NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 25 December 2007

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Off-duty day for the crew.

Merry Christmas!

Progress M-62/27P is continuing its 3-day flight to the ISS for docking tomorrow morning (12/26) at ~3:25am EST at the DC1 nadir port. All onboard tests (TV, KURS, TORU) and the DV3 burn on Orbit 33, during RGS (Russian ground site) passes were nominal. (See Timeline, below).

Before breakfast, FE-2 Dan Tani and CDR Peggy Whitson completed their daily access of the SLEEP experiment (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight) software for data logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the experiment’s laptop session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink. [To monitor the crewmembers’ sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Dan and Peggy wear a special Actiwatch device which measures the light levels encountered by him as well as his patterns of sleep and activity throughout the Expedition. The log entries are done within 15 minutes of final awakening for seven consecutive days, as part of the crew’s discretionary “job jar” task list.]

FE-1 Malenchenko serviced the Russian BMP (Harmful Impurities Removal System), starting the "bake-out" cycle to vacuum on absorbent bed #2 of the regenerable dual-channel filtration system. The regen process will be terminated at ~2:45pm EST. [Regeneration of each of the two cartridges takes about 12 hours and is conducted only during crew awake periods. Filter bed 1 was regenerated yesterday.]

Yuri also performed the routine servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the 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.]

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 (FE-2), TVIS treadmill with vibration isolation (CDR, FE-1), RED resistive exercise device (CDR, FE-2) and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1).

Afterwards, Peggy copied the 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).

At ~1:00pm, Dan Tani had a PFC (Private Family Conference) via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on the SSC-10 laptop).

At ~11:30am, CDT Whitson conducted a teleconference with the Houston Flight Control Team (FCT).

ASN-M Testing: TsUP-Moscow began with tests of the ASN-M Satellite Navigation System over six orbits, without crew involvement. [ASN-M is required for ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) “Jules Verne” prox ops next year.]

Timeline for 27P Approach & Docking (all times EST):

• ISS mnvr to dock attitude: 12:50am – 1:40am (-XVV -YLV)
• Start of automated rendezvous: 12:56am
• Progress Kurs-A activation: 1:42:30am
• SM Kurs-P activation: 1:44:30am
• Good Kurs-P data at 80 km: 2:09:36am
• Range = 9km – VHF-2 activation (TORU cmd link): 2:36am
• Range = 8km – Progress TV activation: 2:37am
• Flyaround mode start: 2:54am
• Stationkeeping start: 3:03am
• RGS AOS: 3:15am
• Final Approach start: 3:17am
• 27P Docking at DC1 nadir port: 3:25am
• RGS LOS: 3:37am
• Progress hooks closed: 3:46am

CEO photo targets uplinked for today again were Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMC — also known as noctilucent clouds) over selected ground sites (12 minutes for each). Also suggested for Dan Tani were a series of night photographs of city lights. (Use of the footprint of city lights as a proxy for population size and density [in different cultures/economies] is proving out as a workable method of observing population change through time).

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, 9:13am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude — 336.0 km
Apogee height — 336.7 km
Perigee height — 335.4 km
Period — 91.25 min.
Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
Eccentricity — 0.0000965
Solar Beta Angle — -70.2 deg (magnitude increasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.78
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours — 16 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 52097

Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Standard, some changes possible. NET = Not Earlier Than):
12/26/07 — Progress M-62/27P docking (DC1); ~3:25am
12/30/07 — ISS Reboost (phasing)
01/10/08 — NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E launch — Columbus Module, ICC-Lite.
01/12/08 — NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E docking
01/21/08 — NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E undocking
01/31/08 — Explorer-1 50 Years (1st U.S. Satellite on Redstone rocket) [Check it out at http://usspace50.com ]
02/06/08 — Progress M-62/27P undocking & reentry
02/07/08 — Progress M-63/28P launch
02/09/08 — Progress M-63/28P docking (DC1)
02/22/08 — ATV-1 “Jules Verne” launch/Ariane V (Kourou, French Guyana)
02/14/08 — STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A launch/1J/A, ~11:53am, w/SLP-SPDM, JEM ELM-PS
02/16/08 — STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A docking
02/27/08 — STS-123/Endeavour undocking
02/29/08 — STS-123/Endeavour landing
03/06/08 — ATV-1 Demo Day 1
03/12/08 — ATV-1 Demo Day 2
03/15/08 — ATV-1 Demo Day 3 & 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)
08/07/08 — NET: ATV-1 undocking (from SM aft port)
08/12/08 — Progress M-65/30P launch
08/14/08 — Progress M-65/30P docking (SM aft port)
09/09/08 — Progress M-64/29P undocking (from DC1)
09/10/08 — Progress M-66/31P launch
09/12/08 — Progress M-66/31P docking (DC1)
09/18/08 — STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 launch – MPLM Leonardo, LMC
09/20/08 — STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 docking
10/01/08 — STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 undocking.
10/01/08 — NASA 50 Years
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 (FGB nadir)
11/03/08 — Soyuz TMA-13/17S relocation (from SM aft to FGB nadir)
11/06/08 — STS-119/Discovery/15A launch – S6 truss segment
11/08/08 — STS-119/Discovery/15A docking
11/17/08 — STS-119/Discovery/15A undocking
11/20/08 — ISS 10 Years
11/26/08 — Progress M-67/32P launch
11/28/08 — Progress M-67/32P docking (SM aft port)
04/15/09 — Constellation’s Ares I-X Launch
05/??/09 — Six-person crew on ISS (following Soyuz 18S-2 docking)
04/??/10 — STS-132/Discovery/20A – Node-3 + Cupola.