NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 10 August 2008

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Sunday – rest day for CDR Volkov, FE-1 Kononenko & FE-2 Chamitoff. Ahead: Week 17 of Increment 17.

FE-2 Chamitoff had three hours reserved for the regular weekly station cleaning in the USOS (US Segment) which wasn’t scheduled yesterday alongside the RS (Russian Segment) “uborka” housecleaning by his two crewmates.

For CDR Volkov, it was time again for the recharging of the Motorola Iridium-9505A satellite phone brought up on Soyuz 16S, a monthly routine job and his fourth time. [After retrieving it from its location in the TMA-12/16S descent module (BO), Sergey initiated the recharging of its lithium-ion battery, monitoring the process every 10-15 minutes as it took place. Upon completion at ~12:55pm, the phone was returned inside its SSSP Iridium kit and stowed back in the BO’s operational data files (ODF) container. The satphone accompanies returning ISS crews on Soyuz reentry & landing for contingency communications with SAR (Search-and-Rescue) personnel after touchdown (e.g., after an “undershoot” ballistic reentry, as happened during the recent 15S return). The Russian-developed procedure for the monthly recharging has been approved jointly by safety officials. During the procedure, the phone is left in its fire-protective fluoroplastic bag with open flap. The Iridium 9505A satphone uses the Iridium constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites to relay the landed Soyuz capsule’s GPS (Global Positioning System) coordinates to helicopter-borne recovery crews. The older Iridium-9505 phones were first put onboard Soyuz in August 2003. The newer 9505A phone, currently in use, delivers 30 hours of standby time and three hours of talk, up from 20 and two hours, respectively, on the older units.]

FE-1 Kononenko completed the routine daily servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the Service Module (SM), including the weekly collection of the toilet flush (SP) counter and water supply (SVO) readings for calldown to TsUP-Moscow. [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists, among else, of 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.]

The FE-1 also checked up on the Russian POTOK-150MK (150 micron) decontamination filter unit of the SM’s SOGS air revitalization subsystem, gathering weekly data on Total Operating Time & “On” durations for reporting to TsUP-Moscow.

As generally every day now, starting at ~9:00am and running until 3:00pm, the US CDRA (Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly) was activated intermittently for two half-cycles to control ppCO2 levels. In this configuration for the daily ops, connecting & disconnecting the ITCS cooling loop is not required. [A forward plan is in work for cycling the CSV (CO2 Selector Valve) to prevent its sticking.]

The crew conducted their regular 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-1, FE-2), RED resistive exercise device (CDR, FE-1, FE-2) and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (CDR, FE-1).

A voluntary task for Gregory and Sergey for today was to print out and review uplinked procedures for tomorrow’s and Tuesday’s TVIS treadmill repair.

Working off his suggested “time permitting” task list, Volkov conducted another session for Russia’s Environmental Safety Agency (EKON), making observations and taking KPT-3 aerial photography with the NIKON D2X camera of environmental conditions near the Baikonur launch site and Lake Balkash.

Also working from the Russian discretionary task list, Oleg Kononenko conducted another session of the Russian GFI-8 "Uragan" (hurricane) earth-imaging program, using the D2X digital camera with the F800 telephoto lens and the HVR-Z1J SONY video camera. [Uplinked target areas were oil contamination of the Caspian sea surface and drilling platforms near the Dagestan shore, the coastal strip of the Aral Sea in overlapping shots, the Ob and Bia river valleys, forest conditions (logging & burnt out areas) near populated areas in the Altai and Sayan mountains in nadir, the Irkut river valley from the northern point of Lake Hubsugul to the south point of Lake Baikal, the confluence of the Desna tributaries with the Desna river falling into the Dnepr river near Kiev, gulley and ravine landscapes of Central Russia up to Volga river, the steppe on the left shore of the Volga river to the south of Saratov (Y. A. Gagarin’s landing site) in nadir, and former Soviet Army firing ranges in Germany and coal pits after reclamation.]

A third activity suggested on the “time permitting” job roster for Oleg was another run of the Russian DZZ-2 "Diatomeya" ocean observations program, using the NIKON-F5 DCS still camera and the HDV (high-definition) video camcorder from SM window 8 for ~20 min to record high production water areas for obtaining data on color field composition in dynamic regions of the ocean and in near-estuary areas of large rivers, plus the current cloud cover above these waters, its rating, and special forms of cloud formation. [Uplinked target zones in the Atlantic Ocean were the coastal areas of Brazil and Panama, the Strait of Gibraltar and the offshore area of Great Britain.]

Also working from the discretionary task list, the FE-1 conducted the regular status check on the BIO-5 Rasteniya-2 ("Plants-2") experiment which researches growth and development of plants (peas) under spaceflight conditions in the Lada-13 greenhouse from IBMP (Institute of Bio-Medical Problems {Russian: IMBP}).

No CEO (Crew Earth Observations) photo targets uplinked for today.

CEO photography can be studied at this “Gateway” website:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov (as of 3/1/08, this database contained 757,605 views of the Earth from space, with 314,000 from the ISS alone).

Week 17 Main Activities:

• Mon. (8/11): TVIS belt maintenance, TVIS roller bearing R&R, SPDM “Dextre” ops, FMK deploy, BMP regen, MBI-21/Pneumocard, 29P stow.
• Tues. (8/12): TVIS roller bearing R&R, TVIS speed characterization, SPDM “Dextre” ops, BMP regen, 29P stow.
• Wed. (8/13): FMK stow, TVIS quarterly maintenance, ATV reboost, Columbus Cycle 11 software transition, Plasma-ISS experiment, JAXA FPEF setup, 29P stow.
• Thurs. (8/14): MBI-15/Neuro s/u, JAXA JEMRMS ops review, 29P stow.
• Fri. (8/15): MBI-15/Neuro, MBI-21/Pneumocard, JEMRMS ops, 29P stow, KOB-1 maintenance.

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 6:16am EDT [= epoch]):
Mean altitude — 350.5 km
Apogee height — 357.5 km
Perigee height — 343.5 km
Period — 91.55 min.
Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
Eccentricity — 0.0010381
Solar Beta Angle — -19.9 deg (magnitude increasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.73
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours — 55 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 55707

Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time, some changes possible.):
08/13/08 — ATV Reboost (~3:30am EDT)
09/02/08 — Progress M-64/29P undocking, from FGB nadir
09/07/08 — ATV1 undocking, from SM aft port (loiter until 9/29 for nighttime reentry/observation)
09/10/08 — Progress M-65/30P launch
09/12/08 — Progress M-65/30P docking (SM aft port)
10/01/08 — NASA 50 Years (official)
10/08/08 — STS-125/Atlantis Hubble Space Telescope Service Mission 4 (SM4)
10/11/08 — Progress M-65/30P undocking (from SM aft port)
10/12/08 — Soyuz TMA-13/17S launch (~3:03am EDT)
10/14/08 — Soyuz TMA-13/17S docking (FGB nadir port, ~4:51am)
10/23/08 — Soyuz TMA-12/16S undocking (DC1 nadir) or 10/24?
11/10/08 — STS-126/Endeavour/ULF2 launch – MPLM Leonardo, LMC
11/12/08 — STS-126/Endeavour/ULF2 docking
11/20/08 — ISS 10 Years
11/25/08 — Progress M-65/30P undocking & deorbit
11/26/08 — Progress M-66/31P launch
11/30/08 — Progress M-66/31P docking
02/09/09 — Progress M-66/31P undocking & deorbit
02/10/09 — Progress M-67/32P launch
02/12/09 — Progress M-67/32P docking
02/12/09 — STS-119/Discovery/15A launch – S6 truss segment
02/14/09 — STS-119/Discovery/15A docking
02/24/09 — STS-119/Discovery/15A undocking
02/26/09 — STS-119/Discovery/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 M-67/32P undocking & deorbit
05/15/09 — STS-127/Endeavour/2J/A launch – JEM EF, ELM-ES, ICC-VLD
05/25/09 — Soyuz TMA-15/19S launch
05/27/09 — Six-person crew on ISS (following Soyuz 19S docking)
07/30/09 — STS-128/Atlantis/17A – MPLM(P), last crew rotation
10/15/09 — STS-129/Discovery/ULF3 – ELC1, ELC2
12/10/09 — STS-130/Endeavour/20A – Node-3 + Cupola
02/11/10 — STS-131/Atlantis/19A – MPLM(P)
04/08/10 — STS-132/Discovery/ULF4 – ICC-VLD, MRM1
05/31/10 — STS-133/Endeavour/ULF5 – ELC3, ELC4 (contingency).