NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 11 October 2005

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All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.  Underway:  Week 1 for Increment 12.  On their first day alone, the new station crew of CDR/SO Bill McArthur and FE Valery Tokarev was off-duty, after yesterday’s demanding schedule.

Soyuz TMA-6/10S, carrying the Expedition 11 crew plus SFP VC9 Gregory Olsen, landed successfully last night at 9:09pm EDT in Kazakhstan, with the crew in excellent condition.  Recovery forces spotted the descent capsule on its main parachute ten minutes earlier and arrived at the landing site without delay.  The crew was then flown to the city of Arkalyk for the regular program of suit doffing and medical checkups. Later, Sergei, John and Gregory and their RKA/NASA welcome escorts returned to Star City by RKA airplane.   [Earlier in the day, ISS/Soyuz hatches were closed at ~2:45pm EDT, followed by a slightly delayed undocking at 5:49pm (instead of 5:43pm).  Soyuz TMA-7/11S remains at the station as new CRV (crew return vehicle).  During their mission, Sergei Krikalev and John Phillips racked up 179d 23m in space (liftoff to landing) and ~177d aboard ISS.  Olsen’s “tourist” trip lasted 9d 21h 15m.]    

Final stats on E11/E12 handovers completed during the joint period tally up as follows:

CDR-11 Krikalev:  functional 1:50h; dedicated 7:30h;

FE-11 Phillips:  functional 13:35h; dedicated 14:10h;

CDR-12 McArthur:  functional 13:40h; dedicated 14:10h;

FE-12 Tokarev:  functional 3:00h; dedicated 7:45h.

To catch up on lost sleep, the crew this morning was allowed to slip their wake-up time by another hour to 6:00am EDT.  Sleep period will begin at the regular 5:30pm.  Tomorrow, another rest day, wake-up will move back to 3:30am.  The nominal workday cycle of 2:00am – 5:30pm will then be restored on Thursday.

In the Service Module (SM), FE Tokarev started the processing of condensate water for the Elektron, using the electric BPK condensate pumping unit of the Russian SRV-K2 water processing system and U.S.-collected water in CWC (collapsible water container) #1027.  Sergei Krikalev had checked out the BPK setup on 10/1 behind panels 433, 435, and 436.   [The activity was supported by specialist tagup.]

With the U.S. CDRA (carbon dioxide removal assembly) deactivated from the ground yesterday upon Soyuz hatch closure, McArthur today demated the LTL (low temperature loop) jumper of the IATCS (internal active thermal control system) from the Air Revitalization Rack containing the CDRA.

McArthur also made necessary “pen-and-ink” changes in the onboard Photo/TV Flight Specific Book, reflecting the E11-to-E12 procedures changes.

Valery Tokarev performed the daily routine maintenance of the SM’s SOZh environmental control system, including ASU toilet facility checkout and replacements.

The crew completed their regular 2.5-hr. physical exercise program on CEVIS cycle ergometer, TVIS treadmill, RED resistive machine and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer.   [As with Sergei before him, Valery’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 1 of the first set).]

Later, Bill transferred the CEVIS, TVIS and RED exercise data files to the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer) for downlink, as well as the daily wristband HRM (heart rate monitor) data of his CEVIS and RED workouts, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium (done six times a week).   [For the E12 entries, special procedures are used to establish their accounts.  Their data transfers will become regular after the installation of new, personalized software on the MEC on 10/14, during which MEC will be upgraded from the IBM 760XD to an A31p ThinkPad.]

After the opening of the U.S. Lab science window shutter this morning, the EarthKAM (Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students, EK) payload, set up yesterday by the CDR/SO, continues its automated operation.  Over 105 schools are already signed up to participate in the 20th EK session that runs through 10/15 (Saturday).   [The payload runs without crew intervention.  EK is using a Kodak ESC 460C electronic still camera with 50mm (f/1.4) lens, now powered by 16Vdc from a 28 Vdc adapter, taking pictures by remote operation from the ground, without crew interaction.  It is available for students who submit image requests and conduct geographic research.  The requests are uplinked in a camera control file to the IBM 760XD SSC laptop which then activates the camera at specified times and receives the digital images from the camera’s storage card on its hard drive, for subsequent downlink via OpsLAN.]

Due to the failure of the BTC-10 “Cardiocog” experiment on 10/5, which did not provide results, Tokarev’s first session will be rescheduled for the week of 10/24, for ~2 hours.   [BTC-10 is planned to be conducted throughout the entire Increment, on the first, 10th, 14th and 24th week of crew stay.  The slip of the first run to the 4th week should still be acceptable for correct result interpretation.  CARDIOCOG studies changes in the human cardiovascular system in micro-G, expressed in the peripheral arteries, and the vegetative regulation of arterial blood pressure and heart rate.  For the experiment, Valery has to take systolic & diastolic blood pressure measurements and heart rate data manually, using the Tensoplus sphygmomanometer and storing the data on the French EGE-2 laptop.  The experiment also includes a 5-minute cognitive stress test with a numbers table, with the results called out for recording.  Results are later downlinked via Russian BSR telemetry and the EGE2 restored to nominal config.]

With the onboard computer change from the IBM 760XD (and Sun Operating System, OS) to the A31p (with Linux OS), the weekly PCS (Portable Computer System) reboots can now be changed to a monthly PCS reboot, saving ~45 min of crew time per month.   [However, a PCS reboot is still recommended before any critical operation, i.e. Robotics ops, Airlock ops., etc.]

Reloading the SSC (Station Support Computer) laptops with Expedition 12 software is scheduled for 10/17 (Monday).  At this time, the IMS (Inventory Management System) software will also be transitioned to version 2.01.

Valery Tokarev was asked to downlink audio greetings to the city of Kirzhach, about 100 km from Moscow in the Vladimir Region, of which he is an Honorary Citizen.  Kirzhach is known for its museum “Aborted Flight” near the place where space pioneer Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin died in a MiG-15 UTI plane crash on March 27, 1968, with his instructor, Vladimir Seryogin.

At ~12:10pm, MCC-H commanded a swap of the primary and backup EXT MDMs (External Multiplexer/Demultiplexers) and reconfigured the new primary computer.  PPLs (prepositioned loads) were to be loaded to the backup MDM, followed by its reinitialization.

Next month, on 11/2, the ISS Program will observe the completion of five years of continuous human occupancy of the station. Official time of start of Human Habitation on ISS, a historic moment, was recorded as 5:23am EST on November 2, 2000.   [At 4:21am EST, after two days & 34 orbits of ISS chasing, the Expedition 1 crew of William Shepherd, Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko in Soyuz TM-31 (the first Soyuz of 11 to date) docked flawlessly to the SM-FGB “stack”.  The crew was given permission to use the designation “Alpha” as radio call name.]

No CEO (crew earth observations) photo targets uplinked 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:

• http://voyager.cet.edu/iss/

To view the latest photos taken by the expedition 12 crew visit:

• http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-12/ndxpage1.html at NASA’s Human Spaceflight website.

Expedition 12 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, 7:39am EDT [= epoch]):

• Mean altitude — 347.5 km
• Apogee height — 348.4 km
• Perigee height — 346.6 km
• Period — 91.49 min.
• Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
• Eccentricity — 0.0001342
• Solar Beta Angle — -12.3 deg (magnitude decreasing)
• Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.74
• Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours — 164 m
• Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 39398

Upcoming Events (all times EDT):

• 10/18/05 — ISS Reboost (two burns, 11m 40s each, to set up phasing for Progress 20P launch;
• 10/27/05 – EVA-04 Dry Run
• 11/07/05 — EVA-4 (U.S.)
• 11/18/05 — Soyuz TMA-7/11S relocation (from DC-1 to FGB nadir port)
• 12/20/05 – Progress M-54/19P undocking & reentry
• 12/21/05 – Progress M-55/20P launch
• 12/23/05 — Progress M-55/20P docking
• 01/09/06 — 100 days for Expedition 12.

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.