NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 11 May 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.

Before breakfast, FE/SO Phillips deployed acoustic dosimeters, one on Sergei, one on himself, to be worn for 24 hours (with a microphone on the shirt collar). A third dosimeter was deployed in the Lab for a 24-hr. static data take (last time done: 3/7). [Tonight, after about 15 hours of measurements, dosimeter data will be recorded and the hardware power-cycled, for another data take tomorrow morning after 8.5-hr. sleep. At that point, the crew will deploy the dosimeters statically in the station for the duration of the day, record measurements tomorrow night and stow the instruments. Acoustic data must be taken twice per Increment, each time for the duration of the 16-hour crew workday.]

The crew performed the periodic 3-hr. routine maintenance job on the RS (Russian segment)’s STTS telephone/telegraph subsystem, including its audio paths and intercom stations. As part of this semi-annual activity, Krikalev and Phillips also tested VHF receivers, conducted an inventory audit of installed & stowed comm cap headsets (GNShK, GBShK), cables with push-to-talk units and the 10-meter HECs (headset extension cables). Afterwards they returned the STTS to its nominal config for report to TsUP/Moscow. [The “Voskhod-M” STTS enables telephone communications between the SM, FGB, Docking Compartment (DC-1) and U.S. segment (USOS), and also with users on the ground over VHF channels selected by an operator at an SM comm panel, via STTS antennas on the SM’s outside. There are six comm panels in the SM with pushbuttons for accessing any of three audio channels, plus an intercom channel. Other modes of the STTS include telegraphy (teletype), EVA voice, emergency alarms, Packet/Email, and TORU docking support. Last time done: 11/19/04.]

Science Officer Phillips reviewed a computer-based training (CBT) course for the upcoming HRF FOOT (Human Research Facility — Foot/Ground Reaction Forces during Space Flight) experiment that John will start tomorrow (5/11) with an electromyography (EMG, muscular electric signals) calibration dry run. Phillips transferred the newly arrived Increment 11 FOOT supply items to the LEMS (Lower Extremity Monitoring Suit) kit in preparation for the experiment. [For the FOOT sessions, John will don LEMS, i.e., black Lycra biking tights with 20 electrodes and shoes fitted with insoles that measure impact forces on the bottom of the foot for the 12-hr session. After the upcoming EMG calibration, he will go through a typical on-orbit day while reaction forces against the ISS structure are being recorded passively to determine how much stress his legs and feet endure. This provides better understanding of the bone loss and loss of muscle mass experienced by astronauts in zero-G (on Mir, for example, cosmonauts lost as much bone mass in a month as post-menopausal women do in a year). The experiment is led by the biomedical engineering department at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio.]

Krikalev worked on the Russian LIV video complex in the Service Module (SM), conducting a health check and test of an experimental video monitor (ZVK LIV/106/07 #2), with the results of his evaluation to be reported to TsUP/Moscow. The LIV complex, which uses SECAM format, was then reconfigured with its regular Monitor-1.

Sergei also installed a sound-reducing textile muffler in the air duct of the starboard crew cabin to deaden the noise of the ventilation fan (VKYu-1) in the duct, making sure that the passageway remains unobstructed.

At ~9:55am EDT, the crew conducted a 15-min. teleconference with ground specialists to discuss status and work remaining of cargo prepacking for return on LF-1/STS-114 in July.

Phillips performed troubleshooting on the failed Kodak DCS 760 electronic camera.

The crew conducted their regular daily 2.5-hr. physical exercise program on the TVIS treadmill, RED resistive exerciser and VELO bike with bungee cord force loader (NS-1). [Due to data downlink problems from memory cards yesterday, ground engineers need additional data on both crewmembers to evaluate the treadmill’s performance. As of now, nothing amiss has been found with TVIS after the power-off event last week.]

The FE then 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 his workout on RED, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium.

The CDR did the daily routine maintenance of the SM’s SOZh environment control & life support system, today also including the weekly inspection of the BRPK air/liquid condensate separator apparatus and the weekly routine checkup of the IP-1 airflow sensors in the various RS hatchways and FGB-to-Node tunnel. Sergei also prepared the regular IMS “delta” file for export/import to the IMS databases.

As a result of yesterday’s SSC (Station Support Computer) troubleshooting, the A31p laptops #1005 and #1007 are considered well enough to serve as OCA Routers in the future if needed. The third A31p, #1002 (failed as SSC-8) remains listed as unusable pending further troubleshooting.

Thanks to John’s “ghosting” of PCS HDDs (Portable Computer System hard disk drives) yesterday, there are now two functioning PCS laptops on board, and a failed CD ROM labeled as suspect.

Update on Reboost: At 10:27 am, Progress 17 performed the scheduled orbit “korrektsiya” (station reboost). The single-burn apogee maneuver by manifold #1 of the Progress’ combined propulsion system (KDU) was nominal but slightly short in burn duration. Mean altitude increase: ~1.1 km. [Earlier, at 8:07am, ISS attitude control authority was handed over to the Russian MCS (motion control system). Then, updated GN&C PPL (Guidance, Navigation & Control/Pre-positioned Load) computer commands were executed, turning the station from -YVV (-y-axis in velocity vector) to XVV (x-axis in VV). During the maneuver, the US Lab ETVCG (external television camera group) took photogrammetric video of the tip of the portside (4B) solar array wing on the P6 truss to determine the wing’s fundamental bending frequencies, with John Phillips operating the Sony V10 video tape recorder which he had connected yesterday to the ETVCG via AVIU (audio/video interface unit). Control authority returned to US CMG momentum management at ~11:45am, and 15 minutes later BGA (Beta gimbal assembly) 4B and BGA 2B were taken to dual-angle mode with drag reduction. The station continues in LVLH (local vertical/local horizontal) XVV flight attitude.]

Update on Elektron: No troubleshooting was performed today on the defunct oxygen generator. A 10 mmHg O2 repress from 17P storage was completed. ppO2 is 160.8 mmHg and total pressure is 756 mmHg.

Today’s CEO (crew earth observations) photo targets, in the current LVLH attitude no longer limited by flight rule constraints on the use of the Lab nadir/science window, were Hyderabad, India (Pre-reboost. The crew had mostly clear weather and a nadir pass directly over this Indian megacity. An overlapping mapping swath across the urban area from W to E was useful for land cover and land use classification), and Lahore, Pakistan (Pre-reboost. Weather was predicted to be clear over this city, known as the cultural center of Pakistan. The city is located along the banks of the Ravi River to the SW of the front ranges of the Himalayas, and close to the India/Pakistan border. Overlapping frames of the urban area are to be used to create a detailed mosaic of the city).

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 noon, 2:15pm EDT [= epoch]):

• Mean altitude — 354.3 km
• Apogee height — 359.0 km
• Perigee height — 349.7 km
• Period — 91.63 min.
• Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
• Eccentricity — 0.0006909
• Solar Beta Angle — 43.8 deg (magnitude decreasing)
• Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.71
• Mean altitude gain in last 24 hours — 1100 m
• Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 36995

Some Increment 11 Main Events (not final):

• Progress M-52 (17P) undock — 6/16;
• Progress M-53 (18P) launch — 6/17 (dock 6/19);
• LF-1/STS-114 launch — NET 7/13 (window opens);
• Soyuz TMA-6 (10S) relocate (from DC-1 to FGB) — 8/16;
• Progress M-53 (18P) undock — 8/23;
• Progress M-54 (19P) launch — 8/24 (dock 8/26);
• ULF1.1/STS-121 launch — NET 9/9 (window opens);
• Soyuz TMA-7 (11S) launch — 9/27 (dock 9/29);
• Soyuz TMA-6 (10S) return — 10/7.

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.