NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 18 March 2012
>>>Today 47 years ago (1965), Soviet Cosmonaut Aleksey Leonov became the first human to leave an orbiting spacecraft for a spacewalk (EVA/Extravehicular Activity), egressing from the Voskhod-2 capsule by means of an inflatable airlock and floating in space on a 5.35m tether for 12 min 9 sec. In the vacuum, Aleksey’s spacesuit ballooned so much that he was unable to squeeze back into the cabin to rejoin his crewmate Pavel Belyayev. Risking DCS (decompression sickness, “the bends”), Leonov partially deflated the suit until he was able to get back in – headfirst instead of feet first as trained. There was more: After an unexplained pressure drop in the cabin pressurization tanks made an earlier return necessary, the automatic solar orientation system malfunctioned, and the crew, for the first time, had to perform a manual deorbit and landing. Touchdown was in deep snow in the taiga of the Northern Ural where Aleksey & Pavel spent two nights while a race developed between rescue teams, primarily for the prestige. Using a track laid down by rescuers with cross-country skis, the crew finally reached a helicopter and returned to Moscow, on the same day when Gus Grissom & John Young completed their 5-hr flight on Gemini-III.<<<
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Sunday – Crew off duty. Ahead: Week 17 of Increment 30 (six-person crew).
After breakfast, FE-2 Ivanishin performed the routine inspection of the SM (Service Module) PSS Caution & Warning panel as part of regular Daily Morning Inspection.
FE-1 Shkaplerov completed the routine daily servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM and FGB. [This included the weekly collection of the toilet flush (SP) counter and water supply (SVO) readings for calldown to TsUP-Moscow, as well as the weekly checkup on the Russian POTOK-150MK (150 micron) air filter unit of the SM’s & FGB’s SOGS air revitalization subsystem, gathering weekly data on total operating time & “On” durations for calldown. SOZh servicing includes checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers.]
Before sleeptime, FE-4 Kononenko will initiate battery charging for the Russian GFI-8 “Uragan” (hurricane) earth-imaging program with FSS science hardware. [The FSS system consists of an image recording module with lens and a spectroradiometer module with an electronics module. FSS includes the ME Electronics Module & MRI Image Recording Module.]
CDR & FE-6 are scheduled for their weekly PFCs (Private Family Conferences), via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on an SSC laptop), Don at ~11:20am, Dan at ~4:20pm EDT.
At ~7:20am, Burbank powered up the SM’s amateur radio equipment (Kenwood VHF transceiver with manual frequency selection, headset, & power supply) and at 7:30am conducted ham radio session with students at Istituto Tecnologico Statale Trasporti e Logistica “Leone Acciaiuoli” Ortona, Italy.
The crew worked out with their regular 2-hr physical exercise protocol on the CEVIS cycle ergometer with vibration isolation (CDR, FE-6), TVIS treadmill with vibration isolation & stabilization (FE-1, FE-2, FE-4), ARED advanced resistive exerciser (CDR, FE-4, FE-5, FE-6), T2/COLBERT advanced treadmill (FE-5) and VELO ergometer bike with load trainer (FE-1, FE-2). [FE-6 is on the special experimental SPRINT protocol which diverts from the regular 2.5 hrs per day exercise regime and introduces special daily sessions, followed by a USND (Ultrasound) leg muscle self scan in COL. Today’s exercise called for CEVIS, with ARED+T2, T2, ARED+T2 & CEVIS, following in the next 4 days. If any day is not completed, Don picks up where he left off, i.e., he would be finishing out the week with his last day of exercise on his off day.]
Tasks listed for Shkaplerov, Kononenko & Ivanishin on the Russian discretionary “time permitting” job for today were –
– A ~30-min. run of the GFI-8 “Uragan” (hurricane) earth-imaging program with the NIKON D3X digital camera with Sigma AF 300-800mm telelens, focusing on the Allalin Glacier, Kolka Glacier, Laganakskoe plateau, Krasnaya Polyana and the volcanoes Cleveland, Arenal, Poas & Galeras,
– A 10-min. photography session for the DZZ-13 “Seiner” ocean observation program, obtaining HDV (Z1) camcorder footage of color bloom patterns in the waters of the Central-Eastern Atlantic, then copying the images to the RSK-1 laptop,
– A ~30-min. session for Russia’s EKON Environmental Safety Agency, making observations and taking KPT-3 aerial photography of environmental conditions on Earth using the NIKON D3X camera with the RSK-1 laptop, and
– More preparation & downlinking of reportages (written text, photos, videos) for the Roskosmos website to promote Russia’s manned space program (max. file size 500 Mb).
No CEO (Crew Earth Observation) targets uplinked for today.
ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 7:21am EDT [= epoch])
Mean altitude – 389.5 km
Apogee height – 400.8 km
Perigee height – 378.3 km
Period — 92.35 min.
Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
Eccentricity — 0.0016609
Solar Beta Angle — -34.1 deg (magnitude decreasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.59
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours — 110 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 76,387
Time in orbit (station) — 4867 days
Time in orbit (crews, cum.) — 4154 days
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time and subject to change):
————–Six-crew operations—————-
03/23/12 — ATV3 launch (12:34am EDT)
03/28/12 — ATV3 docking (~6:34pm EDT)
04/19/12 — Progress M-14M/46P undock
04/20/12 — Progress M-15M/47P launch
04/22/12 — Progress M-15M/47P docking
04/30/12 — SpaceX Dragon launch (12:22pm EDT; target date)
04/30/12 — Soyuz TMA-22/28S undock/landing (End of Increment 30)
————–Three-crew operations————-
05/15/12 — Soyuz TMA-04M/30S launch – G.Padalka (CDR-32)/J.Acaba/S.Revin
05/17/12 — Soyuz TMA-04M/30S docking (MRM2)
————–Six-crew operations—————-
07/01/12 — Soyuz TMA-03M/29S undock/landing (End of Increment 31)
————–Three-crew operations————-
07/15/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/31S launch – S.Williams (CDR-33)/Y.Malenchenko/A.Hoshide
07/17/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/31S docking
07/31/12 — Progress M16M/48P launch
08/02/12 — Progress M16M/48P docking
————–Six-crew operations—————-
09/17/12 — Soyuz TMA-04M/30S undock/landing (End of Increment 32)
————–Three-crew operations————-
10/15/12 — Soyuz TMA-06M/32S launch – K.Ford (CDR-34)/O.Novitskiy/E.Tarelkin
10/17/12 — Soyuz TMA-06M/32S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
11/01/12 — Progress M-17M/49P launch
11/03/12 — Progress M-17M/49P docking
11/12/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/31S undock/landing (End of Increment 33)
————–Three-crew operations————-
12/05/12 — Soyuz TMA-07M/33S launch – C.Hadfield (CDR-35)/T.Mashburn/R.Romanenko
12/07/12 — Soyuz TMA-07M/33S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
12/26/12 — Progress M-18M/50P launch
12/28/12 — Progress M-18M/50P docking
03/19/13 — Soyuz TMA-06M/32S undock/landing (End of Increment 34)
————–Three-crew operations————-
04/02/13 — Soyuz TMA-08M/34S launch – P.Vinogradov (CDR-36)/C.Cassidy/A.Misurkin
04/04/13 — Soyuz TMA-08M/34S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
05/16/13 — Soyuz TMA-07M/33S undock/landing (End of Increment 35)
————–Three-crew operations————-
05/29/13 — Soyuz TMA-09M/35S launch – M.Suraev (CDR-37)/K.Nyberg/L.Parmitano
05/31/13 — Soyuz TMA-09M/35S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
09/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-08M/34S undock/landing (End of Increment 36)
————–Three-crew operations————-
09/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-10M/36S launch – M.Hopkins/TBD (CDR-38)/TBD
09/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-10M/36S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
11/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-09M/35S undock/landing (End of Increment 37)
————–Three-crew operations————-
11/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-11M/37S launch – K.Wakata (CDR-39)/R.Mastracchio/TBD
11/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-11M/37S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
03/xx/14 — Soyuz TMA-10M/36S undock/landing (End of Increment 38)
————–Three-crew operations————-
