NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 22 June 2008

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Sunday — off-duty for CDR Volkov, FE-1 Kononenko & FE-2 Chamitoff. Ahead: Week 10 of Increment 17.

Sergey Volkov conducted the routine daily servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the Service Module (SM), including the weekly collection of the toilet flush (SP) counter and water supply (SVO) readings for calldown to TsUP-Moscow. [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.]

The CDR also gathered weekly data on Total Operating Time & “On” durations of the Russian POTOK-150MK (150 micron) air filter unit of the SM’s SOGS air revitalization subsystem for reporting to TsUP.

For some power switching by the PRO (Payload Rack Officer) at POIC (Payload Operations & Integration Center) on the ER4 (EXPRESS Rack 4) via ground commanding, FE-2 Chamitoff stopped sampling mode on the ANITA (Analyzing Interferometer for Ambient Air) payload, exited the software and powered down the laptop. Later, the procedures were reversed and ANITA powered up again with re-launched software. [ANITA will be returned on STS-126/ULF-2.]

Gregory also deinstalled the UOP DCP (Utility Outlet Panel/Display & Control Panel) bypass power cable to the VTR (Video Tape Recorder) at the Lab RWS (Robotics Work Station), now no longer required for a while.

At ~4:45am EDT, Kononenko powered up the SM’s amateur radio equipment (Kenwood VHF transceiver with manual frequency selection, headset, and power supply) and at 4:50am conducted a ham radio exchange with representatives of the Kursk State Technical University who are participating in the Slavic Commonwealth Forum at the Dagomys (a giant resort complex/hotel near the Black Sea town of Sochi). [Oleg was asked to take a few photos showing how he operated the ham radio and the equipment itself with cables going to the RSK-2 laptop, for downlink to TsUP-Moscow.]

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

At ~1:15pm, Greg Chamitoff had his weekly PFC (Private Family Conference) via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on an SSC laptop).

Working off his suggested “time permitting” task list, CDR Volkov continued the session of the Russian GFI-8 "Uragan" (hurricane) earth-imaging program begun yesterday, using the NIKON D2X still camera and the Japanese HDV (High Definition) video camera provided by SFP Charles Simonyi. [Uploaded targets were wooded areas in the Orenburg steppe, the Yasnyi Cosmodrome in nadir, the Irtysh river valley, video of the northern part of Taiwan, the confluence of the Desna and Seym rivers, Ugra National Park, the steppe 100 km south of Voronezh, one of the Chernozem river valleys, Yuri Gagarin’s landing site, the Aral Sea, glaciers on the northern slopes of Kirghiz range to the west from lake Issyk-Kul, Tibet and Himalaya, remediation of the Soviet Army weaponry range to the south of Berlin, vestiges of flooding in Stavropol, floods in Volga-Aktyubinsk alluvial plain (photos downlinked in real time via BSRTM channel), and oil deposits in Kazakhstan.]

Also working from the discretionary task list, the CDR conducted another run, his sixth, of the Russian DZZ-2 "Diatomeya" ocean observations program, using the NIKON-F5 DCS still camera and the HDV (high-definition) video camcorder from SM window 8 for ~20 min to record high production water areas for obtaining data on color field composition in dynamic regions of the ocean and in near-estuary areas of large rivers, plus the current cloud cover above these waters, its rating, and special forms of cloud formation. [Target zones today in the North Atlantic were waters off Newfoundland Island, the Bay of Biscay and West Saharan offshore areas.]

For the FE-1, a discretionary task list job was another session for Russia’s Environmental Safety Agency (EKON), making observations and taking KPT-3 aerial photography of environmental conditions of the Baikonur Cosmodrome using the Nikon D2X with the SIGMA 300-800mm telephoto lens.

Still remaining on the voluntary task list item for Kononenko & Volkov today was an audit of expired Expedition 16 food rations, with repacking & preparation of food packages for disposal on the ATV. [To clear storage space for cargo items delivered on Progress M-64/29P.]

No CEO (Crew Earth Observation) 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, 7:46am EDT [= epoch]):
Mean altitude — 345.5 km
Apogee height — 351.2 km
Perigee height — 339.8 km
Period — 91.45 min.
Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
Eccentricity — 0.0008476
Solar Beta Angle — -27.3 deg (magnitude decreasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.75
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours — 46 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 54936

Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time, some changes possible.):
07/10/08 — Russian EVA-20 (7/10-11)
09/05/08 — ATV1 Undocking
09/09/08 — Progress M-64/29P undocking (from FGB nadir)
09/10/08 — Progress M-65/30P launch
09/12/08 — Progress M-65/30P docking
10/01/08 — NASA 50 Years
10/08/08 — STS-125/Atlantis Hubble Space Telescope Service Mission 4 (SM4)
10/11/08 — Progress M-65/30P undocking (from SM aft port)
10/12/08 — Soyuz TMA-13/17S launch
10/14/08 — Soyuz TMA-13/17S docking (SM aft port)
10/23/08 — Soyuz TMA-12/16S undocking (DC1 nadir)
11/03/08 — Soyuz TMA-13/17S relocation
11/10/08 — STS-126/Endeavour/ULF2 launch – MPLM Leonardo, LMC
11/12/08 — STS-126/Endeavour/ULF2 docking
11/20/08 — ISS 10 Years
11/26/08 — Progress M-66/31P launch
11/28/08 — Progress M-66/31P docking
02/12/09 — STS-119/Discovery/15A launch – S6 truss segment
02/14/09 — STS-119/Discovery/15A docking
02/23/09 — STS-119/Discovery/15A undocking
2QTR CY09 — STS-127/2J/A launch – JEM EF, ELM-ES, ICC-VLD
3QTR CY09 — STS-128/17A/Atlantis – MPLM(P), last crew rotation
05/??/09 — Six-person crew on ISS (following Soyuz 18S-2 docking)
3QTR CY09 — STS-129/ULF3/Discovery – ELC1, ELC2
4QTR CY09 — STS-130/20A/Endeavour – Node-3 + Cupola
1QTR CY10 — STS-131/19A/Atlantis – MPLM(P)
1QTR CY10 — STS-132/ULF4/Discovery – ICC-VLD, MRM1 (contingency)
2QTR CY10 — STS-133/ULF5/Endeavour – ELC3, ELC4 (contingency).