NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 12 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.  Today was a second light-duty day for the new station crew of CDR/SO Bill McArthur and FE Valery Tokarev.

McArthur and Tokarev began the day with today’s main task: the standard two-hour emergency OBT (on-board training) drill, with Russian and US specialists standing by at both Control Centers for crew questions or comments.  The rule is that the emergency egress exercise should be performed by every new station crew once within seven days after departure of the previous crew.   [Background: Purpose of the drill is to (a) familiarize the station residents with the location of hardware and the positions of valves used in emergency situations, (b) work through the Russian Segment (RS) hardware deactivation procedures, (c) practice crew emergency joint activities, and (d) identify crew comments and suggestions that arise during training regarding crew procedures and equipment. In the RS, the crew translated along the emergency egress path to the DC-1 port (where Soyuz TMA-7 is currently docked), checking hardware such as the Sokol suits, cable cutters, fire extinguisher (OKR), gas masks (IPK), emergency procedures books, valve settings, hatch rubber seal & restraint integrity, etc.  In the US Segment (USOS) the inspection focused on fireports being unblocked in the Node (26), with fireports in the Airlock {13} and Lab {53} to be checked by future crews), readiness of CSA-CP (Compound Specific Analyzer-Combustion Products), ISS leak kit, PBA (portable breathing assembly) and PFE (portable fire extinguisher), emergency procedures books, valve settings, integrity of hatch rubber seals, presence of hatch handrails, etc.  The exercise was topped off by a thorough debrief with the ground via S-band.]

Valery Tokarev performed the daily routine maintenance of the SM’s SOZh environmental control system, including ASU toilet facility checkout and today also the weekly inspection of the BRPK air/liquid condensate separator apparatus.

Working off his discretionary “time available” task list, the FE conducted a search for a “misplaced” Portapress harness data cable, a crucial component of the BTC-10 Cardiocog cardiovascular experiment.

The crew completed their regular 2.5-hr. physical exercise program on 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 2 of the first set).]

Later, Bill transferred the 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.]

At ~3:10pm, the crew downlinked a message of congratulatory greetings to the guests of the Gala Night Celebration dedicated to the 75th Anniversary of the renowned Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI).   [MAI’s reputation is based on the large number of famous aviators and rocket scientists that received their academic education here.  Among the alumni are Academicians and Corresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences.  Over 100 General and Chief Designers earned their degree at MAI, with famous rocket scientists like Makeyev, Mishin, Nadiradze and Yangel.  MAI also fostered 20 Pilot-Cosmonauts, almost 100 famous test pilots, Heroes of the Soviet Union and Russia.  One MAI product aboard the ISS is the amateur radio (ham) equipment, to be used in the MAI-75 experiment to downlink photo images.]

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 the Stardust Site (weather was predicted to be clear over western Utah. The Stardust mission sample return capsule will land during January 2006, and detailed imagery of the landing area is necessary to assess regions of standing water. Sunglint should be visible along track in the direction of your descending orbit, and is ideal for illuminating standing water bodies and stream courses. Overlapping mapping frames of the landing area will be most useful), and Beni River dynamics, Bolivia (an open region of cloud cover was predicted for the western Beni river system along the Andes mountain front.  Looking for large meanders of a muddy river originating from the Andes Mountains to the west.  Detailed imagery is useful for study of river dynamics and change over time).

To date over 177,000 of CEO images have been taken in the first five years of the ISS.

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, 6:27am EDT [= epoch]):

• Mean altitude — 347.3 km
• Apogee height — 348.4 km
• Perigee height — 346.2 km
• Period — 91.48 min.
• Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
• Eccentricity — 0.0001602
• Solar Beta Angle — -7.8 deg (magnitude decreasing)
• Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.74
• Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours — 194 m
• Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 39413

  Upcoming Events (all times EDT):

• 10/18/05 — ISS Reboost (two burns, 11m 40s each, to set up phasing for Progress 20P launch & circularize;)
• 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.