NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 18 December 2008
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Sleep cycle shifting begins tonight for EVA-21 by moving 90 min to the left, i.e., from 4:30pm to 3:00pm. Wakeup tonight: 11:30pm EST.
Yuri Lonchakov performed the periodic maintenance of the active Russian BMP (Harmful Impurities Removal System) by terminating the "bake-out" cycle to vacuum on absorbent bed #1 of the regenerable dual-channel filtration system and starting it on bed #2. The process will be closed down at ~2:45pm EST. [Regeneration of each of the two cartridges takes about 12 hours and is conducted normally only during crew awake periods except for last night. The BMP’s regeneration cycle is currently done every 20 days (last time done: 11/28-29).]
Working in the DC1 Docking Compartment, CDR Fincke & FE-1 Lonchakov continued preparations for tomorrow’s suited dry-run and the EVA-21 spacewalk on 12/22 (Monday), by –
- Performing pressure checks on the portable O2 tanks (BK-3) and portable air repress bottles (BNP),
- Conducting BRTA (radio telemetry unit) checkouts for the Orlans & BSS interface units,
- Setting up Orlan BRTK “Korona” comm configuration, running voice checks and testing medical parameter acquisition of the BETA-08 ECG (electrocardiograph) harnesses with the “Gamma-1M” med complex from the PKO med exam panel for vital signs & equipment monitoring,
- Installing US EMU (Extravehicular Mobility Unit) lights and one wireless video camera (for Yuri) on the Orlan-M suits,
- Installing Orlan attached hardware (OTA) plus taking photos of the outfitted Orlans for downlink (OTA equipment includes: right-hand swing arm with tool caddy, small trash bag, SWG space launch project stop watch, promotional OMEGA watches, wire ties, tethers, camera, wrench and cutters),
- Preparing auxiliary NASA equipment to be used in Orlan plus taking photos of the outfitted Orlans for downlink,
- Mounting the Fresnel lens viewing aid in the helmets,
- Filling the DIDBs (disposable in-suit drink bags) and installing them in the suits,
- Unstowing EVA emergency first-aid medical packs and stowing them in the DC1, and
- Testing the proper function of the hatch pressure equalization valve (PEV; Russian: KVD) from the POV panels in the SM PkhO (Service Module Transfer Compartment) and DC1.
[The checkouts of the Orlan “Korona” communication links, which include VHF/voice and biomedical electrode belt and telemetry hookups via the BSS (after egress to be switched to the wireless in-suit radio telemetry system Tranzit-B), showed a failed voice link in the current hard-wired onboard configuration. Troubleshooting by TsUP-Moscow and crew is underway.]
Additionally, the FE-1 worked on the second unit of the EXPOSE-R payload, securing its exposed bolts with Aramide tape for safety during egress and translation to its external installation site.
In the DC1, Yuri configured two connectors on the PPS-1 payload panel for the OBSTANOVKA (Environment) payload by covering them with protective caps. [The GFI-11/OBSTANOVKA payload, along with the IMPULSE experiment, will be installed externally for using ionosphere probes and a pulsed plasma source to make scientific measurements of ionosphere parameters and plasma-wave characteristics.]
The three crewmembers had 1h set aside for reviewing flight procedures and DC1 airlock operations for the spacewalk. [Egress is currently scheduled for 7:15pm EST on 12/22, with ingress expected at ~1:25am on 12/23. EV1/Lonchakov will wear Orlan #26 with blue stripe, EV2/Fincke Orlan #27 with red stripe. During the EVA, all hatches in the USOS (US Segment) will remain open, and FE-2 Magnus will be able to move freely about the cabin, including the FGB. The toilet in the Soyuz, docked at the FGB nadir port, will be On. The SM PkhO hatches will be closed, separating the SM from the rest of the ISS in order to serve as a backup airlock to the DC1. SM systems will be powered down (Vozdukh, Elektron, SKV/air conditioner, ASU/toilet). In the USOS, CDRA (Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly) will be on standby and TCCS (Trace Contaminant Control System) will be powered down. The Lab RWS (Robotics Workstation) will be On so that video from the WVS (Wireless Video System) and outboard cameras (P1LOOB/P1 Lower Outboard, S1LOOB, P1LOIB/P1 Lower Inboard) can be piped in for Sandy’s viewing.]
Since the WHC (Waste & Hygiene Compartment), while being now fully functional, is currently on hold pending installation of the privacy enclosure, CDR Fincke reconfigured the UPA (Urine Processor Assembly) for receiving urine from a Russian EDV-U container instead of the WHC (by disconnecting the WHC urine jumper and replacing it with an EDV transfer hose), then filled the WSTA with pretreated urine.
Sandra Magnus meanwhile conducted the T+2d inflight microbiology analyses for the samples collected on 12/16 from the PWD (Potable Water Dispenser) Ambient plus SVO-ZV and SRV-K Warm taps. [Sandy reported “yellow” for Coliform (= Negative) and “purple colonies” in the MCD (Microbial Capture Device), i.e., about 85 tiny dots. Pictures were taken.]
The FE-1 collected the periodic readings of potentially harmful atmospheric contaminants in the SM, using the CMS (Countermeasure System), a component of the SKDS GANK-4M Real-Time Harmful Contaminant Gas Analyzer suite, today using preprogrammed microchips to measure for o-Xylol (1,2-Dimethylbenzol, C8H10) and Methyl-Mercaptan (Methanethiol, CH4S).
The FE-2 had 2.5 hrs on her timeline for Part 1 of deploying and checking out the first Crew Quarter (CQ) rack in Node-2, Port 5 (NOD2P5). [For the initial rotation of the rack away from the wall, Mike Fincke provided assistance. Sandy then proceeded to make cable connections and to apply power. Telemetry states and verification of correct wiring connections were later to be made remotely by MCC-H controllers. Each of the two CQs, which arrived on ULF2, has a speaker installed which connects to the Node-2 ATUs (Audio Terminal Units) via the CQ patch panel. Preflight ground testing has uncovered major audio feedback issues when trying to transmit within ~4 ft of the CQ speaker which, however, can be used for C&W (Caution & Warning) alarm and S/G (Space-to-Ground) monitoring purposes until the problem is fixed.]
Magnus performed maintenance on two HRDs (High Rate Dosimeters) by replacing their AAA batteries with fresh ones from the battery “pantry” (four AAAs per unit). [Batteries are replaced in both units yearly to ensure the HRDs are ready to be used in a contingency situation.]
The FE-2 also completed the weekly 10-min. CWC (Contingency Water Container) inventory as part of on-going WRM (Water Recovery & Management) assessment of onboard water supplies. Updated “cue cards” based on the crew’s water calldowns are sent up every other week. [The current card (18-0006G), to be updated, lists 39 CWCs (~1,272.9 L total) for the four types of water identified on board: technical water (695.8 L, for Elektron electrolysis), potable water (530.4 L, incl. 174.6 L currently off-limit because of Wautersia bacteria), condensate water (0.0 L), waste/EMU dump and other (46.7 L). Wautersia bacteria are typical water-borne microorganisms that have been seen previously in ISS water sources. These isolates pose no threat to human health.]
The station residents conducted their regular daily 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, FE-1), and RED resistive exercise device (FE-2).
Sandy completed the routine daily servicing of the SM’s SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS). [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 performing US condensate processing (transfer from CWC to EDV containers) if condensate is available.]
At ~4:45am EST, the crew held the regular (nominally weekly) tagup with the Russian Flight Control Team (GOGU), including Shift Flight Director (SRP), at TsUP via S-band/audio, phone-patched from Houston and Moscow.
At ~7:07am, the CDR powered up the SM’s amateur radio equipment (Kenwood VHF transceiver with manual frequency selection, headset, & power supply) and conducted, at 7:12am, a ham radio session with Scuola Elementare Faleriense “Gianni Rodari”, Porto S. Elpidio, Italy. [The school “Gianni Rodari” is located in Porto Sant’Elpidio, a small town in Southern Italy. It is situated on the shore of the Adriatic Sea, 50 km away from Ancona and 30 km from the city of San Benedetto del Tronto. “Gianni Rodari” is a big primary school including a kindergarten. The school offers practical courses and projects such as the radio contact with the ISS. Questions to Mike were uplinked beforehand. “How are you?”; “What’s your name and how old are you?”; “How long are you already onboard the ISS on this mission?”; “What do you feel during takeoff?”; “Are you afraid of anything during your stay onboard the ISS?”; “When did you decide to become an astronaut?”; “Did you have good marks at school?”; “What do you see right now when you look through the window of your spaceship?”; “What exactly is a black hole?”; “Do you see any planet from the spaceship?”; “What does the spaceship inside look like?”]
KURS Testing: Tonight at ~10:14pm EST, TsUP-Moscow will conduct tests of the automated radio flight system KURS-P (on SM) and KURS-A (on Progress 31P) in loop, for one and two strings. Necessary pre-test activities include turning on SM KURS heaters, activating KURS antennas and frequency generator heaters, BITS2-12 onboard telemetry measurement system, US-22 matching unit and the CSB KURS Approach Test Program.
Conjunction Update: Last night’s (11:46pm EST) conjunction with space debris (Object 29406, SL-12 rocket) did not require crew action (taking temporary refuge in the Soyuz spacecraft), although notification had been received too late for a DAM (Debris Avoidance Maneuver). Miss distance, determined ~4.1 hrs before TCA (Time of Closest Approach), was 18.8 km.
CEO (Crew Earth Observations) photo target uplinked for today was Mumbai, India Aerosol (looking to the right of track for aerosol plumes associated with the Mumbai metropolitan area. Mumbai is India’s largest city, and one of the world’s largest megacities. Looking for stratification or color changes within the atmosphere over Mumbai – photography of these features are useful for analysis of urban atmospheric and pollution dynamics. Sulfur-rich industrial smog appears lighter and gray when seen on the limb, and black carbon from urban fires and diesel oil burning appear as more yellow, red and brown layers).
CEO photography can be studied at this “Gateway” website:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov (as of 9/1/08, this database contained 770,668 views of the Earth from space, with 324,812 from the ISS alone).
ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 8:39am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude — 354.2 km
Apogee height — 359.4 km
Perigee height — 349.0 km
Period — 91.62 min.
Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
Eccentricity — 0.0007727
Solar Beta Angle — -65.1 deg (magnitude decreasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.72
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours — 155 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 57754
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time, some changes possible!):
12/19/08 — Russian EVA-21 Suited Exercise (wake 11:30pm 12/18; sleep 3:00pm 12/19);
12/22/08 — Russian EVA-21 (wake 9:30am; hatch opening ~7:15pm; ingress 1:25am 12/23; sleep 7:10am);
02/09/09 — Progress M-01M/31P undocking & deorbit
02/10/09 — Progress 32P launch
02/12/09 — Progress 32P docking
02/12/09 — STS-119/Endeavour/15A launch – S6 truss segment
02/14/09 — STS-119/Endeavour/15A docking
02/24/09 — STS-119/Endeavour/15A undocking
02/26/09 — STS-119/Endeavour/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 32P undocking & deorbit
05/12/09 — STS-125/Atlantis Hubble Space Telescope Service Mission 4 (SM4)
05/15/09 — STS-127/Endeavour/2J/A launch – JEM EF, ELM-ES, ICC-VLD
05/27/09 — Soyuz TMA-15/19S launch
Six-person crew on ISS
08/06/09 — STS-128/Discovery/17A – MPLM (P), LMC, last crew rotation
08/XX/09 — Soyuz 5R/MRM2 (Russian Mini Research Module, MIM2) on Soyuz
09/XX/09 — H-IIB (JAXA HTV-1)
11/12/09 — STS-129/Atlantis/ULF3 – ELC1, ELC2
12/10/09 — STS-130/Endeavour/20A – Node-3 + Cupola
02/11/10 — STS-131/Atlantis/19A – MPLM(P), LMC
04/08/10 — STS-132/Discovery/ULF4 – ICC-VLD, MRM1
05/31/10 — STS-133/Endeavour/ULF5 – ELC3, ELC4
12/XX/11– Proton 3R/MLM w/ERA.
