NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 17 June 2011
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.
FE-5 Furukawa concluded his first NUTRITION w/Repository 24-hr urine collection period, with samples deposited in MELFI. Afterwards, Satoshi underwent the associated generic blood draw, with FE-3 Garan assisting with the phlebotomy as operator. FE-5 then set up the RC (Refrigerated Centrifuge) for spinning the samples prior to stowing them in the MELFI (Minus Eighty Laboratory Freezer for ISS). [The operational products for blood & urine collections for the HRP (Human Research Program) payloads were revised some time ago, based on crew feedback, new cold stowage hardware, and IPV capabilities. Generic blood & urine procedures have been created to allow an individual crewmember to select their payload complement and see specific requirements populated. Individual crewmembers will select their specific parameter in the procedures to reflect their science complement. Different crewmembers will have different required tubes and hardware configurations, so they must verify their choice selection before continuing with operations to ensure their specific instruction.]
For an upcoming ICV (Integrated Cardiovascular) Ambulatory Monitoring session, Satoshi reviewed OBT (Onboard Training) reference material and successively recharged four Power Tool/Makita batteries in their charger throughout the day. The Echo Scan section was not reviewed since the Ultrasound equipment is currently nonfunctional.
Preparatory to his and Ron Garan’s ULF7 spacewalk, Mike Fossum inspected all safety & waist tethers and D-ring extenders in the A/L (Airlock) for structural integrity. Three BRTs (Body restraint Tethers) were checked for loose base mount screws. [Early inspection allows manifesting of new hardware on next flight if required.]
Garan reviewed briefing material on his upcoming installation of the REBR (Re-Entry Breakup Recorder) payload in the ATV2. [REBR is a kind of “black box” for reentry vehicles with a mass of 2 kg and a diameter of about 12 inches, containing GPS, temperature sensors, accelerometers, data recorder & an Iridium modem for taking reentry data and “phoning” them “home”, to be activated just before hatch closure. The first REBR was installed in the JAXA HTV (H-2 Transfer Vehicle).]
Later, Ron performed the periodic manual fill of the WHC (Waste & Hygiene Compartment) EDV-SV (condensate water container) flush water tank from the PWB (Potable Water Bus) for about 21 min (during which WHC was not available).
Satoshi had several hours reserved for ULF7 Pre-packing, i.e., gathering & preparing equipment for the final Shuttle visit STS-135 as the crew discussed with the ground on 6/15. [During Pre-pack the crew packs up items that will not be used before or during ULF7. The ULF7 MPLM (Multi-Purpose Logistics Module) has been modified to carry more cargo than any previous MPLM, and since this is the last Shuttle flight it is very important to get as much un-needed cargo off ISS as possible. During scheduled pre-pack time the crew will work from an uplinked pre-pack list doing any non-constrained items. Staging locations for the pre-packed gear are JLP (JEM Logistics Pressurized Segment) Rack Fronts (prime location), COL (Columbus Orbital Laboratory) D2 Rack Front (for ESA), PMM (Permanent Multipurpose Module), and FGB.]
FE-6 closed the external protective shutters of the Lab, Node-3/Cupola & JPM windows to prevent their contamination from thruster effluents during and after today’s ATV2 reboost (12:21pm).
In the COL (Columbus Orbital Laboratory), Fossum deactivated & uninstalled the ESA DOSIS (Dose Distribution Inside ISS) payload hardware and stowed it temporarily for returning it and its failed DOSTEL1 (Dosimetry Telescope-1) to Earth with ULF7. [DOSIS collected science data with DOSTEL2, installed by Shannon Walker on 11/2/10.]
Afterwards, Mike removed the ER-8 (EXPRESS Rack 8) Locker #4 for return on ULF7 and configured its backplate.
Later, Fossum incorporated new procedures accounting for the SSC (Station Support Computer) transition to vers. 4 software into the onboard SODFs (Station Operations Data Files) by making the appropriate P&I (Pen & Ink) changes plus inserting changeout pages in all 6 copies of the EMER-1 book, from SM (Service Module), MRM1, Soyuz, A/L, Lab, and Node-2.
FE-6 also performed his first session of the new Treadmill Kinematics program on the T2/COLBERT treadmill, setting up the HD camcorder in Node-1, placing tape markers on his body, recording a calibration card in the FOV (Field of View) and then conducting the workout run within a specified speed range. [Purpose of the Kinematics T2 experiment is to collect quantitative data by motion capture from which to assess current exercise prescriptions for participating ISS crewmembers. Detailed biomechanical analyses of locomotion will be used to determine if biomechanics differ between normal and microgravity environments and to determine how combinations of external loads and exercise speed influence joint loading during in-flight treadmill exercise. Such biomechanical analyses will aid in understanding potential differences in gait motion and allow for model-based determination of joint & muscle forces during exercise. The data will be used to characterize differences in specific bone and muscle loading during locomotion in the two gravitational conditions. By understanding these mechanisms, appropriate exercise prescriptions can be developed that address deficiencies.]
In the A/L, Fossum terminated the EVA batteries charging (round 1) in the BSA (Battery Stowage Assembly) for his & Ron’s ULF7 EVA, started by FE-3 on 6/16. [First round of charging involved 4 EHIP (EMU Helmet Interchangeable Portable) light and 4 PGT (Pistol Grip Tool) batteries plus 2 REBAs (Rechargeable EMU Battery Assemblies).]
With ATV2 trash loading complete, Ron Garan had ~2 hrs set aside for taking closeout photos of “Johannes Kepler” for ATV-CC (Control Center) to review along with the IMS (Inventory Management System) to determine if the European cargo craft is in a good config for undock. A one-hour C.G. (Center of Gravity) stowage correction placeholder is timelined tomorrow if needed. [Photography covered each rack sector and was then downloaded on an SSC for downlink.]
Afterwards, Ron reconfigured the MELFI-1 by removing quarter box modules from Dewar 3, Tray B/Section 3,4 and Tray D/Section 3,4 and instead inserting a half box module in each empty location.
FE-3 also filled out his 7th weekly FFQ (Food Frequency Questionnaire) on the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer). [On the FFQs, NASA astronauts keep a personalized log of their nutritional intake over time on special MEC software. Recorded are the amounts consumed during the past week of such food items as beverages, cereals, grains, eggs, breads, snacks, sweets, fruit, beans, soup, vegetables, dairy, fish, meat, chicken, sauces & spreads, and vitamins. The FFQ is performed once a week to estimate nutrient intake from the previous week and to give recommendations to ground specialists that help maintain optimal crew health. Weekly estimation has been verified to be reliable enough that nutrients do not need to be tracked daily.]
Working from a Central Post SSC laptop in the SM with the proper OBT course installed, FE-1 Samokutyayev & FE-4 Volkov took a 45 min training exercise of ATV Undock & Departure procedures, including 5 min of joint crew debrief. [The OBT involved a refresher for the crew on the ATV Undocking & Departure sequence and a review of the ODF (Operations Data File) “ATV Rendezvous, Docking & Undocking IRS.3”.]
Satoshi Furukawa & Mike Fossum had ~30 min for the standard Shuttle RPM (R-bar Pitch Maneuver) skill training, using NIKON D2Xs digital still cameras with 800mm & 400mm lenses for taking practice shots of CEO (Crew Earth Observation) ground features from SM windows #6 or #8 with images having 40-50% overlap and about 20 images in each sequence, using manual focus only. Mike later downlinked the photos. [The RPM drill prepares crewmembers for the bottom-side mapping of the Orbiter at the arrival of the next Shuttle, STS-135/Atlantis/ULF7, to be launched 7/8. During the RPM at ~600 ft from the station, the “shooters” have only ~90 seconds for taking high-resolution digital photographs of all tile areas and door seals on Atlantis, to be downlinked for launch debris assessment. Thus, time available for the shooting will be very limited, requiring great coordination between the two headset-equipped photographers and the Shuttle pilot.]
To recover the wired SSC-2 laptop which failed yesterday (6/16), FE-3 Garan swapped its hard drive with a new spare and reloaded it from the LIS (Load Image Server).
Afterwards, Ron completed the SSC laptop transition to/reloading with software v.4 (SSCV4) activities by replacing the SSC-6, -9 & -13 IBM A31p laptops with the new Lenovo T61p machines and reloading them from LIS. The old machines were restowed.
Andrey Borisenko conducted the routine daily servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM. [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 filling EDV-SV, KOV (for Elektron), EDV-ZV & EDV on RP flow regulator.]
The three new 27S crewmembers again had about an hour of free time for general orientation (adaptation, station familiarization & acclimatization) as is standard daily rule for fresh crewmembers for the first two weeks after starting residence, if they choose to take it.
At ~4:45am EDT, Samokutyayev, Borisenko & Volkov linked up with TsUP-Moscow stowage specialists via S-band to conduct the weekly IMS tagup, discussing inventory & stowage issues, equipment locations and cargo transfers.
At ~5:00am, the six crewmembers held the regular (nominally weekly) tagup with the Russian Flight Control Team (GOGU/Glavnaya operativnaya gruppa upravleniya), including Shift Flight Director (SRP), at TsUP-Moscow via S-band/audio, phone-patched from Houston and Moscow.
At ~6:30am, Sasha, Sergei & Andrey joined for a Russian PAO TV downlink, transmitting messages of greetings to two events:- (1) to residents and guests of Chuvashia (Republic of Chuvash) on their “Day of the Republic” celebration on 6/24, and (2) to the young specialists conference “New materials and technologies of aerospace industry” held by Roskosmos on 6/22-6/24. [Chuvashia is the birthplace of three cosmonauts: Andrian Grigorievich Nikolaev, Musa Khiromanovich Manarov & Nikolai Mikhailovich Budarin. Chuvashia keeps the memory of space pioneers alive with great effort, to promote achievements of national cosmonautics, to educate the younger generation in the spirit of serving their country. The memorial to A. G. Nikolaev, twice Hero of the USSR, was built in Shorshely (Light Springs) village, where Cosmonaut-3 was born. The Baikonur-Cheboksary Cosmonautics Association has created a Baikonur micro community in Cheboksary with a main street bearing the name of Academician Sergey Pavlovich Korolev, and a St. George’s chapel, to honor space pioneers. There are 55 units of young cosmonauts in the Chuvash Republic.]
At ~11:05am, Ron Garan supported an Educational PAO event, responding to questions from 5-8th grade students from Otsego County/Oneonta City School District, SUNY Oneonta faculty and Oneonta Job Corps Academy students at SUNY (State University of New York), Oneonta, NY. [For the downlink Ron used the G1 HD (high definition) PAO video camera which he later switched off again.]
At ~4:05pm, the six crewmembers are scheduled for their regular weekly tagup with the Lead Flight Director at JSC/MCC-Houston.
Before “Presleep” period tonight, Garan will power on the MPC (Multi-Protocol Converter) and start the data flow of video recorded during the day to the ground, with POIC (Payload Operations & Integration Center) routing the onboard HRDL (High-Rate Data Link). After about an hour, MPC will be turned off again. [This is a routine operation which regularly transmits HD onboard video (live or tape playback) to the ground on a daily basis before sleeptime.]
The crew worked out with their regular 2-hr physical exercise protocol on the CEVIS cycle ergometer with vibration isolation (FE-3, FE-5), ARED advanced resistive exercise device (FE-1, FE-3, FE-5, FE-6), T2/COLBERT advanced treadmill (CDR, FE-1, FE-4, FE-6), and VELO ergometer bike with load trainer (CDR, FE-4).
ISS Reboost Update: Today’s third ISS reboost by ATV2 was performed on time (12:21pm), again with outstanding precision. Burn duration was 26 min 53 sec, resulting in a delta-V of 3.96 m/s (13 ft/s). Mean altitude gain: 6.9 km (3.7 nmi). ISS now is at a mean altitude of 381 km (206 nmi), with 384 km (207.4 nmi) apogee & 379.1 km (204.7 nmi) perigee height. ISS has never been this high above the Earth. Purpose of the ATV reboosts was to deplete ATV2 of remaining propellants and set up phasing for Progress 43P and ULF7.
CEO (Crew Earth Observation) targets uplinked today were Polar Mesospheric Clouds over North America. [Current daylight-awake orbit tracks have transitioned into a seasonal pattern in which they temporarily parallel the terminator. Consequently most of the nadir views of CEO target areas fall below the criteria for illumination, with darkness to the right of track and adequate lighting left of track. Today none of the standard target areas has sufficient illumination. This condition is expected to persist for the next 7-10 days. Meanwhile, CEO researchers are continuing to look for dynamic events targets for which oblique views to left of track may be useful or nighttime targets. Auroral activity in the Northern Hemisphere has spiked recently with the dramatic solar flare on 6/7. May-June is also the seasonal peak period for observing noctilucent clouds (a.k.a. polar mesospheric clouds) in the Northern Hemisphere.]
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time and subject to change):
————–Six-crew operations————-
06/20/11 — ATV-2 “Johannes Kepler” undock (SM aft) – 10:48:21am EDT
06/21/11 – ATV-2 “Johannes Kepler” deorbit burn #2 – ~4:05pm (ocean impact: ~4:52pm)
06/21/11 — Progress M-11M/43P (#411) launch – 10:38:18am
06/23/11 — Progress M-11M/43P docking (SM aft) ~12:35pm
07/08/11 — STS-135/Atlantis launch ULF7 (MPLM) – 11:26:46am
07/10/11 — STS-135/Atlantis docking ULF7 (MPLM) ~11:09am
07/18/11 — STS-135/Atlantis undock ULF7 (MPLM) – 1:59pm
07/20/11 — STS-135/Atlantis landing KSC ~7:07am
07/27/11 — Russian EVA #29
08/29/11 — Progress M-11M/43P undocking
08/30/11 — Progress M-12M/44P launch
09/01/11 — Progress M-12M/44P docking (SM aft)
09/16/11 – Soyuz TMA-21/26S undock/landing (End of Increment 28)
————–Three-crew operations————-
09/30/11 — Soyuz TMA-03M/28S launch – D.Burbank (CDR-30)/A.Shkaplerov/A.Ivanishin
10/02/11 – Soyuz TMA-03M/28S docking (MRM2)
————–Six-crew operations————-
10/25/11 — Progress M-10M/42P undocking
10/26/11 — Progress M-13M/45P launch10/28/11 — Progress M-13M/45P docking (DC-1)
11/16/11 — Soyuz TMA-02M/27S undock/landing (End of Increment 29)
————–Three-crew operations————-
11/30/11 — Soyuz TMA-04M/29S launch – O.Kononenko (CDR-31)/A.Kuipers/D.Pettit
12/02/11 — Soyuz TMA-04M/29S docking (MRM1)
————–Six-crew operations—————-
12/26/11 — Progress M-13M/45P undock
12/27/11 — Progress M-14M/46P launch
12/29/11 — Progress M-14M/46P docking (DC-1)
02/29/12 — ATV3 launch readiness
03/05/12 — Progress M-12M/44P undock
03/16/12 — Soyuz TMA-03M/28S undock/landing (End of Increment 30)
————–Three-crew operations————-
03/30/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/30S launch – G.Padalka (CDR-32)/J.Acaba/K.Volkov
04/01/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/30S docking (MRM2)
————–Six-crew operations—————-
05/05/12 — 3R Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM) w/ERA – launch on Proton (under review)
05/06/12 — Progress M-14M/46P undock
05/07/12 — 3R Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM) – docking (under review)
05/16/12 — Soyuz TMA-04M/29S undock/landing (End of Increment 31)
————–Three-crew operations————-
05/29/12 – Soyuz TMA-06M/31S launch – S.Williams (CDR-33)/Y.Malenchenko/A.Hoshide
05/31/12 – Soyuz TMA-06M/31S docking
————–Six-crew operations—————-
09/18/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/30S undock/landing (End of Increment 32)
————–Three-crew operations————-
10/02/12 — Soyuz TMA-07M/32S launch – K.Ford (CDR-34)/O.Novitskiy/E.Tarelkin
10/04/12 – Soyuz TMA-07M/32S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
11/16/12 — Soyuz TMA-06M/31S undock/landing (End of Increment 33)
————–Three-crew operations————-
11/30/12 — Soyuz TMA-08M/33S launch – C.Hadfield (CDR-35)/T.Mashburn/R.Romanenko
12/02/12 – Soyuz TMA-08M/33S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
03/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-07M/32S undock/landing (End of Increment 34)
————–Three-crew operations————-
03/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-09M/34S launch – P.Vinogradov (CDR-36)/C.Cassidy/A.Misurkin
03/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-09M/34S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
05/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-08M/33S undock/landing (End of Increment 35)
————–Three-crew operations————-
05/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-10M/35S launch – M.Suraev (CDR-37)/K.Nyberg/L.Parmitano
05/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-10M/35S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
09/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-09M/34S undock/landing (End of Increment 36)
————–Three-crew operations————-
09/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-11M/36S launch – M.Hopkins/TBD (CDR-38)/TBD
09/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-11M/36S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
11/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-10M/35S undock/landing (End of Increment 37)
————–Three-crew operations————-
11/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-12M/37S launch – K.Wakata (CDR-39)/R.Mastracchio/TBD
11/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-12M/37S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
03/xx/14 – Soyuz TMA-11M/36S undock/landing (End of Increment 38)
————–Three-crew operations————-
