NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 10/21/07

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Sunday – first day alone for CDR Whitson, FE-1 Malenchenko and FE-2 Anderson. Day 136 for Anderson. Ahead: Week 1 of Increment 16 (Increment 15 lasted 26 weeks, four less then Inc-14).

Yest posadka! (We have Landing!) Welcome back home, Fyodor Yurchikhin, Oleg Kotov (Russia’s Cosmonaut No. 100) and Muszaphar Shukor! After 197 days in space (195 aboard ISS), Soyuz TMA-10/14S, carrying two-thirds of the Expedition 15 crew plus the Malaysian SFP, landed successfully this morning at 6:36am EDT in the steppes of Kazakhstan, with the crew in excellent condition. Touchdown occurred ~340 km short (west) of the intended site near Arkalykh. After arrival of the recovery forces, the crew was reported to be out of the spacecraft at about 6:55am. They were flown to Kustanai, Kazakhstan, with Star City near Moscow their next stop later today. Mission length for Yurchikhin & Kotov: 196d 17h 5m; for SFP Shukor: 10d 21h 14m. [Undocking from the ISS SM aft port was at 3:14am, deorbit burn from 5:47am-5:51am. According to TsUP/Moscow, the trajectory undershoot of the returning 14S Descent Module by about 340 km at touchdown was due to a switch of the on-board computer to the (secondary) Ballistic Descent Mode (BS), reported by the crew at 6:18am, instead of the lift-vector-controlled reentry using banking maneuvers (roll angle changes) commanded by the (primary) Automatically Controlled Descent Mode (AUS). An official commission has been formed to investigate the computer glitch which appears similar to the one experienced during the re-entry of Soyuz TMA-1 with the Expedition 3 crew of Ken Bowersox, Nikolai Budarin and Donald Pettit on 5/3/03. Instead of flying on the closed-loop-guided trajectory designed to reduce peak deceleration & heating while extending the downrange, the ballistic mode results in a steeper trajectory, ~2g’s higher deceleration forces on the crew (7g max instead of 5g), and an undershoot of around ~250 mi. The crew was never in any increased danger, and the SAR (Search & Rescue) personnel did not require any additional time to reach the capsule, which they reportedly had in sight during parachute descent from ~4600m altitude down.]

The ISS crew, currently asleep since ~7:00am EDT, has an unusual day: off-duty with wake-up tomorrow morning at 1:00am & bedtime at 4:30pm (to 1:00am Tuesday).

After Soyuz departure at 3:14am, FE-1 Yuri Malenchenko manually closed the PEV (Pressure Equalization Valve) between the Service Module (SM) and its docking port vestibule and later restored the onboard communications system (STTS) setup which had been configured for Soyuz undocking and descent, including the VHF comm link from the TMA-10 SA to TsUP via RGS (Russian Ground Site).

Peggy Whitson performed the daily maintenance of the SOZh (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) system in the SM, including the ASU toilet facilities systems/replaceables.

Working on the IMS (Inventory Management System), Whitson updated/edited its standard “delta file” on the Russian VKS (Auxiliary Computer System), including locations, for the regular weekly automated export/import to its three databases on the ground (Houston, Moscow, Baikonur).

The new ISS CDR also restored the onboard video configuration in the Lab by disconnecting the UOP DCP (Utility Outlet Panel/Display & Control Panel) bypass power cable from the Lab RWS (Robotics Work Station) which was required for video coverage of the Soyuz departure.

During the undocking, structural dynamics data were taken (and subsequently downlinked via S-band) by the external S0 truss-mounted SDMS (Structural Dynamics Measurement System). [SDMS is ground controlled and can store only about 10 minutes of data before starting to overwrite its buffer; thus, SDMS took data only from 2 minutes prior to 3 minutes after the undocking.]

Shortly before bedtime this morning, Clay Anderson terminated the 24-hr data collection of the heart rate study of the CCISS (Cardiovascular & Cerebrovascular Control on Return from ISS) experiment, downloading the Holter Monitor and Actiwatch data, then stowing the CCISS hardware.

No Science Summary today.

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

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites: http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov (about 700,000 NASA digital photographs of Earth are downloaded by the public each month from this “Gateway” site); http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/AstronautPhotography

STS-120/Discovery Launch Update: The launch window opens Tuesday, 10/23, at 11:33am EDT and closes 10 min later, at 11:43pm. Optimal launch time is 11:38am.

Probability of KSC weather prohibiting 10/23 launch: 40% (cumulus clouds, showers, low-cloud ceiling); Probability of KSC weather prohibiting 10/23 tanking: 10%;

* 24-hour delay:

• Probability of KSC weather prohibiting launch: 40%
• Probability of KSC weather prohibiting tanking: 10%

* 48-hour delay:

• Probability of KSC weather prohibiting launch: 30%
• Probability of KSC weather prohibiting tanking: 10%

• ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 7:48am EDT [= epoch]):
• Mean altitude — 342.2 km
• Apogee height — 344.2 km
• Perigee height — 340.2 km
• Period — 91.38 min.
• Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
• Eccentricity — 0.0002998
• Solar Beta Angle — -34.0 deg (magnitude increasing)
• Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.76
• Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours — 95 m
• Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 51070

Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern, some changes possible):

• 10/23/07 — STS-120/Discovery/10A launch — Node 2 “Harmony”, racks; P6 relocate from Z1 to P5 (11:38am EDT)
• 10/25/07 — STS-120/Discovery/10A docking (FD3/8:35am EDT) 5 EVAs, incl. Node 2 & PMA-2 external preps)
• 10/26 (FD4) — EVA-1 (6:28am-1:08pm; Parazynski/Wheelock)
• 10/26 (FE4) — Node 2 install onto Node 1 (~12:33pm)
• 10/28 (FD6) — EVA-2 (5:58am-12:38pm; Parazynski/Tani)
• 10/28 (FD6) — P6 remove from Z1 truss (~8:13am)
• 10/30 (FD8) — EVA-3 (5:28am-12:38pm; Parazynski/Wheelock)
• 10/30 (FD8) — P6 install on P5 truss (~6:03am)
• 11/01 (FD10) — EVA-4 (4:28am-9:13am; Parazynski/Wheelock)
• 11/02 (FD11) — EVA-5 (3:58am-10:38am; Whitson/Malenchenko)
• 11/04/07 — STS-120/Discovery/10A undocking (FD13/1:34am)
• 11/04/07 — 2:00am: DST ends, ST begins
• 11/06/07 — STS-120/Discovery/10A deorbit burn 3:47am EST
• 11/06/07 — STS-120/Discovery/10A landing @ KSC (FD15/4:50am EST)
• 11/06/07 — PMA-2 relocation to Node 2 (PMA-2 umbilicals stowed on 10A EVA-4)
• 11/08/07 — Node 2 (Harmony) plus PMA-2 relocation to front of Lab
• 11/14/07 — US EVA-10
• 11/18/07 — US EVA-11
• 12/06/07 — STS-122/Atlantis/1E launch — Columbus Module, ICC-Lite
• 12/08/07 — STS-122/Atlantis/1E docking
• 12/15/07 — STS-122/Atlantis/1E undocking
• 12/22/07 — Progress M-61/26P undocking (DC1) & reentry
• 12/23/07 — Progress M-62/27P launch
• 12/25/07 — Progress M-62/27P docking (DC1)
• 01/31/08 — ATV-1 “Jules Verne” launch/Ariane V (Kourou, French Guyana)
• 01/31/08 — 50-Year Anniversary of Explorer 1 (1st U.S. satellite on Redstone rocket)
• 02/06/08 – Progress M-62/27P undocking
• 02/07/08 — Progress M-63/28P launch
• 02/09/08 — Progress M-63/28P docking
• 02/14/08 — ATV-1 docking (SM aft port)
• 02/14/08 — STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A launch/1J/A — SLP-SPDM, JEM ELM-PS
• 02/16/08 — STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A docking
• 02/27/08 — STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A undocking
• 04/08/08 — Soyuz TMA-12/16S launch
• 04/10/08 — Soyuz TMA-12/16S docking (DC1)
• 04/19/08 — Soyuz TMA-11/15S undocking (FGB nadir port)
• 04/23/08 — Soyuz TMA-12/16S relocation (from DC1 to FGB nadir port)
• 04/24/08 — STS-124/Discovery/1J launch – JEM PM “Kibo”, racks, RMS.
• 04/26/08 — STS-124/Discovery/1J docking
• 05/02/08 — STS-124/Discovery/1J undocking
• 05/14/08 — Progress M-64/29P launch
• 05/16/08 — Progress M-64/29P docking (DC1)
• 07/29/08 — ATV-1 undocking (from SM aft port)
• 08/11/08 — Progress M-64/29P undocking (from DC1)
• 08/12/08 — Progress M-65/30P launch
• 08/14/08 — Progress M-65/30P docking (SM aft port)
• 09/13/08 — Progress M-66/31P launch
• 09/15/08 — Progress M-66/31P docking (DC1)
• 09/20/08 — (NET) STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 launch – MPLM(P), LMC
• 10/01/08 — (NET) STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 undocking.
• 10/11/08 — Progress M-65/30P undocking (from SM aft port)
• 10/14/08 — Soyuz TMA-13/17S launch
• 10/16/08 — Soyuz TMA-13/17S docking (SM aft port)
• 04/??/09 — Six-person crew on ISS
• 04/15/09 — Constellation’s Ares I-X Launch.