NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 10 April 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. Sunday, second weekend rest day for the crew. Today Expedition 10 completes 179 days in space (177 aboard ISS), with 15 days to go. Ahead: Week 25 of Increment 10.
FE Salizhan Sharipov continued work preparatory to next week’s ROKVISS experimentation, today restoring and checking out the log file folder of the Russian BSPN payload server computer following yesterday’s upgrade with new software. Also, throughout last night TsUP/Moscow payload specialists conducted testing of the downlink functionality of the BSR-TM Regul interface unit (part of the Russian radio control & communications system) to be used for ROKVISS, plus more checkouts of the ASN-M satellite navigation system, for ATV (automated transfer vehicle) proximity operations. [Background of the current modifications to the BSPN, BSR-TM and EGE-2 components of the Russian segment (RS) payload software: ROKVISS (Robot Komponent Verification on ISS), a pioneering German-Russian mission, has the purpose to demonstrate the ability of robots to perform on-orbit servicing & repair tasks. Consisting of a 50cm-long double-jointed manipulator arm with a single finger, two cameras and an impedance control system that allows ground specialists to operate the arm in real time, ROKVISS is seen as the forerunner of a German-Russian-Canadian free-flying robot to be developed later in this decade. Its HDR (high data rate) S-band comm link is designed to keep total signal roundtrip time well below 500 millisecond (considered the limit for comfortable force feedback ops) and to ensure that force/position data are jitter-free. Because of limited direct-comm windows from the German control site at Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich/Bavaria, the experiment includes automatic control gear, requiring pre-stored commands, onboard data file storage and efficient, time-saving downlinking at window openings, which are the reason of the current “off-nominal” mods. ROKVISS operational testing, starting next week, is expected to extend over one year.]
Salizhan performed the daily routine inspection of the SOZh life support system in the Service Module (SM) and completed the weekly task of collecting toilet flush (SP) counter and water supply (SVO) readings for calldown to TsUP/Moscow.
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The crew conducted their regular daily 2.5-hr. physical exercise program on TVIS treadmill, RED resistive exerciser, and VELO cycle with bungee cord load trainer. [Salizhan’s daily protocol currently prescribes a four-day microcycle exercise with 1.5 hr on the treadmill and one hour on VELO (today: Day 4 of a new set).]
During yesterday’s scheduled physical exercise by Leroy Chiao on the RED the US MCS (motion control system) registered vibrations set up in the vehicle structure. Angular rates in the outer Control Moment Gyroscope gimbals reached -0.5 deg/sec on CMG-3 and -0.6 deg/sec on CMG-4 at some times (desirable maximum rate: 0.2 deg/sec). Other than a brief increase in spin motor commanded current on CMG-4 no negative effects on the CMGs were noted.
Working off the voluntary Russian task list, Salizhan performed the regular daily inspection of the BIO-5 Rasteniya-2 (“Plants-2”) experiment, including filling its water canister as required. [Rasteniya researches growth and development of plants under spaceflight conditions in the Lada-5 greenhouse.]
Also called out by his task list, the FE conducted another session with the “Uragan” (hurricane) earth-imaging program that had him focus the Nikon D1X digital camera with f400 or 800 mm lens from SM window #9 on targets specified by an uplinked list. [Today’s targets included detailed imagery of the Volga river delta and isolated sources of reed-grass fire.]
At ~7:00am EST, the FE had his weekly PFC (private family conference) via S-band/audio and Ku-band/NetMeeting video. Due to a current video routing problem between ISS and Moscow via US assets, a special attempt was made to restore video uplink for him (downlink remains unaffected).
For troubleshooting and to verify that video is properly received at TsUP, a test of RS video transmission via US assets on Ku- and S-band is scheduled for tomorrow morning, without crew involvement. The activity replaces the previously planned crew videoconference with FKA/Roskosmos in Moscow for Cosmonautics Day (April 12), which has been rescheduled on Tuesday (4/12) when it was switched from RGS comm to US S-/Ku-band. The regular medical MO-7/MO-8 tests, planned for 4/12, have consequently been moved to tomorrow (4/11).
The Elektron oxygen generator is still off. Its initial activation is now scheduled for ~3:05am EDT on 4/13, over RGS (for direct TsUP telemetry monitoring).
Researchers on the ground again conducted the European/Russian laser-beam experiment SPQR (Specular Point-like Quick Reference), today during a 5-min “window” at 6:14am. [SPQR, installed at SM window #3 along with its Nikon D1X camera, tests a ground-based imaging system, using special optics and image processing, to determine the feasibility of detecting external damage to a spacecraft in orbit from the ground. It uses a pyramidal corner reflector (CCR, Cube Corner Reflector) at the SM window, to reflect a laser beam emitted by a ground station back to the ground. The crew was advised not to look out the portholes during the sessions, the times of which were uplinked, and there are no CEO targets scheduled during the brief sessions. The SPQR Hazard Report indicates that the laser power at the ISS remains well below the threshold for injury.]
No CEO (crew earth observations) photo targets today.
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:
To view the latest photos taken by the expedition 10 crew visit:
- http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-10/ndxpage1.html at NASA’s Human Spaceflight website.
Expedition 10 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.
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Upcoming Key Events:
- Soyuz TMA-6 (10S) launch — 4/14 (8:46pm EDT); with Expedition 11 (CDR Sergei Krikalev, FE/SO John Phillips & VC8/”Eneide” cosmonaut Roberto Vittori/ESA-Italy); launch time at Baikonur: 6:46am on 4/15.
- Soyuz TMA-6 docking — 4/16 (10:17pm EDT);
- Soyuz TMA-5 (9S) undocking — 4/24 (2:38pm EDT) with Exp. 10 crew (after 193 days on orbit, 191 days on board ISS) and VC8 cosmonaut Vittori;
- Soyuz TMA-5 landing — 4/24 (6:04pm EDT (Kustanai: 4:04am on 4/25) ;
- LF1 (STS-114) launch — 5/15;
- Progress M-53 (18P) launch — 6/10;
- ULF1.1 (STS-121) launch — NET 7/12;
- Progress M-54 (19P) launch — 8/24;
- Soyuz TMA-7 (11S) launch — 9/27.
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.
