NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 31 August 2008

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Sunday rest day for CDR Volkov, FE-1 Kononenko & FE-2 Chamitoff. Ahead: Week 20 of Increment 17.

Gregory Chamitoff had three hours reserved for the regular weekly station cleaning in the USOS (US Segment) which was not scheduled yesterday alongside the RS (Russian Segment) uborka housecleaning by his two crewmates.

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. The CDR also checked up on the Russian POTOK-150MK (150 micron) air filter unit of the SMs 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 the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers.]

Gregory completed a run with the MedOps experiment WinSCAT (Windows Spaceflight Cognitive Assessment Tool), his third onboard session, by logging in on the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer) and performing the psychological evaluation exercise on the laptop-based WinSCAT application. [WinSCAT is a monthly time-constrained questionnaire test of cognitive abilities, routinely performed by astronauts aboard the ISS every 30 days before or after the PHS (periodic health status) test or on special CDR’s, crewmembers or flight surgeons request.]

Afterwards, the FE-2 closed the protective window shutters in the Kibo JPM (JEM Pressurized Module) and U.S. Lab in preparation for the Russian Solar Array Efficiency test tonight (see below). [The shutters can be opened again after USOS has resumed attitude control authority with MM (Momentum Management) after the test.]

The station residents 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).

The CDR and FE-2 were scheduled for their weekly PFCs (Private Family Conferences) via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on an SSC laptop), Sergey at ~8:00am, Greg at ~4:05pm EDT.

Russian Solar Array Efficiency Test: During crew sleep, at 7:30pm-11:00pm EDT, TsUP/Moscow will conduct the periodic SM Solar Array Efficiency Testing, with no crew involvement or onboard powerdowns required.. Attitude control handover from USOS CMGs (Control Moment Gyros) to Russian thrusters is scheduled for 7:20pm, to return to CMGs after the test. [At test begin, the SM solar arrays will be shunted for the last 10 minutes of three successive insolation passes to measure the total current being produced by the photovoltaics. Array output will be compared to earlier tests at the same Beta angle and wing positions. Background: Photovoltaic current (ampres) is measured with a shunt, i.e., a resistor of accurately-known resistance (ohms) placed in series so that all electricity to be measured flows through it. Because of Ohms Law (Current = Voltage divided by Resistance), the current flowing can then be calculated by measuring the voltage drop across the resistor.]

Hurricane Gustav Update: As of last night (11:00pm EDT), NASA-JSC remains in Level 4 status until at least 11:00pm tonight (8/31). Back-up NASA flight control teams (BAT) have been deployed to Round Rock, TX, and an advance team was sent to the BBC (Backup Control Center) at Huntsville, AL, in case MCC-Houston needs to be evacuated. As of now, JSC does not expect to transition to Level 3 unless the storm track shifts dramatically westward. Should a transition to Level 3 be required, it would occur tonight, followed by transition to Level 2 shortly afterwards (Level 2 on Sunday night or early Monday AM). Storm track, condition and speed changes are continuously being monitored, and the team will be notified of any changes ASAP. The storm is currently expected to make landfall in central Louisiana in the timeframe of Monday evening (9/1). NASAs SSC (Stennis Space Center) and MAF (Michoud Assembly Facility) are closed, except for essential personnel.

Progress M-64/29P Undocking (Monday, 9/1): Tomorrow at 3:47pm EDT, the 29P cargo ship-turned-trash can will undock from the ISS FGB nadir port, according to the following summary flight plan:

• ISS Free Drift FGB hooks opening 2:10pm
• ISS mnvr to duty attitude 2:20pm
• ISS mnvr to undocking attitude 3:13pm
• ISS to free drift 3:42pm
• Undock Command 3:43:30pm
• Sunrise 3:44:34pm
• Phys.Sep/hooks open (spring delta-V0.12m/s) 3:46:30pm
• Progress sep burn #1 (15 sec, 0.635 m/s) 3:49:30pm
• ISS mnvr to TEA attitude 3:53:30pm
• Progress sep burn #2 (30 sec, 1.8 m/s) 3:55:40pm
• Progress retrograde burn (3 m/s) 6:53:15pm
• Independent flight until deorbit on 9/9.

Progress M-65/30P Launch (Wednesday, 9/10):

• Launch 3:50pm
• Orbital Insertion 3:58:43pm
• DV1 (14.33 m/s) 7:25pm
• DV2 (17.08 m/s) 8:12pm
• DV3 (2.00 m/s) 4:34pm (9/11)
• ISS mnvr to dock attitude 2:40pm (9/12)
• Progress Kurs-A Activ. (T1) 3:27pm
• SM Kurs-P Activation (T1) 3:29pm
• Sunrise 3:53pm
• Good Kurs-P data at 80 km 3:54pm
• Range = 9 km (TORU cmd link) 4:19pm
• Range = 8 km (30P TV activ.) 4:21pm
• Sunset 4:53:34pm
• Docking (9/12) 5:01pm
• Progress hooks closed 5:21pm.

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).

Week 20 Scheduled Main Activities:

• Mon. (9/1, Labor Day): Crew off duty; Progress 29P Undock (~3:47pm); CSA-CP probe replacement; ham session; FSL/FCE lock.
• Tue. (9/2): ATV Undock OBT; BUAP/MBRL (PCE) equipment install in SM (ATV hand controller, antenna switch box, prox comm unit); Elektron deact/act; Vozdukh AVK test; FGB PS1/PS2 filter & TsV1 screen cleaning; USOS water sampling; CMO profic.train.; FSL/FCE release.
• Wed. (9/3): MO-7 (all); RED inspection; BMP ch.1 regen; MO-3/FE-1 (TVIS); WRS O2 purge/port install/leak check; SAMS s/w load; CGSE troubleshooting; BRTK-MBRL (PCE) test 1.
• Thu. (9/4): SOTR-KOB1 maintenance; SRVK-BRPK maintenance; BMP ch.2 regen; CWC audit; SLEEP init.; PCS s/w load-ghosting; IWIS reprogram; ATV: activate/remove equipment & SSVP docking system/close hatches/take photo+video; TVS-MPEG Ku-band test.
• Fri. (9/5): ATV Undock (5:27pm EDT); PCS reboot; microbial sampling; CGSE troubleshoot.
• Sat. (9/6): FFQ; IWIS deact.

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 7:52am EDT [= epoch]):
Mean altitude — 353.6 km
Apogee height — 358.2 km
Perigee height — 349.0 km
Period — 91.61 min.
Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
Eccentricity — 0.0006873
Solar Beta Angle — -3.7 deg (magnitude decreasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.72
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours — 42 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 56038

Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time, some changes possible.):
09/01/08 — Progress M-64/29P undocking, FGB nadir (~3:47pm); independent flight w/Plasma exp.
09/05/08 — ATV1 undocking, from SM aft port (~5:27pm); independent flight
09/09/08 — Progress M-64/29P de-orbit (~5:19pm)
09/10/08 — Progress M-65/30P launch (~3:49:45pm)
09/12/08 — Progress M-65/30P docking (SM aft, ~5:08pm DM)
09/29/08 — ATV de-orbit (nighttime re-entry for observation)
10/01/08 — NASA 50 Years (official)
10/08/08 — STS-125/Atlantis Hubble Space Telescope Service Mission 4 (SM4)
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)
10/23/08 — Soyuz TMA-12/16S undocking (DC1 nadir) or 10/24?
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
11/25/08 — 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).