Status Report

NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 21 September 2008

By SpaceRef Editor
September 21, 2008
Filed under , , ,
NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 21 September 2008
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All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Sunday – off-duty day for CDR Volkov, FE-1 Kononenko & FE-2 Chamitoff. Last day of Summer! Ahead: Week 23 of Increment 17.

The crew performed the regular weekly three-hour task of thorough station cleaning. ["Uborka", usually done on Saturdays, includes removal of food waste products, cleaning of compartments with vacuum cleaner, damp cleaning of the SM (Service Module) dining table, other frequently touched surfaces and surfaces where trash is collected, as well as the FE’s sleep station with a standard cleaning solution; also, fan screens and grilles are cleaned to avoid temperature rises. Special cleaning is also done every 90 days on the HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) bacteria filters in the Lab.]

As part of the house cleaning, Volkov and Kononenko conducted regular maintenance inspection & cleaning on fan screens in the FGB (TsV2), DC-1 (V3) and SM (VPkhO, VPrK, FS5, FS6 & FS9).

Kononenko completed the routine daily servicing of the SOZh system (ECLSS/Environment Control & Life Support System) in the SM, including the periodic checkup on the Russian POTOK-150MK(150 micron) air filter unit of the SOGS air revitalization subsystem, gathering weekly data on total operating time & “On” durations for reporting to TsUP-Moscow. [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists, among else, of checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers.]

At ~10:15am EDT the crewmembers conducted their regular WPC (Weekly Planning Conference) with the ground, discussing next week’s "Look-Ahead Plan" (prepared jointly by MCC-Houston and TsUP-Moscow timeline planners) via S-band/audio, reviewing the monthly calendar, upcoming activities, and any concerns about future on-orbit events.

Working off the discretionary “time permitting” task list, CDR Volkov ran another session for Russia’s Environmental Safety Agency (EKON), making observations and taking KPT-3 aerial photography with the NIKON D2X camera of environmental conditions in Russia.

Also for Sergey, the voluntary job list called for another run of the Russian DZZ-2 "Diatomeya" ocean observations program, using the NIKON-F5 DCS still camera with f85mm lens and the HDV camcorder from SM window #7 to record color field patterns in target water areas and current atmospheric conditions above them. [Uplinked target zones in the Atlantic Ocean were the coastal area from the Argentine Bay Baja Grande to the Guinea cost, and in the Indian Ocean the area from the south of South Africa to the Bay of Bengal.]

The FE-1 meanwhile had two suggested tasks on the “available time” list: the regular status check of the BIO-5 Rasteniya-2 ("Plants-2") experiment which researches growth and development of plants (barley) under spaceflight conditions in the Lada-13 greenhouse from IBMP (Institute of Bio-Medical Problems {Russian: IMBP}), and the periodic documentary close-up photography of the two SKK materials exposure payloads mounted on the outside of the station,- SKK-2 on the “Pirs” Docking Compartment (DC-1) from SM window #6, and SKK-9 on the SM hull, from the DC-1 EVA hatch window.

A third voluntary task for Kononenko was another run of the Russian GFI-8 "Uragan" (hurricane) earth-imaging program, using the D2X digital camera with the F800 telephoto lens. [Uplinked target areas were Andean glaciers in South America.]

The crew completed their regular daily 2.5-hr. physical workout program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the TVIS treadmill (CDR, FE-2), RED resistive exercise device (CDR, FE-1, FE-2), and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (CDR, FE-1).

No CEO (Crew Earth Observations) photo targets uplinked for today.

CEO photography can be studied at this “Gateway” website:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov (as of 3/1/08, this database contained 757,605 views of the Earth from space, with 314,000 from the ISS alone).

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 7:17am EDT [= epoch]):
Mean altitude — 352.8 km
Apogee height — 357.3 km
Perigee height — 348.3 km
Period — 91.60 min.
Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
Eccentricity — 0.0006687
Solar Beta Angle — 45.7 deg (magnitude decreasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.72
Mean altitude gain in the last 48 hours — 89 m (30P thruster test)
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 56368

Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time, some changes possible.):
09/29/08 — ATV de-orbit (nighttime re-entry for observation from 2 NASA planes; 9:12pm)
10/01/08 — NASA 50 Years (official)
10/02/08 – ISS Reboost (~1.8 m/s)
10/10/08 — STS-125/Atlantis Hubble Space Telescope Service Mission 4 (SM4) 12:33am
10/11/08 — Progress M-65/30P undocking (from SM aft)
10/12/08 — Soyuz TMA-13/17S launch (~3:03am EDT; Lonchakov, Fincke, Garriott)
10/14/08 — Soyuz TMA-13/17S docking (FGB nadir port, ~4:51am)
10/24/08 — Soyuz TMA-12/16S undocking (DC1 nadir) & landing
11/12/08 — STS-126/Endeavour/ULF2 launch – MPLM Leonardo, LMC
11/14/08 — STS-126/Endeavour/ULF2 docking
11/20/08 — ISS 10 Years
11/25/08 — Progress M-65/30P undocking & deorbit
11/26/08 — Progress M-66/31P launch
11/30/08 — Progress M-66/31P docking
02/09/09 — Progress M-66/31P undocking & deorbit
02/10/09 — Progress M-67/32P launch
02/12/09 — Progress M-67/32P docking
02/12/09 — STS-119/Discovery/15A launch – S6 truss segment
02/14/09 — STS-119/Discovery/15A docking
02/24/09 — STS-119/Discovery/15A undocking
02/26/09 — STS-119/Discovery/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 M-67/32P undocking & deorbit
05/15/09 — STS-127/Endeavour/2J/A launch – JEM EF, ELM-ES, ICC-VLD
05/25/09 — Soyuz TMA-15/19S launch
05/27/09 — Six-person crew on ISS (following Soyuz 19S docking)
07/30/09 — STS-128/Atlantis/17A – MPLM(P), last crew rotation
10/15/09 — STS-129/Discovery/ULF3 – ELC1, ELC2
12/10/09 — STS-130/Endeavour/20A – Node-3 + Cupola
02/11/10 — STS-131/Atlantis/19A – MPLM(P)
04/08/10 — STS-132/Discovery/ULF4 – ICC-VLD, MRM1
05/31/10 — STS-133/Endeavour/ULF5 – ELC3, ELC4 (contingency).

SpaceRef staff editor.