NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 21 October 2012

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Sunday – Crew off duty. Ahead: Week 17 of Increment 33 (three/six-person crew).

After wakeup, FE-4 Malenchenko performed the routine inspection of the SM (Service Module) PSS Caution & Warning panel as part of regular Daily Morning Inspection.

Malenchenko also completed the periodic (daily) reboot of the Russian RSS1 & RSS2 laptops.

Later, FE-4 conducted the routine daily & weekly 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 of SM & FGB 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 as required.]

Yuri also retrieved three apparently failed regular BVK vacuum valves (VN #60, VN #61, VN #54) of the SOA Vozdukh CO2 (carbon dioxide) removal system from FGB stowage and performed functional closure tests on them from the Vozdukh PK SOA control panel ORU (Orbit Replaceable Unit) in the SM panel 421 area, using the MMTs-01 Elektronika Multimeter.

The crew had 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), Suni at ~10:20am, Yuri at ~11:20am, Aki at ~3:30pm EDT.

The crew worked out on the CEVIS cycle ergometer with vibration isolation (FE-6), TVIS treadmill with vibration isolation & stabilization (FE-4/2x), ARED advanced resistive exercise device (CDR, FE-6), and T2/COLBERT advanced treadmill (CDR). [CDR & FE-6 are on the special experimental SPRINT protocol which diverts from the regular 2.5 hrs per day exercise regime and introduces special daily sessions involving resistive and aerobic (interval & continuous) exercise, followed by a USND (Ultrasound) leg muscle self scan in COL. No exercise is being timelined for Suni on Friday, for Aki on Thursday. If any day is not completed, Suni & Aki pick up where they left off, i.e., they would be finishing out the week with the last day of exercise on her off day. Suni’s protocol for today showed T2 (int., 2 min.), with ARED/CEVIS (cont.), T2 (int., 30 sec.), ARED/CEVIS (VO2max), and T2 (int., 4 min.) for the next 4 days. Aki’s protocol for today showed ARED/CEVIS (cont.), with T2 (int., 30 sec.), ARED/CEVIS (VO2max), and T2 (int., 4 min.) on the following 3 days.]

VolSci Program: For the Voluntary Science program this weekend, Sunita Williams & Akihiko Hoshide were offered two choices for selection: (1) an EPO-Space Sports 2-DEMO, and (2) JAXA-TRY-ZERO G Part 1. [For (1), the crew demonstrates segments of the following three games: Starfield, Outstanding Obstacles, and Learning Takes You Around the World. Crew films a demonstration and gives an explanation for a target audience of grade 5-8. Games were designed by students in Massachusetts, Missouri, and New Jersey. For (2) The purpose of JAXA EPO Try Zero-G Experiment is to enhance public’s interest in physical phenomena in Space, to be performed by Aki.]

Tasks listed for FE-4 Malenchenko on the Russian discretionary “time permitting” job for today were –

* 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),

* 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

. A 10-min. photography session for the DZZ-13 “Seiner” ocean observation program, obtaining footage of color bloom patterns in the waters of South-Eastern Pacific and Central-Eastern Atlantic, using the SKPF-U Photo Image Coordinate Reference System with HD video camera and then copying the images to the RSK-1 laptop.

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 9:50am EDT [= epoch])
Mean altitude – 414.1 km
Apogee height – 425.6 km
Perigee height – 402.7 km
Period — 92.85 min.
Inclination (to Equator) — 51.65 deg
Eccentricity — 0.0016874
Solar Beta Angle — -0.3 deg (magnitude increasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.51
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours — 139 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 79,764
Time in orbit (station) — 5084 days
Time in orbit (crews, cum.) — 4371 days.

Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time and subject to change):
————– Inc-33: Three-crew operations ————-
10/23/12 — Soyuz TMA-06M/32S launch – K.Ford (CDR-34)/O.Novitsky/E.Tarelkin (6:51am EDT)
10/25/12 — Soyuz TMA-06M/32S docking – (~8:40am EDT)
————– Inc-33: Six-crew operations ————-
10/28/12 — SpX-1 Dragon SSRMS release (~9:08am, de-orbit 10/28 2:28pm, splashdown ~3:20pm)
10/31/12 — Progress M-17M/49P launch (3:41am EDT)
10/31/12 — Progress M-17M/49P docking (~9:40am EDT)
11/01/12 — EVA-20
11/12/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/31S undock/landing (End of Increment 33)
————– Inc-34: 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
————– Inc-34: Six-crew operations ————-
02/11/13 — Progress M-16M/48P undocking
02/12/13 — Progress M-18M/50P launch
02/14/13 — Progress M-18M/50P docking
03/15/13 — Soyuz TMA-06M/32S undock/landing (End of Increment 34)
————– Inc-35: 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
04/23/13 — Progress M-18M/50P undock/landing
————– Inc-35: Six-crew operations ————-
05/16/13 — Soyuz TMA-07M/33S undock/landing (End of Increment 35)
————– Inc-36: 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
————– Inc-36: Six-crew operations ————-
09/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-08M/34S undock/landing (End of Increment 36)
————– Inc-37: 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
————– Inc-37: Six-crew operations ————-
11/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-09M/35S undock/landing (End of Increment 37)
————– Inc-38: 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
————– Inc-38: Six-crew operations ————-
03/xx/14 — Soyuz TMA-10M/36S undock/landing (End of Increment 38)
————– Inc-39: Three-crew operations ————-