Status Report

NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 25 October 2008

By SpaceRef Editor
October 27, 2008
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NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 25 October 2008
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All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Saturday – light-duty day for CDR Fincke, FE-1 Lonchakov & FE-2 Chamitoff.

The crew’s work/sleep cycle is back on the regular schedule: wake-up – 2:00am EDT, sleeptime – 5:30pm.

First activity this morning for CDR Fincke was to start on his Flight Day 15 session with the NASA/JSC experiment NUTRITION w/Repository. This was an all-day session, the first for Mike, of collecting urine samples several times for 24 hrs, to continue through first void tomorrow morning. [After performing phlebotomy with the help of FE-2 Chamitoff, i.e., drawing blood samples (from an arm vein), the samples were first allowed to coagulate in the Repository for 20-30 minutes, then spun in the HRF RC (Human Research Facility/Refrigerated Centrifuge) and finally placed in MELFI (Minus-Eighty Laboratory Freezer for ISS). No thruster activity was allowed during the blood drawing. The RC was later powered off after a temperature reset to limit wear on the compressor, and cleaned. The NUTRITION project is the most comprehensive in-flight study done by NASA to date of human physiologic changes during long-duration space flight. It includes measures of bone metabolism, oxidative damage, nutritional assessments, and hormonal changes, expanding the previous Clinical Nutritional Assessment profile (MR016L) testing in three ways: Addition of in-flight blood & urine collection (made possible by supercold MELFI dewars), normative markers of nutritional assessment, and a return session plus 30-day (R+30) session to allow evaluation of post-flight nutrition and implications for rehabilitation.]

At ~10:00am 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.

Gregory filled out the regular FFQ (Food Frequency Questionnaire), his 17th, on the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer). [On the FFQs, NASA astronauts keep a personalized log of their nutritional intake over time on special MEC software. Recorded are the amounts consumed during the past week of such food items as beverages, cereals, grains, eggs, breads, snacks, sweets, fruit, beans, soup, vegetables, dairy, fish, meat, chicken, sauces & spreads, and vitamins. The FFQ is performed once a week to estimate nutrient intake from the previous week and to give recommendations to ground specialists that help maintain optimal crew health. Weekly estimation has been verified to be reliable enough that nutrients do not need to be tracked daily.]

Mike Fincke, joined later by Greg Chamitoff, conducted his first VolSci (Voluntary Science) program, an EPO (Education Payload Operations) session with “Buzz Lightyear”, i.e., shooting a video of the Buzz Lightyear doll demonstrating aspects of working and living in the space environment by showing how micro-G affects familiar objects and activities.

Yuri Lonchakov performed the routine daily 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 E18 crew executed their regular daily 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 (CDR, FE-1), RED resistive exercise device (CDR, FE-1, FE-2) and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1). [Maximum speed for TVIS in motorized mode is not to exceed 16.1 km/h. SPDs (Subject Positioning Devices) are required for the first seven exercise sessions for the CDR and FE-1 for safety.]

Afterwards, Greg transferred the exercise data file to the MEC 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).

Weekly Science Update (Expedition Seventeen/Eighteen — Week 27)

3-D SPACE:
In progress.

ALTCRISS (Alteino Long Term monitoring of Cosmic Rays on the ISS): Close-out activities for Inc 17-ALTCRISS were performed on 10/14. Passive dosimeters and memory cards were returned on 16S.

ANITA (Analyzing Interferometer for Ambient Air): Continuing.

BCAT-3/4 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test 3/4): After the 10/23 EarthKAM troubleshooting, BCAT-4 is looking forward to continuing homogenization and photography of sample 3. The homogenization of samples 8, 9 and 10 remains on the task list if not completed along with the sample 3 operations.

BIO-4: With 17S, a package of 3 Biology experiments were launched (i.e. ROALD, XENOPUS, BASE-B/-C) using the KUBIK incubators. On 10/14, KUBIK 1 & 2 were activated and temperatures were set: +21deg C for KUBIK-1 (to support XENOPUS) and +37deg C for KUBIK-2 (to support ROALD). XENOPUS experiment containers were installed upon transfer from Soyuz and activated on 10/14/11:20am EDT. ROALD experiment containers were installed, and the centrifuge was activated around 10/14/11:33am. The ROALD experiment is controlled by an automated timeline which commands the different fixation points in time. Containers with fixed samples are then transferred to MELFI. The first insertion into MELFI was performed around 10/14/2:40pm, and the second insertion was performed some hours later around 10/14/4:15pm. The next day, the third transfer was also performed as planned and samples were inserted into MELFI around 10/15/2:16pm. The fourth and final transfer for ROALD has been nominally performed on 10/16 at around 2: 06pm. For the XENOPUS experiment, the crew performs a daily ventilation of the KUBIK. The containers for the BASE-B/-C experiment were kept in Soyuz to allow for stable temperature conditions. The experiment started on 10/18, with KUBIK-3 setup on 10/17. The experiment was installed in KUBIK-3 20min later than expected, but this has no science impact. Only one BioKit could be packed on the undocking day and the other had to be packed the day before so BASE-B/-C rearrangements were made and this was sent up via radiogram. On 10/22 the first BASE-B/-C BioKit was transferred into the Soyuz for return. Transfer of second BioKit for BASE-B/-C and closeout and transfer of XENOPUS for 16S return.

CARDIOCOG-2: Completed.

CCISS (Cardiovascular & Cerebrovascular Control on Return from ISS): “Mike, you are currently scheduled to complete your first CCISS two- day activity next week.”

CFE (Capillary Flow Experiment): Reserve.

CW/CR (Cell Wall/Resist Wall) in EMCS (European Modular Cultivation System): Samples returned on 1J.

CSI-2/CGBA-5 (CGBA Science Insert #2/Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus 5): In progress.

CGBA-2 (Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus 2):
Complete.

CSLM-2 (Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures 2): Complete.

EarthKAM (Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students): Complete.

ELITE-S2 (Elaboratore Immagini Televisive – Space 2): Planned.

EPO (Educational Payload Operations): Reserve.

ETD (Eye Tracking Device): Completed.

EuTEF (European Technology Exposure Facility): Due to safety concerns identified for the PLEGPAY instrument (when operated in Plasma Discharge mode), the entire EuTEF platform was put in survival mode on 9/1 at around 11:00am EDT (just prior to 29P undocking). Since then, the EuTEF power feeder#1 has been de-activated and no science acquisition is possible. Request has been approved for intermittent activation for 3 of the 9 EUTEF payloads. EuTEF platform power feeder#1 has been re-activated for 8-hrs periods on 10/17, 10/19 and 10/21. Planned re-activation on 10/23 was skipped because of 16S undocking. This intermittent re-activation protocol will continue every other day until safety issues are solved with the PLEGPAY instrument. This only mitigates the science loss for the EXPOSE, DOSTEL and MEDET instruments. The situation implies significant loss of science return for all EUTEF payloads. The activity to delete Experiment 1 from the memory of PLEGPAY was planned for 10/22 but was cancelled and is now planned for 10/24. Once this activity is done the rest of the EuTEF instruments will be able to resume normal operations.– DEBIE-2: Inactive;– DOSTEL: Inactive, part of proposed intermittent activation;– EuTEMP: Inactive;– EVC: Inactive;– EXPOSE: Inactive, part of proposed intermittent activation;– FIPEX: Inactive; — MEDET: Inactive, part of proposed intermittent activation; — PLEGPAY: Inactive;– TRIBOLAB: Inactive.

FSL (Fluid Science Laboratory): FSL is nominal.

GEOFLOW: In progress.

HDTV System Test DL (JAXA): JAXA tried to downlink the missed images but failed. So, a tape was added which was on the return manifest for ULF-2.

IMMUNO (Neuroendocrine & Immune Responses in Humans During & After Long Term Stay at ISS): Complete.

InSPACE-2 (Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions 2): In progress.

Integrated Immune: “Thanks for your participation in Integrated Immune. The information you gave during the 17S session helped the ground teams to better organize the session and determine exact on-orbit hardware availability. We look forward to future sessions.”

KUBIK-FM1/ KUBIK-FM2 Centrifuge/Incubators:
Completed.

LOCAD-PTS (Lab-on-a-Chip Application Development-Portable Test System): In progress.

Marangoni Experiment for ISS (JAXA Fluid Physics Experiment Facility): The Marangoni Experiment has been completed, with the exception of the HDD (Hard Disk Drive) exchange. The PI team decided not to conduct the experiment further, because of the lack of the silicon oil buffer. Although the liquid bridge occurred, the PI is very satisfied with the results.

Micro-G Clay (JAXA EPO):
Complete.

MISSE (Materials ISS Experiment):
Ongoing.

Moon Photography from ISS (JAXA EPO): Complete.

MOP (Motion Perception in Zero-G): Daily MOP questionnaires completed by the Space Flight Participant. Downloaded on 16S.

MSG-SAME (Microgravity Science Glovebox): Complete.

MTR-2 (Russian radiation measurements):
Passive dosimeters measurements in DC1 “Pirs”.

MULTIGEN-1: Completed.

MUSCLE-G (LBP/Low Back Pain): Daily MUSCLE questionnaires completed by the Space Flight Participant. Downloaded on 16S.
NOA-1/-2 (Nitric Oxide Analyzer, ESA): NOA return items have been pre-packed for 16S return.

NUTRITION w/REPOSITORY:
In progress.

PADLES (Passive Dosimeter for Lifescience Experiment in Space):
In progress.

PCRF (Protein Crystallization Research Facility) Reconfiguration (JAXA):
Complete.

PMDIS (Perceptual Motor Deficits in Space):
Complete.

SAMS/MAMS (Space & Microgravity Acceleration Measurement Systems): Ongoing.

SAMPLE: Complete.

SHERE (Shear History Extensional Rheology Experiment): Complete.

SLEEP (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight):
“Greg, you have completed all your Increment 17 Sleep Activities. For Increment 18, you will have: one more Actiwatch download/initialization session, one more week of Sleep logging to make up for the lost week, and then doffing the Actiwatch on the Shuttle. Mike, thanks for donning the Actiwatch and completing the download and initialization activity. Your remaining activities for Increment 18 include: Monthly downloading of the Actiwatches, 3 weeks of Sleep logging, and doffing the Actiwatch before leaving. Additional Sleep logging is above and beyond and greatly appreciated by the PI.”

SOLAR (Solar Monitoring Observatory):
The last Sun visibility window ended on 10/04. The instruments operated nominally, with the exception of SOLACES which encountered a synchronization problem for its two micro-controllers units. Next Sun observation window is planned to start on 10/28.– SOVIM: waiting for the Sun;– SOLSPEC: waiting for the Sun;– SOLACES: waiting for the Sun.

SOLO (Sodium Loading in Microgravity): The low sodium diet (i.e. session#2) was ended in the evening of 10/13. The impact on science interpretation of second body mass measurement performed on 10/14 after crew had breakfast and midday meal is under analysis.

SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellite):
Reserve.

Swab (Characterization of Microorganisms & Allergens in Spacecraft): Complete.

TRAC (Test of Reaction & Adaptation Capabilities): Planned.

ULTRASOUND: Planned.

WAICO #1 (Waving and Coiling of Arabidopsis Roots at Different g-levels): Completed.

CEO (Crew Earth Observations): Through 10/23 the ground has received a total of 10,302 frames of CEO images for review and cataloging (almost 1,600 frames in the last week alone). Photos with times corresponding to our CEO target request times are reviewed first and since our last report included: Two Hearted River Forest Reserve, MI (target not acquired due to clouds but excellent context views of the Sudbury and Wanapitei Impact site were acquired coincidentally); Sakura-jima Volcano, Japan (31 frames under review); Mount Unzen (31 frames under review); N Mariana Islands & Guam (8 frames – under review); Arkenu Impacts (27 frames-several best-ever frames acquired); Coweeta Forest, North Carolina (34 frames – under review); Tigris-Euphrates Delta (42 frames – target confirmed, still under review); Lake Nasser, Toshka Lakes, Egypt (28 frames – target confirmed, still under review); Santa Barbara Coast (43 frames – target acquired – under review); Volcan Colima (27 frames under review); and East Haruj Megafans (46 frames under review). “Your response this week to our target requests has been just tremendous! Thanks for you enthusiasm and excellent imagery. More feedback will come as we complete our reviews. Your beautifully detailed image of desert erosional features in central Libya will be published on NASA/GSFC’s Earth Observatory website this weekend. Your image acquired in August provides an excellent illustration of the complex history of erosional processes by both air and water that have formed the modern Libyan landscape.”

CEO (Crew Earth Observations) photo targets uplinked for today were Aral Sea (DYNAMIC EVENT: The dramatic retreat and disappearance of the Aral Sea has been documented in Astronaut photography for decades now. ISS had a nadir pass in late morning light under clear skies. Just after the station tracked over the northern edge of the Caspian Sea, Greg & Mike were to try for oblique contextual views of the Aral region followed by nadir views of the individual remaining pools of this once large water body), and Madrean Sky Islands (this target is located in the northern reaches of Mexico’s Sierra Madre Occidental which boast some of the richest biodiversity anywhere in North America. The “Sky Islands” are a veritable archipelago of cool, moist, higher-altitude pine-oak forested mountain ranges that dot the hot deserts of southern ArizonaNew Mexiconorthwestern Mexico. These climatological islands, situated in remote and rugged areas, are being heavily modified by logging. This fair-weather pass, just after midday, was well to the northeast of most of the target area and should have been well suited for broad contextual views to be used in the future for pinpointing specific features to photograph. After crossing the upper Grand Canyon, Greg & Mike were to look right of track).
CEO photography can be studied at this “Gateway” website:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov <http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/> (as of 9/1/08, this database contained 770,668 views of the Earth from space, with 324,812 from the ISS alone).
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time, some changes possible.):

10/26/08 – Daylight Saving Time ends in Europe and Russia
10/29/08 — Progress 30P reboost
11/02/08 — Daylight Saving Time (DST) ends
11/15/08 — STS-126/Endeavour/ULF2 launch – MPLM Leonardo, LMC
11/17/08 — STS-126/Endeavour/ULF2 docking
11/20/08 — ISS 10 Years
11/25/08 — Progress M-65/30P undocking & deorbit (UNDER REVIEW)
11/26/08 — Progress M-66/31P launch
11/30/08 — Progress M-66/31P docking
12/01/08 — STS-126/Endeavour/ULF2 landing (~1:25pm EST est.) (UNDER REVIEW)
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.