NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 18 November 2007
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Sunday — off-duty day for CDR Whitson, FE-1 Malenchenko and FE-2 Tani. Ahead: Week 5 of Increment 16.
The crew completed the mandatory CHeCS (Crew Health Care Systems) emergency/contingency medical OBT (on-board training) drill, a one-hour U.S. exercise designed to refresh crewmembers’ acuity in applying HMS (Health Maintenance System) equipment like ACLS (Advanced Cardio Life Support) in an emergency. [The drill gives the crew the opportunity to work as a team in resolving a simulated medical emergency onboard ISS and to refresh their memory of on-orbit stowage & deployment locations, equipment use, and procedures. Setting up (but not actually operating/manipulating) onboard equipment such as the RSP (Respiratory Support Pack), ALSP (Advanced Life Support Pack), intubation kit, HMS defibrillator, all stowed in the Lab CHeCS rack, and the CMRS (Crew Medical Restraint System), Peggy, Yuri and Dan stepped through the ACLS algorithm manual to resolve a simulated medical emergency onboard ISS. Objectives of the exercise include practicing communication and coordination necessary to perform medical emergency procedures, locating appropriate emergency medical components, and determining each crewmember’s individual method of delivering CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) in zero-G.]
Malenchenko continued the current round of monthly preventive maintenance/cleaning of Russian segment SOTR ventilation systems, today working in the SM. [The cleaning involved “Group C” fans and the heat exchanger (GZhT) grille of the currently inactive air conditioner (SKV1), plus the associated flexible air ducts.]
Whitson printed out the latest uplinked procedures material on this week’s Stage EVA-11 “Bravo” (11/20) and gathered the crew for another 2-hr review of EV1/EV2 timelines, procedures and constraints.
Afterwards, Peggy Whitson and Dan Tani had two more hours reserved for preparing the EVA tools to be used by them on the spacewalk.
At ~10:10am EST, the crew also tagged up with ground specialists in a teleconference via S- and Ku-band, supported by the SSC-10 laptop, to go again through the EVA-11 procedures, particularly regarding ammonia decontamination. [After the standard A/L Campout tomorrow night, EVA-11 is expected to last about 6h 40m. Its Node-2 Outfitting objectives are:
- Remove Stbd NH3 (ammonia) Shunt Jumper;
- Configure Vent Tools;
- Vent & Stow the Stbd NH3 Shunt Jumper;
- Release Node-2 Fluid Caps, reconfigure P1 radiator SFUs (Squib Firing Units, fired today), and release Node-2 Loop A Fluid Tray;
- Relocate Node-2 Loop A Fluid Tray, then attach it, deploy/mate it, and vent N2 (nitrogen) from it;
- Mate & open hinge QDs (Quick Disconnects), S0 Fluid QDs, and Node-2 Fluid QDs;
- Connect Node-2 Fluid Line Heater Cables;
- Connect Node-2 Port Avionics to Node-2; and
- Mate Primary PMA-2/Node-2 Umbilicals.
Potential get-ahead tasks are:
- Relocate N2 VTE (Vent Tool Extender) bag for EVA-12 “Charlie”;
- Relocate APFR (Articulating Portable Foot Restraint) for EVA-12;
- Connect Stbd Avionics umbilicals to Node-2;
- Connect PMA-2 redundant umbilicals;
- Deploy SSPTS (Station-to-Shuttle Power Transfer System) cable; and
- Relocate APFR for 1E.
Also in preparation for the EVA, FE-2 Tani did some work on an EVA camera (#1019), removing the shutter release button of the camera’s thermal blanket and concluding with the standard sharp-edge inspection of the modified blanket configuration.
In the “Quest” Airlock (A/L), Dan finished the regeneration cycle on the METOX (Metal Oxide) CO2 absorption canisters #0017 & #0019 in the bakeout oven started yesterday by Peggy, and later also terminated the recharging of EMU (Extravehicular Mobility Unit) batteries in the A/L BSA (Battery Stowage Assembly).
Yuri Malenchenko meanwhile performed the routine servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the Service Module (SM). [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists, among else, of 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. Weekly SOZh reports (on Sundays) to TsUP/Moscow deal with number & dates of water and urine containers, counter readings of water consumption & urine collection, and total operating time of the POTOK air filtration system.]
Afterwards, the FE-1 conducted the daily maintenance of the IMS (Inventory Management System), updating/editing its standard “delta file”, including locations, for the regular weekly automated export/import to its three databases on the ground (Houston, Moscow, Baikonur).
The Russian Flight Engineer also set up the Russian equipment for tomorrow’s planned “Urolux” biochemical urine test (PZE MO-9), standard operating procedure for crewmembers before & after each EVA.
The crewmembers completed 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 (CDR, FE-2), TVIS treadmill (FE-1), RED resistive exerciser (CDR, FE-2) and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1).
Afterwards, Tani transferred the crew’s exercise data file to the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer) laptop for downlink, including the daily wristband HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) data of the workouts on RED, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium (done six times a week).
Dan had another 60 minutes for himself for general orientation (station familiarization & acclimatization), as is standard daily rule for the first two weeks after starting station residency.
At ~3:05pm EST, the FE-2 conducted his weekly PFC (Private Family Conference) via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on the SSC-9 laptop).
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
ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 7:44am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude — 340.7 km
Apogee height — 341.9 km
Perigee height — 339.5 km
Period — 91.35 min.
Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
Eccentricity — 0.0001791
Solar Beta Angle — 5.5 deg (magnitude increasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.76
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours — 112 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 51512
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Standard, some changes possible):
11/20/07 — US EVA-11 “Bravo” (Whitson/Tani)
11/24/07 — US EVA-12 “Charlie” (Whitson/Tani)
11/28/07 — ISS Reboost
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 undocking
12/18/07 — STS-122/Atlantis landing
12/22/07 — Yuri Malenchenko’s Birthday
12/23/07 — Progress M-62/27P launch
12/26/07 — Progress M-62/27P docking (DC1)
01/31/08 — 50-Year Anniversary of Explorer 1 (1st U.S. satellite on Redstone rocket) [Check it out at http://usspace50.com/ ]
02/06/08 – Progress M-61/26P undocking (DC1) & reentry
02/07/08 — Progress M-63/28P launch
02/09/08 — Progress M-63/28P docking
02/14/08 — ATV-1 “Jules Verne” launch/Ariane V (Kourou, French Guyana)
02/14/08 — STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A launch/1J/A — SLP-SPDM, JEM ELM-PS (NET)
02/16/08 — STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A docking
02/27/08 — STS-123/Endeavour undocking
02/29/08 — STS-123/Endeavour landing
03/01/08 — Progress M-62/27P undocking (DC1) & reentry
03/06/08 — ATV-1 docking (SM aft port)
04/07/08 — Progress M-63/28P undocking (DC1) & reentry
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
05/04/08 — 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.
10/01/08 — 50th Birthday of NASA
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.
Note: The daily ISS On-Orbit Status reports can also be found at
