NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 10 July 2008

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

The Orlan spacewalk EVA-20A by CDR Volkov and FE-1 Kononenko from the DC1 (Docking Compartment) airlock lasted 6 hrs 18 min. For both it was the first EVA.  The main objective of the spacewalk, which was the first for both of them, was successfully achieved:  The spacewalkers –

• inspected the Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft at its first separation plane (Plane I),
• removed a section of thermal insulation,
• cut a wire tie connecting pyrobolts, and at 6:44pm EDT
• removed one pyrobolt (of two) from one (#5) of the five locks which tie der Instrumentation & Propulsion Module to the Descent Module (SA) [the removal functionally opened the latch lock, which apparently had failed twice before on Soyuz reentries 11S and 10S], and
• secured the pyrobolt inside a blast proof container for returning it onboard and then to Earth aboard Soyuz 16S in October.

The second planned task of installing a docking target for the new Russian MRM (Multipurpose Research Module) on the SM PkhO (Service Module Transfer Compartment) for docking at the SM zenith port was moved to EVA-20 next Tuesday (7/15).

The spacewalk began 30 minutes late, with EVA hatch open at 2:48pm EDT, ending at 9:06pm. It was the 113th EVA in support of ISS assembly, outfitting & maintenance, with a total spacewalk time of 712 h 54 min, and the 85th EVA out of the ISS.

To accommodate the spacewalk schedule, the crew’s activity cycle was shifted for a 10 min earlier wakeup in the morning (5:20am EDT) and a 5h 20min delayed bedtime tonight (i.e., sleep tomorrow morning at 2:10am).  Wakeup tomorrow will be at 11:40am (extending to the more regular 9:00pm bedtime).

Before breakfast, FE-2 Chamitoff started his day again with the week-long SLEEP (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight) experiment, using the payload software for data logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the experiment’s laptop session file on the HRF-1 laptop.    [To monitor the crewmember’s sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Greg wears a special Actiwatch device which measures the light levels encountered by him as well as his patterns of sleep and activity throughout the Expedition.  The log entries are done within 15 minutes of final awakening for seven consecutive days, as part of the crew’s discretionary “job jar” task list.  This is Week 1 of 3 for the FE-2.]

After morning inspection, all pre-EVA activities proceeded smoothly and on schedule, starting out with Volkov & Kononenko taking another MO-9 “Urolux” urine biochemistry test before breakfast.   [A second session with the Urolux equipment will be conducted by both crewmembers tonight (~9:15pm) immediately after post-EVA station repress.]

FE-2 Chamitoff supported the preparations by installing fresh batteries in the cameras and transfer them over to the DC1, then configuring ISS systems for EVA.

Pre-EVA preparations by the crew included –

• Closing external covers on SM (Service Module) windows #8, #12, #13, #14,
• Deactivating the Kenwood-D700/Sputnik-SM amateur radio equipment to prevent RF interference with the Orlans’ wireless in-suit Tranzit-B radio telemetry system,
• Changing the settings of the DSP pressure alarm sensors in the RS (Russian Segment),
• Deactivating the DS-7A Smoke Detector #1 in the SM PkhO (Transfer Compartment),
• Setting up the PSS Caution & Warning System in the FGB,
• Deactivating the Vozdukh carbon dioxide (CO2) removal system,
• Removing SM air ducts to enable RO-PkhO hatch closure,
• Deactivating VN1 & VN2 air heaters,
• Powering down ventilation fans in the SM (VK1, VK2, VK3, VK4, VKYu1, VKYu2),
• Turning off the SRVK-2M condensate water processor, and
• Powering off electrical food heaters in the SM galley.

CDR Volkov and FE-1 Kononenko had about an hour reserved to complete setting up DC1 and PkhO systems for pre-EVA mode.

To monitor their work area at the Soyuz TMA-12 during the spacewalk, the CDR set up the SONY HDV high-resolution camcorder (HRV-Z1J, from SFP Charles Simonyi) at SM window #6 and arranged a portable fan from FGB stowage to provide cooling to the camcorder body during operation.

Next steps by Sergey & Oleg were to –

• Check out the Orlan-M spacesuits and their systems as well as the suit interface control panels (BSS) in DC1 & PkhO,
• Retest the BK-3 primary & backup oxygen (O2) tanks of the Orlans and DC1,
• Disassemble the DC1 air duct, but leaving the V3 fan in place, and
• Set up the STTS communications/telemetry links necessary for the spacewalk from the DC1.   [Most activities were paced by RGS (Russian ground site) comm window passes.]

After a midday “snack” (9:40-10:20am), the spacewalkers conducted final inspection of the suits, BSS interface units & biomedical parameter telemetry to RGS (~11:00am), including VHF/voice & biomedical electrode belt and telemetry hookups via the BSS (later by the wireless in-suit Tranzit-B radio telemetry system) for vital signs and equipment monitoring.

FE-2 Chamitoff configured the ISS for uncrewed ops and, with FE-1 Kononenko, prepared the Soyuz for his stay during the spacewalk. Gregory’s preparations in the Descent Module (SA) included transfer of SOP (Food Supply Subsystem) food containers and a supply of eight Russian SVO (Water Supply System) water bags. [These provisions would also have been needed in a contingency requiring the entire crew taking to the Soyuz for some time.]

After entering the SA and closing the hatch between it and the BO (Orbital Module) at ~10:45am, Gregory performed a 30-min leak check on the hatch interface, then settled down for the six-hour lockout.

In the DC1 & PkhO, after the Orlan & BSS systems checkouts Volkov & Kononenko donned spacesuits and ancillary gear at ~12:10pm, assisting each other, then closed the hatchways between SM RO/PkhO (Working Compartment/Transfer Compartment) and PkhO/SU (DC1 Transfer Vestibule) at ~12:40pm, keeping hatches open between FGB & PMA-1 (Pressurized Mating Adapter 1) and between SM & DC1.

At ~11:50am, ISS attitude control authority was handed over to RS MCS (Motion Control System) to keep attitude stable during the (reactive) DC1 airlock depressurization, and was returned to US momentum management by CMGs (Control Moment Gyroscopes) at ~2:50pm.

The spacewalkers sealed the Orlan backpacks (~12:30pm), followed by Orlan & BSS controls checks.  Final checkout of suits and their controls included checking for leak during successive stages of depressurization.   [Pressure inside the Orlans was reduced to 0.42 at (6.2 psi).  After suit purge, the spacewalkers had a 30-minute oxygen prebreathe period, as pressures between DC-1 and the PkhO were equalized and then further reduced.]

Gregory Chamitoff remained sealed off in the Soyuz SA during the spacewalk which began after a final leak check on the four BK-3 O2 tanks. At end of prebreathe, DC1 pressure was down to 15 mmHg (Torr), holding for 5 min for a final cabin leak check, followed by switching the Orlans to autonomous (battery) suit power (~2:15pm) and opening of EV hatch #1 at 2:48pm. 

After return and ingress from the EVA, with DC1 airlock repressurization from SM cabin air, the crew opened hatches and reentered the SM for their second MO-9 “Urolux” biochemical urine test.

Later, the CDR & FE-1 will have their scheduled post-EVA data take with the NOA/Nitric Oxide Analyzer (MBI-21) experiment (Sergey’s fourth, Oleg’s third), filling in the electronic log book on the RSE1 laptop for downlink and restowing the hardware.  Each subject takes two NO (Nitric Oxide) measurements in exhaled air.    [Purpose of the ESA experiment ESANO1, consisting of the “Platon” analyzer and its power supply, is to monitor expired NO in the subject’s exhaled air to detect signs of airway inflammation and indications of venous gas emboli (bubbles) that may be caused by inhalation of pollutants in the closed environment of the ISS cabin and increased risk of decompression sickness.]

This will be followed by the crew resetting communications, conducting ISS activation operations and restoring systems configurations in the DC1 and other RS modules to pre-EVA conditions, then installing the DC1 air ducts.

Cleaning up after the spacewalk, CDR Volkov & FE-1 Kononenko will –

• Remove the Orlan BRTA radio/telemetry unit batteries,
• Take post-EVA radiation readings of the “Pille-MKS” dosimeters carried by the spacewalkers in their Orlan suits,
• Downlink EVA-20A digital photography,
• Activate the ALTCRISS (Alteino Long Term monitoring of Cosmic Rays on the ISS/ALC) Spectrometer (AST), and
• Set up the 825M3 Orlan batteries for complete discharge/recharge, but
• Leave the backup BNP portable oxygen repressurization tank in DC1, since it will also be needed for EVA-20.

Chamitoff will return ISS systems to their initial states, including hatch opening (Node-1, Lab) at ~11:05pm, air ducts, Vozdukh CO2 scrubber and Sputnik-SM amateur radio.

Later in the night, Gregory will reconfigure the POC (Portable Onboard Computer) laptops in the USOS for nominal OpsLAN operations, including NetMeeting and KFX (Ku-band File Transfer) functions. [Reconfiguration activities included relocating the SSC-5 (Station Support Computer 5) A31p laptop back to its nominal location in the Lab and reconnecting it to power, plus relocating four A31p battery packs from the Soyuz spacecraft to the Lab for temporary stowage.]

To provide cooling for tomorrow’s ground-commanded activation of the U.S. CDRA (Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly), shortly before sleeptime the FE-2 will connect the regular ITCS LTL (Internal Thermal Control System/Low Temperature Loop) coolant jumper connection to the CDRA support rack LAB1D6. The ground will then lower the temperature setpoint in Node-2 to control for humidity across the USOS.     [CDRA will be activated tomorrow at 9:00am-3:00pm EDT to reduce cabin CO2 levels.]

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).

ISS Orbit  (as of this morning, 8:40am EDT [= epoch]):
Mean altitude — 344.5 km
Apogee height — 350.7 km
Perigee height — 338.4 km
Period — 91.43 min.
Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
Eccentricity — 0.000908
Solar Beta Angle — 38.3 deg (magnitude increasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.75
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours — 35 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 55220

Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time, some changes possible.):
07/15/08 — Russian EVA-20 (1:08pm)
07/18/08 — ATV1 reboost
08/30/08 — Progress M-64/29P undocking, from FGB nadir
09/05/08 — ATV1 undocking, from SM aft port (loiter until ~9/25 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
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
10/14/08 — Soyuz TMA-13/17S docking (FGB nadir port)
10/23/08 — Soyuz TMA-12/16S undocking (DC1 nadir)
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
11/26/08 — Progress M-66/31P launch
11/28/08 — Progress M-66/31P docking
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
03/25/09 — Soyuz TMA-14/18S launch
05/15/09 — STS-127/Endeavour/2J/A launch – JEM EF, ELM-ES, ICC-VLD
07/30/09 — STS-128/Atlantis/17A – MPLM(P), last crew rotation
05/27/09 — Six-person crew on ISS (following Soyuz 19S docking, May ’09)
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).