NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 11 May 2008
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Sunday – crew off duty. Ahead: Week 4 of Increment 17.
CDR Volkov conducted the routine maintenance of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the Service Module (SM), including ASU toilet facilities systems/replaceables, the weekly collection of the toilet flush (SP) counter and water supply (SVO) readings for calldown to TsUP and today also the periodic cleaning of the pre-filter of the POTOK air filtration system. [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists of replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers, replacement of an EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine container, and processing U.S. condensate water as it becomes available in a filled CWC from the Lab humidifier.]
FE-2 Reisman performed the periodic offloading of the Lab CCAA (Common Cabin Air Assembly) dehumidifier’s condensate tank, filling a CWC (Contingency Water Container, #1062) with the collected water slated for processing. No samples were required. [Transferred quantity is determined by allowing tank and CWC equalize with each other. Tank quantity stabilizes at a value higher than the neutral point.]
Garrett Reisman also unstowed and set up the PFE-OUM (PFE-Oxygen Uptake Measurement) equipment on the HRF-2 (Human Research Facility 2) rack, including the HRF PFM/PAM (Pulmonary Function Module/Photoacoustic Analyzer Module), Mixing Bag System and GDS (Gas Delivery System), for his second PFE-OUM protocol session tomorrow. [The PFE-OUM experiment, using the CEVIS ergometer for workout, demonstrates the capability of crewmembers to perform periodic fitness evaluations with continuous oxygen consumption measurements within 14 days after arrival on ISS, and once monthly during routine PFEs. Once the capability of the pulmonary function system (PFS) to perform PFEs is verified, crewmembers will be able to integrate their monthly PFE with oxygen consumption measurements to fulfill the requirement for cardiovascular fitness evaluations during long-duration space flight.]
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 (FE-2), TVIS treadmill (CDR), RED resistive exerciser (CDR, FE-1 FE-2) and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1). [The RED, as an anaerobic muscle exerciser, allows a variety of routines: squat, heel raises, bent-over rowing, abdominal crunches, deadlift, bench presses, upright rowing, etc. For Sergey & Oleg, who are using RED three times a week, each session features four different routines which vary from day to day to target different muscle groups.]
Working off the discretionary “time permitting” task list, Sergey Volkov completed another EKON KPT-3 session, making observations and taking aerial photography of environmental conditions for Russia’s Environmental Safety Agency (EKON) using the Nikon D2X digital camera with SIGMA 300-800mm telephoto lens.
Also from the suggestions list, Kononenko performed a session of the Russian GFI-8 "Uragan" (hurricane) earth-imaging program, using the D2X to take telephotos of the Chaiten volcano eruption in Chile and of the Kuril Islands in nadir.
A third job on the discretionary task list was Oleg’s second run of the Russian DZZ-2 "Diatomeya" ocean observations program, using the NIKON F-5 digital still camera with 80-200 mm lens and the SONY PD-150P camcorder from SM windows 7 & 8 to record color bloom patterns in the ocean, sudden changes in cloud cover pattern, swirls, wakes of subsurface waves (sections of parallel bands), water level drop, and smoothing lanes in wave fields. [Targets today in the North Atlantic were the Newfoundland Island coastline, West Saharan offshore areas, US coastal area, Amazon river runoff and offshore area of Brazil.]
At ~1:25pm EDT, Reisman had for his weekly PFC (Private Family Conference) via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on an SSC laptop). [Main topic for today’s phone chat undoubtedly was Mother’s Day.]
Tonight, Garrett will start his last required overnight run with the SLEEP experiment (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight), consisting of data logging on the HRF-1 laptop within 15 minutes of awakening for 7 consecutive days, as carried for him on the voluntary “job jar” task list. Any additional SLEEP logging after fulfilling the required week’s readings will be appreciated by the PI (Principal Investigator). [To allow ground study of his sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Garrett 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.]
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, 7:43am EDT [= epoch]):
Mean altitude — 341.1 km
Apogee height — 345.5 km
Perigee height — 336.7 km
Period — 91.36 min.
Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
Eccentricity — 0.0006526
Solar Beta Angle — 27.6 deg (magnitude decreasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.76
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours — 46 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 54273
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time, some changes possible.):
05/14/08 — Progress M-64/29P launch (4:23pm EDT)
05/16/08 — Progress M-64/29P docking/FGB nadir (5:38pm)
05/31/08 — STS-124/Discovery/1J launch – JEM PM “Kibo”, racks, RMS (5:02pm EDT)
06/02/08 — STS-124/Discovery/1J docking
06/14/08 — STS-124/Discovery landing (KSC: ~11:02am EDT)
07/10/08 — Russian EVA-20 (7/10-11)
??/??/08 — STS-125/Atlantis Hubble Space Telescope Service Mission 4 (SM4)
09/05/08 — ATV1 undocking
09/09/08 — Progress M-64/29P undocking (from DC1)
09/10/08 — Progress M-65/30P launch
09/12/08 — Progress M-65/30P docking
10/01/08 — NASA 50 Years
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 (SM aft port)
10/16/08 — STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 launch – MPLM Leonardo, LMC
10/18/08 — STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 docking
10/23/08 — Soyuz TMA-12/16S undocking (FGB nadir)
11/03/08 — Soyuz TMA-13/17S relocation (from SM aft to FGB nadir)
11/20/08 — ISS 10 Years
11/26/08 — Progress M-66/31P launch
11/28/08 — Progress M-66/31P docking
12/04/08 — STS-119/Discovery/15A launch – S6 truss segment
12/06/08 — STS-119/Discovery/15A docking
12/15/08 — STS-119/Discovery/15A undocking
2QTR CY09 — STS-127/2J/A launch – JEM EF, ELM-ES, ICC-VLD
3QTR CY09 — STS-128/17A/Atlantis – MPLM(P), last crew rotation
05/??/09 — Six-person crew on ISS (following Soyuz 18S-2 docking)
3QTR CY09 — STS-129/ULF3/Discovery – ELC1, ELC2
4QTR CY09 — STS-130/20A/Endeavour – Node-3 + Cupola
1QTR CY10 — STS-131/19A/Atlantis – MPLM(P)
1QTR CY10 — STS-132/ULF4/Discovery – ICC-VLD, MRM1 (contingency)
2QTR CY10 — STS-133/ULF5/Endeavour – ELC3, ELC4 (contingency).
