NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 6 August 2011
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Saturday – Crew off-duty day.
CDR Borisenko conducted the periodic maintenance of the active Russian BMP Harmful Impurities Removal System, starting the “bake-out” cycle to vacuum on absorbent bed #2 of the regenerable dual-channel filtration system. Andrey will terminate the process at ~5:15pm EDT before sleep time. Bed #1 regeneration was performed yesterday. [Regeneration of each of the two cartridges takes about 12 hours and is conducted only during crew awake periods. The BMP’s regeneration cycle is normally done every 20 days.]
The six crewmembers joined in conducting the regular weekly three-hour task of thorough cleaning of their home, including COL (Columbus Orbital Laboratory) and Kibo JPM (JEM Pressurized Module). As part of today’s uborka, Ron Garan took documentary photographs of the RGSH AORG (Return Grid Sensor Housing add-on screens) at COL D0 before and after going over them with the vacuum cleaner (to be compared with pictures taken during previous cleaning to establish the quantity of debris captured during the week). [“Uborka”, usually done on Saturdays, includes removal of food waste products, cleaning of compartments with vacuum cleaner, damp cleaning of the SM (Service Module) dining table, other frequently touched surfaces and surfaces where trash is collected, as well as the sleep stations with a standard cleaning solution; also, fan screens and grilles are cleaned to avoid temperature rises. Special cleaning is also done every 90 days on the HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) bacteria filters in the Lab.]
As part of the uborka house cleaning, CDR Borisenko & FE-1 Samokutyayev & FE-4 Volkov completed regular maintenance inspection & cleaning of fan screens in the FGB (TsV2) plus Group E fan grilles (VPkhO, FS5, FS6, VP) in the SM (Service Module), while FE-4 Volkov serviced the numerous Group A ventilator fans & grilles in the SM, after photographing all fan screens for ground inspection.
Also during the house cleaning, Aleks Samokutyayev tested the SM PSS caution & warning panel (which had been switched for the EVA-29 from the regular PSS console to the EVA support panel (POV).
Andrey Borisenko completed 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, 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 ~9:00am EDT, the crew 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.
In the Kibo JPM, FE-6 Fossum powered up the SDRM (SpaceDRUMS/Space Dynamically Responding Ultrasonic Matrix) payload on ER-5 (EXPRESS Rack 5) and turned it off again about 5 hrs later after resource tracking by POIC (Payload Operations & Integration Center), which is an unattended activity to track power, medium rate data, and analog video usage. [SpaceDRUMS suspends a baseball-sized solid or liquid sample using 20 acoustic beam emitters during combustion or heat-based synthesis. Materials can be produced in microgravity with an unparalleled quality of shape and composition. SpaceDRUMS will support scientific understanding of processes like combustion synthesis and self-propagating high temperature synthesis and also provide direct commercial benefits from materials processing. Advanced ceramics, polymer, and colloids can be processed in SpaceDRUMS.]
Mike also opened the protective window shutters of Lab WORF (Window Observational Research Facility) for the ISSAC (ISS Agriculture Camera) equipment, so ground images can be captured by ground commanding. Later tonight, FE-6 will close the shutters again. [ISSAC takes frequent visible-light & infrared images of vegetated areas on the Earth. The camera focuses principally on rangelands, grasslands, forests, and wetlands in the northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountain regions of the United States. The images may be delivered directly upon request to farmers, ranchers, foresters, natural resource managers and tribal officials to help improve their environmental stewardship of the land. The images will also be shared with educators for classroom use.]
In the ESA COL, FE-5 Furukawa & FE-3 Garan performed a VolSci (Voluntary Weekend Science) activity, having chosen the ERB2 (European Recording Binocular 2) Delta commissioning which aims at testing a final functionality of the camera, i.e., its capacity to transmit in near real-time live 3D audio & video signal to ESA’s ESTEC Erasmus Centre Auditorium. [Activity steps included configuring the VCA1 (Video Camera Assembly 1) for real-time monitoring, activating and checking out the ERB2 at the ESA EDR (European Drawer Rack), then shooting about 20 min of video of “Life onboard ISS” after an uplinked script.]
In the JAXA JPM, also as a VolSci activity, Satoshi later performed CB (Clean Bench) clean-up and CB relief valve checkout. [For the cleanup and checkout of the relief valves, the CB OC (Operation Chamber) had to be pulled out with its joystick and subsequently reconfigured for stowage.]
Borisenko & Samokutyayev each completed another data collection session for the psychological program MBI-16 Vzaimodejstvie (“Interactions”), accessing and completing the computerized study questionnaire on the RSE-Med laptop and saving the data in an encrypted file. It was Andrey’s 7th, Sasha’s 8th onboard session with MBI-16. [The software has a “mood” questionnaire, a “group & work environment” questionnaire, and a “critical incidents” log. Results from the study, which is also mirrored by ground control subjects, could help to improve the ability of future crewmembers to interact safely and effectively with each other and with Mission Control, to have a more positive experience in space during multi-cultural, long-duration missions, and to successfully accomplish mission activities.]
FE-6 Fossum filled out his weekly FFQ (Food Frequency Questionnaire) on the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer). [On the FFQs, USOS 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.]
In the DC-1, Sergei Volkov terminated the post-EVA-29 recharge process on the first 825M3 Orlan battery pack in the ZU-S recharge unit and initiated it on pack 2.
In another Increment 27 crew handover segment, Ron Garan had about an hour scheduled with Satoshi Furukawa to bring him up to par with USOS (US Segment) tasks.
FE-3 & FE-4 had their 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), Sergei at ~7:40am, Ron at ~11:05am EDT.
At ~2:00pm, Mike Fossum will power up the SM’s amateur radio equipment (Kenwood VHF transceiver with manual frequency selection, headset, & power supply) and at 2:10pm conduct a ham radio session with scouts the Octave Chanute Air Museum/Scouts Space Jam 5, Rantoul, Illinois.
The crew worked out with their regular 2-hr physical exercise protocol on the CEVIS cycle ergometer with vibration isolation (FE-3, FE-5), TVIS treadmill with vibration isolation & stabilization (CDR, FE-1, FE-4), ARED advanced resistive exercise device (FE-1, FE-3, FE-4, FE-5, FE-6), T2/COLBERT advanced treadmill (FE-6), and VELO ergometer bike with load trainer (CDR).
Weekly Science Update (Expedition Twenty-Seven/Twenty-Eight — Week 19)
2D NANO Template (JAXA): No report.
3D SPACE: No report.
AgCam (Agricultural Camera): No report.
ALTCRISS (Alteino Long Term monitoring of Cosmic Rays on the ISS): Complete.
ALTEA SHIELD (NASA/ASI): On 7/22, the ALTEA-SHIELD hardware was relocated to its last location for the Survey part of the experiment. Since then science data is being acquired and so far we reached ~12 days of cumulative science acquisition (min 20 days, preferred 30 days or more for each location). On 8/02, ALTEA-SHIELD was de-activated for a significant part of the day to allow for ER#2 reboot (to recover SAMS data), re-activated afterwards.
AMS-02 (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer): AMS and its laptop continue to operate smoothly. So far data from nearly 4 billion cosmic rays has been collected. The team at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland and around the world is working hard to turn these measurements into science.
APEX (Advanced Plant Experiments on Orbit) -Cambium: No report.
APEX-TAGES (Transgenic Arabidopsis Gene Expression System): No report.
Asian Seed 2010 (JAXA): Returned on ULF6.
BCAT-4/5 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test 4/5): No report.
BIOLAB (ESA): No report.
BIORHYTHMS (JAXA, Biological Rhythms): No report.
BISE (CSA, Bodies in the Space Environment): No report.
BISPHOSPHONATES: No report.
BXF-Facility (Boiling eXperiment Facility, NASA): No report.
BXF-MABE (Microheater Array Boiling Experiment, NASA): No report.
BXF-NPBX (Pool Boiling Experiment, NASA): No report.
CARD (Long Term Microgravity: Model for Investigating Mechanisms of Heart Disease, ESA): Samples will be returned on STS-135 (ULF7).
CARDIOCOG-2: Complete.
CB (JAXA Clean Bench): No report.
CBEF-2 (JAXA Cell Biology Experiment Facility)/SPACE SEED: No report.
CCISS (Cardiovascular & Cerebrovascular Control on Return from ISS): No report.
CERISE (JAXA): No report.
CCF (Capillary Channel Flow): No report.
CFS-A (Colored Fungi in Space-A, ESA): No report.
CSI-3/CGBA-5 (CGBA Science Insert #2/Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus 5): No report.
CGBA-2 (Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus 2): Complete.
CIR (Combustion Integrated Rack), MDCA/Flex: No report.
Commercial (Inc 23&24, JAXA): No report.
Commercial (Inc 25 & 26, JAXA): Sample returned by ULF6.
CSLM-2 (Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures 2): No report.
CsPins (JAXA): No report.
CubeLab: No report.
CW/CR (Cell Wall/Resist Wall) in EMCS (European Modular Cultivation System): Complete.
DECLIC-ALI (Device for the Study of Critical Liquids & Crystallization-ALICE-like, CNES/NASA): No report.
DomeGene (JAXA): Complete.
DOSIS (Dose Distribution Inside ISS, ESA): No report.
EarthKAM (Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students): No report.
EDR (European Drawer Rack, ESA): No report.
EKE (Endurance Capacity by Gas Exchange and Heart Rate Kinetics During Physical Training, ESA): No report.
ELITE-S2 (Elaboratore Immagini Televisive – Space 2): Planned.
EMCS (European Modular Cultivation System): No report.
ENose (Electronic Nose): No report.
EPM (European Physiology Module): No report.
EPO (Educational Payload Operations, NASA) (Sesame Street): No report.
EPO (Educational Payload Operations, NASA) (Kids in Micro-G): No report.
EPO LES-2 (ESA): No report.
EPO GREENHOUSE (ESA): No report.
EPO 3-min Video (JAXA): No report.
EPO J-Astro Report (JAXA): Report 2 was completed on 6/26.
EPO Dewey’s Forest (JAXA): Closed out on 3/15.
EPO Space Clothes (JAXA): Complete.
EPO Hiten (Dance, JAXA): No report.
EPO Lego Bricks (NASA, JAXA): “Satoshi, thank you for working on our activities this week.”
EPO-5 SpaceBottle (Message in a Bottle, JAXA): No report.
EPO Moon Score (JAXA): No report.
EPO Try Zero-G (JAXA): On 8/2, FE3 Garan and FE5 Satoshi completed all actions on live video.
EPO Kibo Kids Tour (JAXA): Complete.
EPO Paper Craft (Origami, JAXA): No report.
EPO Poem (JAXA): No report.
EPO Spiral Top 2 (JAXA, EPO-6): No report.
ERB-2 (Erasmus Recording Binocular, ESA): [ERB-2 aims are to develop narrated video material for various PR & educational products & events, including a 3D interior station view.] VolSci session on 8/6.
ETD (Eye Tracking Device): Completed.
FACET-2 (JAXA): No report.
FERULATE (JAXA): No report.
FIR/LMM/CVB (Fluids Integrated Rack / Light Microscopy Module / Constrained Vapor Bubble): No report.
Fish Scales (JAXA): Completed on FD7/ULF-4 and returned on STS-132.
FOAM STABILITY (ESA): No report.
FOCUS: No report.
FSL (Fluid Science Laboratory, ESA): FSL activation is on-hold pending engineering assessment of the recent faulty boot-up events. No activities during Week #18-19-20, awaiting the analysis of the engineering teams.
FWED (Flywheel Exercise Device, ESA): No report.
GENARA-A (Gravity Regulated Genes in Arabidopsis A/ESA): No report.
GEOFLOW-2 (ESA): GEOFLOW-2 runs will be resumed only when ESA will have a clear forward plan for FSL.
HAIR (JAXA): No report.
HDTV System (JAXA): No report.
Hicari (JAXA): No report.
Holter ECG (JAXA): No report.
HQPC (JAXA): Was delivered by 34P.
HREP (HICO/Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean & RAIDS/Remote Atmospheric & Ionospheric Detection System/JAXA): HICO has taken 3761 images to-date. The most recent HICO images include part of the Great Barrier Reef, the Straits of Gibraltar, Sydney Harbour and part of the Chesapeake Bay. RAIDS is collecting secondary science including nighttime atmospheric disk photometry, spectra and temperatures. Extreme Ultra Violet airglow spectroscopy and optical contamination studies are also being performed.
HydroTropi (Hydrotropism & Auxin-Inducible Gene Expression in Roots Grown under Microgravity Conditions/JAXA): No report.
ICE CRYSTAL (JAXA): Complete.
ICV (Integrated Cardiovascular): No report.
IMMUNO (Neuroendocrine & Immune Responses in Humans During & After Long Term Stay at ISS): Complete.
INTEGRATED IMMUNE: No report.
InSPACE-2 (Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions 2): No report.
IRIS (Image Reversal in Space, CSA): No report.
ISS Amateur/Ham Radio: No report.
ISSAC (ISS Agricultural Camera, NASA): No report.
IV Gen (Intravenous Fluids Generation): No report.
KID/KUBIK6: No report.
KUBIK 3 (ESA): No report.
LOCAD-PTS (Lab-on-a-Chip Application Development-Portable Test System): No report.
Marangoni Exp (JAXA): 24th run was completed on 12/22.
Marangoni DSD – Dynamic Surf (JAXA): Payload name was change from Marangoni DSD to Dynamic Surf.
Marangoni UVP (JAXA): No report.
Matryoshka-2 (RSA): No report.
MAXI (Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image, JAXA): Continuing telemetry monitoring.
MDCA/Flex: “Mike: Thanks for all your hard work reconnecting MDCA in the CIR Combustion Chamber and replacing the CIR bottle in preparation for MDCA/FLEX science test points. We are still unsure of why you had such a difficult time connecting the water QDs inside the Combustion Chamber. These QDs have been disconnected/connected many times on-orbit with the most recent performed by Ron on 5/5. We look forward to resuming science operations next week.”
MEIS (Marangoni Experiment for ISS) in JAXA FPEF (Fluid Physics Experiment Facility): No report.
Microbe-2 (JAXA): Sample returned by ULF6.
Micro-G Clay (JAXA EPO): Complete.
MISSE-7 (Materials ISS Experiment 7): The 7th Materials on International Space Station Experiment (MISSE-7) reached a successful mission completion on 5/10. During EVA-1, PEC 7A and PEC 7B were retrieved and transferred to the STS-134 Shuttle payload bay for return to Earth. MISSE-7 was launched to the ISS aboard the STS-129 Shuttle mission in November 2009, and operated continuously since that time. During its 1.5 year on-orbit mission, MISSE-7 tested a variety of next-generation solar cells and electronic devices and provided real-time downlink of science data. MISSE-7 also continuously exposed cutting-edge material samples that will be analyzed in ground laboratories to determine how well they survived the space exposure effects of atomic oxygen, ultraviolet exposure, particle irradiation, and extreme temperature cycles.
MISSE-8 (Materials ISS Experiment 8): All MISSE-8 experiments are operating nominally however the Communications Interface Board (CIB) has experienced four lockups this past week. The CIB had to be reconfigured and the Forward Technology Solar Cell Experiment III (FTSCE III) clock reset to recover from the lockup. A Payload Anomaly Report was generated to document these recent lockups and engineers will begin looking for the cause. PASCAL continued nominal commanding that produced IV curves of the solar cells. IV curves are plots of the current versus voltage for solar cells and tell a lot about how these are performing. The SpaceCube experiment is continuing to upload files with updated code for new radiation hardening by software experiment algorithms.
MMA (JAXA/Microgravity Measurement Apparatus): No report.
MPAC/SEED (JAXA): Completed on 19A FD4.
MSG-SAME (Microgravity Science Glovebox-Smoke Aerosol Measurement Experiment): No report.
MSL (Materials Science Laboratory, ESA): No report.
MTR-2 (Russian radiation measurements): Passive dosimeters measurements in DC-1 “Pirs”.
MULTIGEN-1: Completed.
MYCO 3 (JAXA): No report.
MyoLab (JAXA): Completed on 4/20.
NANOSKELETON (Production of High Performance Nanomaterials in Microgravity, JAXA): Returned on ULF6.
NEURORAD (JAXA): No report.
NEUROSPAT (ESA/Study of Spatial Cognition, Novelty Processing and Sensorimotor Integration):
NOA-1/-2 (Nitric Oxide Analyzer, ESA): Complete.
NUTRITION w/REPOSITORY/ProK: “Ron, as a heads up, your next Nutrition session (FD120) is being scheduled to begin with the urine setup on 8/8. You will conduct the setup for both you and Satoshi. Your urine collections will begin on 8/9 and conclude on 8/10 along with your blood draw. The stowing of the urine kit and blood consumables will be on 8/12. Have a great weekend, Ron. Satoshi, your FD60 Nutrition session will be scheduled next week. Have a great weekend. Mike, thank you for the heads up about starting your blood draw early. With the successful blood ops on Thursday, you have two sessions remaining. Your call down of the blood tube barcodes was greatly appreciated as well as the urine barcodes received via downlink. We are also extremely appreciative for the bonus information regarding the inventory of the mesh bags in the HRF Supply Kit Green. Great Job Mike!””
PADIAC (Pathway Different Activators, ESA): No report.
PADLES (JAXA, Area PADLES 3/4; Passive Area Dosimeter for Lifescience Experiment in Space): On 6/14 completed installation of 17 Dosimeters in JPM and JLP.
PASSAGES (JAXA): No report.
PCDF-PU (Protein Crystallization Diagnostic Facility – Process Unit): No report.
PCG (JAXA, Protein Crystal Growth): Continuing telemetry monitoring.
PCRF (Protein Crystallization Research Facility) Reconfiguration (JAXA): See PCG.
PLSG (Plant Signaling, NASA/ESA): The seed cassettes from run 1 were removed and the samples inserted into MELFI on 8/29. The Experiment Containers for Run 2 were inserted into EMCS in preparation for the second and last run. This was initiated on 7/31 by ground commanding providing water to the seeds. As for run 1, the hydration was monitored for two of the 8 ECs in real time by EMCS internal video, and confirmed by downlinked still images for all ECs. The hydration process was complete and appeared excellent. Both EMCS rotors were run to provide 1 g conditions for the first 2 days of development, and Rotor B was stopped on 8/2 to provide the 0g conditions, while Rotor A continued for the 1g control conditions. Seedling germination and growth was observed as expected, with the experiment stop and sample processing that was completed on 8/5. All Plant Signaling frozen samples will remain in MELFI until return to earth. “Mike, thank you so much for all the wonderful work, you went above and beyond our expectations. All of our experiment operations are complete now, and we are anxiously waiting for the samples to return on Space-X 1.”
PMDIS (Perceptual Motor Deficits in Space): Complete.
POLCA/GRAVIGEN (ESA): Complete.
Portable PFS: No report.
Pro K: No report.
RadGene & LOH (JAXA): Complete.
RadSilk (JAXA): No report.
RST/Reaction Self Test (Psychomotor Vigilance Self Test on the ISS): “Ron, Mike and Satoshi, we downlinked your data from the past month and we thank you for your participation and especially for completing tests from the task list!”
RYUTAI Rack (JAXA): No report.
SAIBO Rack (JAXA): Planned candidate for Week 20 (8/6) Voluntary Science, Clean Bench clean up and Valve check out.
SAMS/MAMS (Space & Microgravity Acceleration Measurement Systems): No report.
SAMPLE: Complete.
SCOF (Solution Crystallization Observation Facility, JAXA): No report.
SEDA-AP (Space Environment Data Acquisition Equipment-Attached Payload, JAXA): Continuing telemetry monitoring.
SHERE II (Shear History Extensional Rheology Experiment II): “New software was loaded on 8/2, which solved the motor/software problem from the previous week. A disconnected cable at the MLC was also discovered, and this solved the Data Transfer issue. “Mike, thank you so much for completing the checkout activities, we were very surprised by your discovery of some novel science with the oscillation of the FT Cal Tool when released, which apparently shows there is an electromagnetic field in the US Lab Module strong enough to cause this magnetic tool to rock back and forth like a compass needle. The SHERE team was entertained and excited by this science demonstration, we also saw that you had the same reaction as well. Our team is very thankful to you for your keen interest in our science and the precious time you spent to learn about our hardware. We definitely appreciated your attempts to improve our FT Lockdown Fixture and Holding Tool. Both of these tools were loose from wear-and-tear from previous use during Increments 17 and 18. All hardware and instrumentation looks good, and our ground team is looking forward to beginning science runs next week.”
SLAMMD (Space Linear Acceleration Mass Measurement Device): “Hope you had fun riding the SLAMMD – the Body Mass Measurements are data points supporting the Nutrition protocol.”
SLEEP (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight): No report.
SMILES (JAXA): Continuing telemetry monitoring.
SODI/IVIDIL (Selectable Optical Diagnostics Instrument/Influence of Vibration on Diffusion in Liquids, ESA): No report.
SODI/COLLOID (Selectable Optical Diagnostics Instrument/Colloid): No report.
SOLAR (Solar Monitoring Observatory): The Sun Visibility Window #43 ended on 7/31. Science data acquisition for both SOLACES and SOLSPEC until then, not out of sun visibility. SOLAR prevented to do science measurements during the EMCS venting on 7/30-31 for the Plant Signaling experiment. Some known anomalies happened with minor or no impact to science.
SOLO (Sodium Loading in Microgravity): “Ron, the SOLO science team and the whole ESA team passes huge thanks for all your efforts to complete the two SOLO diet sessions and associated measurements and sampling! Some of the issues discussed with you in the last conference are being looked at by the ground teams in view of future subjects. Thank you again, also to Satoshi for the help with the blood draw!”
Space-DRUMS (Space Dynamically Responding Ultrasonic Matrix System): No report.
Space Food (JAXA): Completed & returned on ULF6.
SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellite): No report.
SPHINX (SPaceflight of Huvec: an Integrated eXperiment, ESA): No report.
SPICE (Smoke Point In Co-flow Experiment): No report.
SPINAL (Spinal Elongation): No report.
SPRINT: No report.
SS-HDTV (Super Sensitivity High Definition Camera, JAXA): Completed Video Checkout1 on 6/22.
STP-H3 (Space Test Program – Houston 3): MHTEX has been in a steady state mode since May drawing about 90 Watts of power. This week MHTEX applied power to the starter pump and determined that gas has been introduced into the starter pump and the system will have to be re-primed. MHTEX plans to re-prime and then restart the system next week. Canary took data during the recent Lab venting event and PCU activation for the EVA this week. VADER is increasing the voltage of the VEDs in the high emissivity state to see if a larger delta e can be achieved. DISC is processing the new images that were taken the previous week.
SWAB (Characterization of Microorganisms & Allergens in Spacecraft): No report.
TASTE IN SPACE (ESA): No report.
THERMOLAB (ESA): “Thank you, Mike, for your first successful in-flight THERMOLAB data collection during your VO2max protocol on 6/27.”
TRAC (Test of Reaction & Adaptation Capabilities): Planned.
TREADMILL KINEMATICS: “Ron, Satoshi and Mike, thank you very much for your excellent work! We look forward to the next time you run Treadmill Kinematics.”
TRIPLELUX-B (ESA): No report.
ULTRASOUND: Planned.
VASCULAR (CSA): No report.
VCAM (Vehicle Cabin Atmosphere Module, NASA): No report.
VESSEL ID System (ESA): Acquiring science data with NorAIS receiver.
VESSEL IMAGING (ESA): No sessions possible due to Ultrasound anomaly.
VO2max (NASA): No report.
VLE (Video Lessons ESA): No report.
WAICO #1/#2 (Waving and Coiling of Arabidopsis Roots at Different g-levels; ESA): No report.
YEAST B (ESA): No report.
CEO (Crew Earth Observation): Through 7/31, 6,640 CEO frames were received on the ground for review and cataloging.
CEO (Crew Earth Observation) targets uplinked for today were Harare, Zimbabwe (the capital city of Zimbabwe is located in the open woodlands of the high plateau region in the north-central part of the country. ISS had a mid-morning pass in clear weather with its approach from the NW. At this time the crew was to begin looking nadir for single-frame views of the low-contrast urban area of about 1.6 million. Best visual cues may have been the reservoirs due west of the city on the Manyame River), St. Paul Rocks islets, Brazil (HMS Beagle Site: Darwin and the Beagle briefly visited this isolated, equatorial Atlantic site in early February of 1832. This tiny group of islets and rocks is also known as the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago. The islands are of particular interest to geologists as they expose rocks associated with the Earth’s mantle above sea level. At this time the crew was to look nadir for the islands as ISS approached the area from the NW. With mid-morning light and a few clouds the crew should have been able to photograph all of them in a detailed mapping pass), Paramaribo, Suriname (this capital city is located just inland from the coast on the west bank of the Suriname River estuary and has a population of about 250,000. ISS had a mid-morning pass with only a few clouds expected. As it approached the coast from the NW, at this time, the crew was to look near nadir for single-frame views of this small city), and Belmopan, Belize (this small, relatively new capital city of just over 20,000 is located near the center of the country and about 50 miles inland. The crew had an early morning pass in fair weather with a near nadir view. As ISS approached from the NW at this time, they were to look carefully for this urban area).
ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 8:09am EDT [= epoch])
Mean altitude – 386.9 km
Apogee height – 395.5 km
Perigee height – 378.2 km
Period — 92.29 min.
Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
Eccentricity — 0.0012768
Solar Beta Angle — 45.8 deg (magnitude increasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.60
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours — 56 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) – 72,876
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time and subject to change):
————–Six-crew operations————-
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)
09/08/11 – Soyuz TMA-21/26S undock/landing (End of Increment 28)
————–Three-crew operations————-
09/22/11 — Soyuz TMA-03M/28S launch – D.Burbank (CDR-30)/A.Shkaplerov/A.Ivanishin
09/24/11 – 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————-
