Shear History Extensional Rheology Experiment), Mike again received kudos from the Payload team: “Congratulations on your first science run with SHERE! We saw an excellent fluid column, and it eventually drained and broke in a really interesting way that featured instability "blobs" along its length. These are new phenomena we first recognized during previous runs, but we’ve never seen them interact with the fiber breakup before… We like your hat, by the way!”

TOCA Troubleshooting Update: The cause for the repeated TOCA (Total Organic Carbon Analyzer) shutdowns during WPA (Water Processor Assembly) sample analysis was traced to increased pressure in the gas loop (which poses no risk to TOCA or crew safety because of a pressure relief valve in the loop). Of various causes of the pressure increase being studied, one of the primary ones is excess moisture in the gas loop. Using manual control, the crew will activate various solenoid valves to allow nitrogen flow through the TOCA gas lines for drying over a period of approximately 48 hours, during which the TOCA can be left unattended. No TOCA water sample analyses will be scheduled until the pressure rise issue is resolved.

CEO (Crew Earth Observations) photo target uplinked for today was Southwest Algeria Megafans (an unusual cloud band in the western Sahara Desert should have passed by time of closest approach. Shooting right of track for ~60 secs since the target is relatively large. Parts of the megafans should have been visible between any scattered cloud. As very large spreads of river sediment, megafans explain the widespread but enigmatic “flat, stony plains” described by early explorers in the Sahara. Apart from their intrinsic interest as newly appreciated geological features, megafans are being investigated as analogs for features on Mars, and have just been used in a new reconstruction of past landscapes in Amazonia).

CEO photography can be studied at this “Gateway” website:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov (as of 9/1/08, this database contained 770,668 views of the Earth from space, with 324,812 from the ISS alone).

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 8:36am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude — 353.4 km
Apogee height — 358.3 km
Perigee height — 348.5 km
Period — 91.61 min.
Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
Eccentricity — 0.0007278
Solar Beta Angle — 0.6 deg (magnitude bottoming out)
Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.72
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours — 62 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 57974

Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time, some changes possible!):
01/14/09 — ISS reboost w/SM thrusters
02/09/09 — Progress M-01M/31P undocking & deorbit
02/10/09 — Progress 32P launch
02/12/09 — Progress 32P docking
02/12/09 — STS-119/Endeavour/15A launch – S6 truss segment
02/14/09 — STS-119/Endeavour/15A docking
02/24/09 — STS-119/Endeavour/15A undocking
02/26/09 — STS-119/Endeavour/15A landing (nominal)
03/25/09 — Soyuz TMA-14/18S launch
03/27/09 — Soyuz TMA-14/18S docking (DC1)
04/05/09 — Soyuz TMA-13/17S undocking
04/07/09 — Progress 32P undocking & deorbit
05/12/09 — STS-125/Atlantis Hubble Space Telescope Service Mission 4 (SM4)
05/15/09 — STS-127/Endeavour/2J/A launch – JEM EF, ELM-ES, ICC-VLD
05/27/09 — Soyuz TMA-15/19S launch
Six-person crew on ISS
08/06/09 — STS-128/Discovery/17A – MPLM (P), LMC, last crew rotation
08/XX/09 — Soyuz 5R/MRM2 (Russian Mini Research Module, MIM2) on Soyuz
09/XX/09 — H-IIB (JAXA HTV-1)
11/12/09 — STS-129/Atlantis/ULF3 – ELC1, ELC2
12/10/09 — STS-130/Endeavour/20A – Node-3 + Cupola
02/11/10 — STS-131/Atlantis/19A – MPLM(P), LMC
04/08/10 — STS-132/Discovery/ULF4 – ICC-VLD, MRM1
05/31/10 — STS-133/Endeavour/ULF5 – ELC3, ELC4
12/XX/11– Proton 3R/MLM w/ERA.