NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 1 October 2005

SpaceRef note: This NASA Headquarters internal status report, as presented here, contains additional, original material produced by SpaceRef.com (copyright © 2005) to enhance access to related status reports and NASA activities.

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.  Saturday — off-duty day for Sergei Krikalev and John Phillips, except for some housekeeping and voluntary work.   

Soyuz TMA-7 (11S) launched on time last night at 11:54:53pm EDT at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying Expedition 12 crewmembers William McArthur & Valery Tokarev plus the third “space tourist”, US businessman Gregory Olsen (VC9), after another flawless countdown of the Soyuz-FG (see below).  The 11S spacecraft is currently ending its first day of catching up with the station for the docking early Monday (10/3) morning at 1:32am EDT.   [At launch, the ISS was flying approximately 230 miles above the South Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Chile.  First rendezvous burn was this morning at ~3:32am, followed by the second burn at ~4:20am.  Hatch opening between the Soyuz spacecraft and the station will be on Monday at about 4:25am EDT, with live NASA TV coverage of the docking beginning Monday at midnight.  During their stay, McArthur & Tokarev will mark five years of continuous human presence in orbit.  They are replacing Expedition 11, CDR Sergei Krikalev and FE/SO John Phillips, who have been doing research and maintaining station systems since April this year.  Along with Olsen, they will return to Earth at 9:08pm EDT, Oct. 10.]

Krikalev completed another preliminary 55-min training session in the “Chibis” ODNT suit as part of his preparations for returning into gravity.  John Phillips provided assistance.   [The below-the-waist reduced-pressure device ODNT (US: LBNP) in the “Chibis” garment provides gravity-simulating stress to the body’s cardiovascular/circulatory system for reestablishing the body’s orthostatic tolerance (e.g., the Gauer-Henry reflex) after the six-month stay in zero-G.]

With visitors expected to drop in soon, the crew spent three hours completing the regular weekly task of thorough station cleaning, wearing protective garment.   [“Uborka”, done every Saturday, includes removal of food waste products, cleaning of compartments with vacuum cleaner, damp cleaning of the Service Module (SM) dining table, other surfaces and the CDR’s sleep station with “Fungistat” disinfectant and cleaning fan screens to avoid temperature rises.]

In the Service Module (SM), Sergei performed a configuration & status check on the BPK condensate pumping unit of the Russian SRV-K2 water processing system behind panels 433, 435, and 436.

Working off the Russian discretionary “time available” task list, Krikalev used the automatic temperature recorder (ART) for the regular temperature check on the BIO-11 ”Statokonia” payload with the ULITKA (“snail”) incubator, set up in the SM with new material delivered on 18P.   [BIO-11 studies the composition of statoconia, i.e., the organ of equilibrium in snails, and other phenomena exhibited by “ulitka” in zero-G and post-flight.]

As a second “job jar” item, Sergei was to perform his fifth session with the biomedical MBI-9 “Pulse” experiment, preceded by setting up the equipment.   [Execution of the medical cardiological assessment is controlled from the Russian payload laptop, using a set respiration rate (without forced or deep breaths) and synchronizing respiration with computer-commanded “inhale” commands.  First, arterial blood pressure is measured with the “Tensoplus” sphygmomanometer, followed by the “Pulse” test to record the ECG (electrocardiogram) and a report to TsUP in the next comm pass.]

Krikalev also conducted the daily routine maintenance of the SM’s SOZh environment control & life support system, including ASU toilet system.

Both crewmembers completed their regular 2.5-hr. physical exercise program on the CEVIS cycle ergometer, TVIS treadmill, RED resistive machine and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer.   [Sergei’s daily protocol prescribes a strict four-day microcycle exercise with 1.5 hr on the treadmill and one hour on VELO plus load trainer (today: Day 3 of a new set).]

Afterwards, John transferred the exercise data files to the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer) for downlink, as well as the daily wristband HRM (heart rate monitor) data of the RED workouts, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium (done six times a week).

At 11:10am, John Phillips was scheduled for his weekly PFC (private family conference) via S-band/audio and Ku-band/NetMeeting video.

At 11:15am, Sergei conducted a live TV interview with Peter Tolstoy, an anchorman of the Voskresnoye Vremya (Sunday Times) Show on Moscow’s Channel One, responding to a number of questions uplinked beforehand.   [Q: “Here, on Earth, there is a lot of talk about noodles and camcorders that the Japanese are sending to you. What do you think about this up there in space?” A:  “This is the second time that the Russian Segment of the ISS is getting a Japanese Hi-Def camcorder. The first occasion was when a similar camcorder was used for a year and a half by the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Expeditions.  Scenes of Russian cosmonauts living at the Space Station which were recorded by the first HDTV camcorder were shown all over Japan.  Today, Japan is one of our most reliable and steadfast partners.   We have effective cooperation; run interesting experiments at the ISS developed by Japanese specialists.  For HDTV camcorders, the crucial question is the CCD matrix degradation rate.  Initially, we together with Valery Tokarev will be the first to test the camcorder at the ISS, while overall it will be used at the ISS for at least a year.  And yes, indeed, I will be eating noodles and the scene will be taped on the Hi-Def camcorder. Besides that, we will shoot the Earth through the window and will demonstrate the effects of zero gravity at the Station.  During shooting, I will be the actor while Valery Tokarev is going to be the cameraman.”]

Sleep Cycle Shift:  For the Soyuz docking and subsequent handover period, sleep/wake cycle aboard the station will be shifted tomorrow (Sunday) by moving bedtime from 5:30pm EDT to an earlier 1:00pm, followed by wake-up at 9:30pm (from 2:00am next morning), with sleep time on 10/3 at 3:30pm.  The station day hours will then settle down to 3:30am – 7:00pm for the rest of the E11/E12 transition period.

Today’s CEO (crew earth observations) photo targets, limited in the current XPOP attitude by flight rule constraints on the use of the Lab nadir/science window, which is available for only ~1/4 of each orbit when not facing forward (in ram), were Yangtze River Delta (obliques of the heavily urbanized delta were requested for change detection.  Coastlines especially are being modified both naturally and artificially [to expand urban acreage].  Looking right as close to nadir as feasible), Typhoon Longwang, Taiwan (Dynamic event. Good opportunity for backlit views of this well organized storm, due to make landfall late Sunday in Taiwan), and Volcanics Mapping, North Pakistan (good opportunity for oblique contextual images of one of the most remote CEO targets.  Looking right for red-brown layers in the NW-SE aligned rocks of the region, as near nadir as feasible.  The volcanic rocks are key to understanding and dating the collision of the Indian subcontinent with Asia about 65 million years ago.  Swing season is the only time to image this area, which is cloud covered in summer and snow covered in winter).

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:

• http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov
• http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov
• http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/AstronautPhotography/

See also the website “Space Station Challenge” at:

• http://voyager.cet.edu/iss/

To view the latest photos taken by the expedition 11 crew visit:

• http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-11/ndxpage1.html at NASA’s Human Spaceflight website.

Expedition 11 Flight Crew Plans can be found at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/timelines/

Previous NASA ISS On-orbit Status Reports can be found here. Previous NASA Space Station Status Reports can be found here. Previous NASA Space Shuttle Processing Status Reports can be found here. A collection of all of these reports and other materials relating to Return to Flight for the Space Shuttle fleet can be found here.

ISS Orbit  (as of this morning, 6:48am EDT [= epoch]):

• Mean altitude — 348.6 km
• Apogee height — 349.8 km
• Perigee height — 347.5 km
• Period — 91.51 min.
• Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
• Eccentricity — 0.0001685
• Solar Beta Angle — -50.6 deg (magnitude decreasing)
• Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.73
• Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours — 65 m
• Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 39240

Expedition 12/Expedition 11 Flight Timelines:

• Soyuz 11S (Expedition 12+1; William McArthur, Valery Tokarev, Gregory Olsen):
• Handover ISS attitude control to RS MCS — 10/2 (Sun.), 9:50pm EDT;
• Maneuver ISS to docking attitude — 10/2, 11:19pm
• Kurs-A & Kurs-P short test (15 km) — 10/3 (Mon.), 00:40am;
• Soyuz TV activation (8 km from ISS) — 00:47am
• Flyaround — 1:05-1:14pm;
• Orbital Sunrise — 1:10am;
• Start Final Approach from Stationkeeping — 1:23am;
• ISS in Free Drift — 1:32-1:52am
• Docking — 10/3 (Mon.), 1:32am EDT.
• RGS Loss of Signal (LOS) — 1:42am.
• Soyuz 10S (Expedition 11+1; Sergei Krikalev, John Phillips, Gregory Olsen):
• Undocking from FGB — 10/10 (Mon., Columbus Day), 5:40pm EDT (undock command);
• Sep Burn #1 (manual) —  5:46pm;
• Deorbiting Burn —  8:21pm (4 min 23 sec; delta-V 115.2 m/s); 
• Landing before dawn — 10/10 (Mon.)  9:08pm EDT;  7:08am (10/11) local Kustanai/Kazakhstan;
• Sunrise at Kustanai landing site — 7:47am local.  [Note: Kazakhstan remains on Standard Time; thus: local time = GMT+5].

Other Upcoming Events (all times EDT):

• 10/18/05 — ISS Reboost
• 11/18/05 — Soyuz TMA-7/11S relocation (from DC-1 to FGB nadir port)
• 12/21/05 – Progress M-55/20P launch
• 12/23/05 — Progress M-55/20P docking.

Launch of Soyuz TMA-7 on 9/30/05, 11:54:53pm EDT:

ISS Altitude History

Apogee height — Mean Altitude — Perigee height

For more on ISS orbit and worldwide ISS naked-eye visibility dates/times, see http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/station/viewing/issvis.html. In addition, information on International Space Station sighting opportunities can be found at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/ on NASA’s Human Spaceflight website. The current location of the International Space Station can be found at http://science.nasa.gov/temp/StationLoc.html at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Additional satellite tracking resources can be found at http://www.spaceref.com/iss/tracking.html.