NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 7 September 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 21 of Increment 17.

The crew performed the regular weekly three-hour task of thorough station cleaning. ["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 FE’s sleep station 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 house cleaning, the crew conducted regular maintenance inspection & cleaning on fan grilles in the FGB (TsV1), SM (VPkhO, VPrK, FS5, FS6 & FS9), DC1 (V3) screens, as well as in the COL (Columbus Orbital Laboratory).

Sergey Volkov performed the routine daily servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM, including the weekly collection of the toilet flush (SP) counter and water supply (SVO) readings for calldown to TsUP-Moscow. The CDR today also checked up on the Russian POTOK-150MK (150 micron) air filter unit of the SM’s 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.]

In preparation for tomorrow’s Robotics activities, Chamitoff set up the SSRMS (Space Station Remote Manipulator System) video camera connection by hooking up the UOP DCP (Utility Outlet Panel/Display & Control Panel) power bypass cable at the CUP RWS (Cupola Robotic Work Station). [Tomorrow’s SSRMS operations require a maneuver & grapple to the ESP-3 (External Stowage Platform 3) by Chamitoff for an EBCS (External Berthing Camera System) checkout by the ground.]

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 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 (CDR, FE-1).

As generally every day now, starting at ~9:00am and running until 3:00pm, the US CDRA (Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly) was activated intermittently for two half-cycles to control ppCO2 levels. This configuration for the daily ops does not require connecting & disconnecting the ITCS (Internal Thermal Control System) cooling loop. [A forward plan is in work for cycling the CSV (CO2 Selector Valve) to prevent its sticking. CDRA remains “yellow” on the ISS critical systems list.]

Working off their discretionary “as time permits” task list, Sergey and Oleg ran another session with the Russian biomedical MBI-15 "Pilot-M"/NEURO signal response experiment, with Kononenko today’s subject and Volkov assisting. Afterwards, the Pilot-M & Neurolab-2000M gear was torn down and stowed. [MBI-15 requires a table, ankle restraint system, eyeball electrodes for an EOG (electrooculogram), and two hand controllers (RUO & RUD) for testing piloting skill in “flying” simulations on a laptop (RSK1) under stopwatch control, as well as for studying special features of the psychophysiologic response of cosmonauts to the effects of stress factors in flight.]

Also from the discretionary task list, Oleg conducted the regular status check of the BIO-5 Rasteniya-2 ("Plants-2") experiment which researches growth and development of plants (barley) under spaceflight conditions in the Lada-13 greenhouse from IBMP (Institute of Bio-Medical Problems {Russian: IMBP}).

A third item on the Russian “job jar” list for the FE-1 was another run of the Russian DZZ-2 "Diatomeya" ocean observations program, using the NIKON-F5 DCS still camera with f85mm lens and the HDV camcorder from SM window #7 to record color field patterns in the target water areas and current cloud cover conditions above them. September is the time to observe the autumnal peak in development of phytoplankton at mid-latitudes associated with higher concentration of biogenic matter in the ocean due to its regeneration and continental runoff. [Uplinked target zones in the Indian Ocean were the coastal area of South Africa and the area south-west of Australia, and in the Atlantic Ocean the US coastline and the area south of Africa.]

WiFi Switch Update: Congrats went up to the crew on yesterday’s successful verification of the station’s switch to WiFi: “It’s very good to know that the new WAPs (Wireless Access Points) work so well–even reaching an unexpected location. How convenient!” [When the ground could not connect to the WiFi-card equipped SSC-11 (Station Support Computer 11) A31p laptop to set up the wireless network with the appropriate “wizard”, Chamitoff configured SSC-9 locally with a different WiFi card, and that fixed the problem, although the actual cause (card or transition difference) remains unclear. SSC-9 was later returned to normal OpsLAN ops.]

No CEO (Crew Earth Observation) 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 21 Scheduled Main Activities:

• Mon. (9/8): SLEEP; Acoustic Survey; BMP ch.1 regen; POC-DOUG revw; SSRMS/ESP-3; Hatch seal inspect; CGSE troubleshoot; EMER OBT; ATV MBRL/PCE uninstall; Iridium phone recharge.
• Tue. (9/9): SLEEP; Acoustic Survey; BMP ch.2 regen; TORU OBT; O-OHA; EMU batt. maint.; BCAT-3 fam.; PMCs; JAXA AQUA-Ink Ball exp.; MBI-12.
• Wed. (9/10): SLEEP; MBI-18; MBI-12 term/dwnld; “Life on ISS” video; RS Video/MPEG-2 Ku-Band test; CGSE troubleshoot; SOTR-SMOK R&R; MAS microbial analyses (T+5); BCAT-3/-4; Progress 30P launch.
• Thu. (9/11): MBI-11; JAXA Art video; TORU OBT rvw; CHeCS Rack relocate; SOTR-SMOK R&R; CWC audit; IWIS reprog.
• Fri. (9/12): Tekh-20 (PK-3) BSPN; Lulin-5 check; ICS umbilical mate; Progress 30P docking (SM aft port); Node-2 cleanout; NUTRITION setup.

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 8:05am EDT [= epoch]):
Mean altitude — 353.2 km
Apogee height — 357.9 km
Perigee height — 348.5 km
Period — 91.60 min.
Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
Eccentricity — 0.0006959
Solar Beta Angle — 27.3 deg (magnitude increasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.72
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours — 50 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 56148

Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time, some changes possible.):
09/08/08 — Progress M-64/29P de-orbit (~4:47pm)
09/10/08 — Progress M-65/30P launch (~3:50pm)
09/12/08 — Progress M-65/30P docking (SM aft, ~5:01pm)
09/29/08 — ATV de-orbit (nighttime re-entry for observation from 2 NASA planes; 9:12pm)
10/01/08 — NASA 50 Years (official)
10/10/08 — STS-125/Atlantis Hubble Space Telescope Service Mission 4 (SM4) 12:33am [new target date]
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?
11/12/08 — STS-126/Endeavour/ULF2 launch – MPLM Leonardo, LMC [new target date]
11/14/08 — 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).