NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 25 March 2011
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Crew off duty (to compensate for Sunday, 8/27, which will be full work day due to HTV2 pre-departure & hatch closure activities).
Upon wake-up, CDR Kondratyev performed the regular daily check of the aerosol filters at the Russian Elektron O2 (oxygen) generator which Maxim Suraev had installed on 10/19/09 in gaps between the BZh Liquid Unit and the oxygen outlet pipe (filter FA-K) plus hydrogen outlet pipe (filter FA-V). [Dmitri will inspect the filters again before bedtime tonight, currently a daily requirement per plan, with photographs to be taken if the filter packing is discolored.]
Before breakfast & first exercise, FE-5 Nespoli completed a session, deferred from yesterday, with the Russian crew health monitoring program’s medical assessment MO-9/Biochemical Urinalysis. Involving visual urine assessment, MO-9 is one of 4 Russian crew health status checkups currently being conducted (the other three: MO-3 (Physical Fitness Evaluation), MO-7 (Calf Volume Measurement) & MO-8 (Body Mass Measurement). Afterwards, Kondratyev closed out and stowed the Urolux hardware. [MO-9 is conducted every 30 days (and also before and after EVAs) and is one of five nominal Russian medical tests adopted by NASA for U.S. crewmembers for IMG PHS (Integrated Medical Group/Periodic Health Status) evaluation as part of the “PHS/Without Blood Labs” exam, also conducted today. The analysis uses the sophisticated in-vitro diagnostic apparatus Urolux developed originally by Boehringer (Mannheim/Germany) for the Mir program. Afterwards, the data are entered in the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer)’s special IFEP software (In-Flight Examination Program).]
Later, Paolo completed a number of EPOs (Educational Payload Operations) for today’s Voluntary Weekend Science (VolSci) program. On Paolo’s EPO schedule were an “Earth/Moon/Mars” session, an “Eye in the Sky” activity, and a “Gyroscopes” demo. [“Earth/Moon/Mars” set up the video camcorder for a planned DVD for 7th – 12th grade students, and teaming with Cady Coleman in using scale models to discuss size and distance between the Earth, Moon, and Mars. In the “Eye in the Sky” segment, the crew illustrated to 5th – 12th grade students the many phenomena uniquely observable from the Cupola on the ISS, and the “Gyroscopes” demo tried to give 10th – 12th a better understanding of the conservation of angular momentum, of gyroscopes and how they stabilize the ISS.]
An additional voluntary activity for the crew on their discretionary task list is the “Cranes for Japan” activity from the typically Japanese world of Origami (paper folding). [The activity involves the making of one or more paper cranes (Orizuru), a special symbol of Hope and Good Luck, to be flown in the HTV2 (H-II Transfer Vehicle) “Kounotori 2)” before hatch closure on Sunday. With its unberthing on Monday and subsequent burn-up in the atmosphere on Tuesday night as a “falling star”, Orizuru is intended to encourage all suffering people in the disaster area of Japan.]
Also as part of VolSci, Nespoli supported the ground in remotely-commanded ERB2 (Erasmus Recording Binocular) servicing activities, turning the payload on and checking it out. [Ground controllers at COL-CC (Columbus Orbital Laboratory Control Center) then performed video file transfers to the EDR (European Drawer Rack) and afterwards downlinked the files via HRDL (High Rate Data Link) at ~8 Mb/s.]
During Paolo’s VolSci activities, Dmitri Kondratyev spent three more hours on Progress 41P cargo transfers, involving freight unloading & trash loading.
Kondratyev also completed the routine daily servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM (Service Module). [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists, among else, of checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers, replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers and filling EDV-SV, KOV (for Elektron), EDV-ZV & EDV on RP flow regulator.]
At ~4:10am, Dima powered up the SM’s amateur radio equipment (Kenwood VHF transceiver with manual frequency selection, headset, & power supply) and at 4:15am conducted a ham radio session with school children of Star City near Moscow. [Dima’s call sign is RS0ISS (Roman Sergey Zero Ivan Sergey Sergey).]
Afterwards, at ~5:10 am, the CDR supported a Russian PAO TV downlink, sending greetings to the participants of three different Russian gala events. [(1) A celebration by residents and guests of the city of Gagarin (Smolensk Oblast); (2) the International Science Youth Conference 36th Readings in Memory of Gagarin at Russia’s K. E. Tsiolkovsky State Technology University (MATI) from April 5-8 in Moscow (to be attended by 1500 young scientists from civilian & military institutions of higher learning, the Russian Academy of Science and Research Institutes, industrial enterprises, CIS and foreign countries); and (3) the People of Russia and Byelorussia Unification Day on April 4 in Moscow and Minsk.]
At ~11:20am, Coleman, Nespoli & Kondratyev held the regular WPC (Weekly Planning Conference) with the ground, discussing next week’s “Look-Ahead Plan” (prepared jointly by MCC-H and TsUP-Moscow timeline planners), via S-band/audio, reviewing upcoming activities and any concerns about future on-orbit events. [WPC is usually scheduled on Saturdays but has been pulled forward today.]
The crew worked out with their regular 2-hr physical exercise on the TVIS treadmill (CDR), ARED advanced resistive exerciser (CDR, FE-5, FE-6), and T2/COLBERT advanced treadmill (FE-5, FE-6). [T2 snubber arm inspection is no longer needed after every T2 session but must be done after the last T2 session of the day.]
CEVIS Update: The CEVIS (Cycle Ergometer with Vibration Isolation) exercise machine is still No Go as ground engineers investigate the “clicking” noise coming from the machine during operation. The crew uses T2 instead, until this issue is resolved.
PAS-2 Checkout Update: Yesterday’s remote actuation checkout of the external PAS-2 (Payload Attach System) #2 involving actuation of the CLA (Capture Latch Assembly) and UMA IMCAs (Umbilical Mechanism Assembly Integrated Motor Controller Actuators) was successful. PAS 2 is ready for the installation of the AMS (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2) on ULF6.
CEO (Crew Earth Observation) targets uplinked for today were Monaco, Monaco (weather was predicted to be clear over the city-state of Monaco. Overlapping frames of the urban and surrounding rural areas, taken with the 400mm lens, will provide additional context for existing high-resolution imagery), Rome, Italy (looking to the left of track for Rome. The Rome metropolitan area is located near the western coastline of central Italy on the Tiber River. Overlapping frames of the metropolitan area, taken with the 250 mm lens, will provide context for existing high resolution imagery), and West Cuba (CEO is collaborating with Florida International University researchers to obtain imagery of mangrove stands, coastal wetlands, and land cover patterns in western Cuba. Overlapping mapping frames, taken along the Cuban coastline, will be helpful in providing context for subsequent higher-resolution imagery.)
ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 8:50am EDT [= epoch])
Mean altitude – 353.1 km
Apogee height – 353.9 km
Perigee height – 352.2 km
Period — 91.60 min.
Inclination (to Equator) — 51.65 deg
Eccentricity — 0.0001275
Solar Beta Angle — -34.1 deg (magnitude decreasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.72
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours — 125 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) – 70,773
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time and subject to change):
————–Three-crew operations————-
03/28/11 — HTV2 unberthing (11:45am EDT)
03/29/11 — HTV2 deorbit (DOM3: ~10:37pm)
04/04/11 — Soyuz TMA-21/26S launch – A. Borisenko (CDR-28)/R.Garan/A.Samokutayev – 6:18:20pm EDT
04/06/11 — Soyuz TMA-21/26S docking – ~7:18pm EDT
————–Six-crew operations————-
04/19/11 — STS-134/Endeavour launch ULF6 (ELC-3, AMS) ~7:48pm EDT
04/21/11 — STS-134/Endeavour docking
04/26/11 — Progress M-09M/41P undock
04/27/11 — Progress M-10M/42P launch
04/29/11 — Progress M-10M/42P docking (DC-1 nadir)
05/01/11 — STS-134/Endeavour undock
05/03/11 — STS-134/Endeavour landing
05/16/11 – Soyuz TMA-20/25S undock/landing (End of Increment 27)
————–Three-crew operations————-
05/30/11 — Soyuz TMA-02M/27S launch – M. Fossum (CDR-29)/S. Furukawa/S. Volkov
06/01/11 — Soyuz TMA-02M/27S docking (MRM1)
————–Six-crew operations————-
06/10/11 — ATV-2 “Johannes Kepler” undock (SM aft)
06/21/11 — Progress M-11M/43P launch
06/23/11 — Progress M-11M/43P docking (SM aft)
06/28/11 — STS-135/Atlantis launch ULF7 (MPLM) ~3:30pm EDT NET
06/30/11 — STS-135/Atlantis docking ULF7 (MPLM) NET
07/27/11 – Russian EVA #29
08/29/11 — Progress M-11M/43P undocking
08/30/11 — Progress M-12M/44P launch
09/01/11 — Progress M-12M/44P docking (SM aft)
09/16/11 – Soyuz TMA-21/26S undock/landing (End of Increment 28)
————–Three-crew operations————-
09/30/11 — Soyuz TMA-03M/28S launch – D.Burbank (CDR-30)/A.Shkaplerov/A.Ivanishin
10/02/11 – Soyuz TMA-03M/28S docking (MRM2)
————–Six-crew operations————-
10/25/11 — Progress M-10M/42P undocking
10/26/11 — Progress M-13M/45P launch
10/28/11 — Progress M-13M/45P docking (DC-1)
11/16/11 — Soyuz TMA-02M/27S undock/landing (End of Increment 29)
————–Three-crew operations————-
11/30/11 — Soyuz TMA-04M/29S launch – O.Kononenko (CDR-31)/A.Kuipers/D.Pettit
12/02/11 — Soyuz TMA-04M/29S docking (MRM1)
————–Six-crew operations—————-
12/26/11 — Progress M-13M/45P undock
12/27/11 — Progress M-14M/46P launch
12/29/11 — Progress M-14M/46P docking (DC-1)
02/29/12 — ATV3 launch readiness
03/05/12 — Progress M-12M/44P undock
03/16/12 — Soyuz TMA-03M/28S undock/landing (End of Increment 30)
————–Three-crew operations————-
03/30/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/30S launch – G.Padalka (CDR-32)/J.Acaba/K.Volkov
04/01/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/30S docking (MRM2)
————–Six-crew operations—————-
05/05/12 — 3R Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM) w/ERA – launch on Proton (under review)
05/06/12 — Progress M-14M/46P undock
05/07/12 — 3R Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM) – docking (under review)
05/16/12 — Soyuz TMA-04M/29S undock/landing (End of Increment 31)
————–Three-crew operations————-
05/29/12 – Soyuz TMA-06M/31S launch – S.Williams (CDR-33)/Y.Malenchenko/A.Hoshide
05/31/12 – Soyuz TMA-06M/31S docking
————–Six-crew operations—————-
09/18/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/30S undock/landing (End of Increment 32)
————–Three-crew operations————-
10/02/12 — Soyuz TMA-07M/32S launch – K.Ford (CDR-34)/O.Novitskiy/E.Tarelkin
10/04/12 – Soyuz TMA-07M/32S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
11/16/12 — Soyuz TMA-06M/31S undock/landing (End of Increment 33)
————–Three-crew operations————-
11/30/12 — Soyuz TMA-08M/33S launch – C.Hadfield (CDR-35)/T.Mashburn/R.Romanenko
12/02/12 – Soyuz TMA-08M/33S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
03/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-07M/32S undock/landing (End of Increment 34)
————–Three-crew operations————-
03/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-09M/34S launch – P.Vinogradov (CDR-36)/C.Cassidy/A.Misurkin
03/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-09M/34S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
05/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-08M/33S undock/landing (End of Increment 35)
————–Three-crew operations————-
05/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-10M/35S launch – M.Suraev (CDR-37)/K.Nyberg/L.Parmitano
05/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-10M/35S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
09/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-09M/34S undock/landing (End of Increment 36)
————–Three-crew operations————-
09/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-11M/36S launch – M.Hopkins/TBD (CDR-38)/TBD
09/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-11M/36S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
11/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-10M/35S undock/landing (End of Increment 37)
————–Three-crew operations————-
11/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-12M/37S launch – K.Wakata (CDR-39)/R.Mastracchio/TBD
11/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-12M/37S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
03/xx/14 – Soyuz TMA-11M/36S undock/landing (End of Increment 38)
————–Three-crew operations————-
