NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 15 Jul 2003
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously or below. Day 82 in space for the crew.
CDR Yuri Malenchenko continued the latest maintenance cycle on the Russian segment (RS) ventilation system, today cleaning the protective panel vent grilles of the FGB air ventilation system.
FE/SO Ed Lu performed the daily routine maintenance of SOZh life support systems (including toilet facility, food containers, water containers and solid waste containers) and the preparation of the daily IMS (inventory management system) update file. [By the end of the IMS update activity on 7/9, the Progress-259/11P IMS “tree” still contained 209 items delivered on that vehicle requiring location designations. The crew was asked to complete 11P IMS updates between today and 7/17 (when an additional time block of 1 hr. will be made available to finalize the unloading task).]
Ed Lu also was given an opportunity to review the CBT (computer-based training) for the upcoming CSLM-2 (Coarsening in Solid/Liquid Mixtures-2) experiment in the MSG (Microgravity Science Glovebox). [CSLM2 is a materials science experiment to investigate the kinetics of competitive particle growth within a liquid matrix. During this “coarsening” process small particles shrink by losing atoms to larger particles, causing the larger particles to grow. In this experiment solid particles of tin will grow (coarsen) within a liquid lead-tin matrix. In the microgravity environment, scientists can study a greater range of solid volume fractions than on the ground, and the effects of sedimentation present in terrestrial experiments will be greatly reduced. The flight hardware consists of a sample processing unit (SPU); an electronics control unit (ECU); a base plate; and sundry electrical harnesses, data cables, and vacuum hoses. The SPU incorporates the sample chamber assembly (SCA), which contains the samples and heating unit, a water reservoir, a pressurized air cylinder, and a vacuum connector. The ECU contains the power regulator, display, and computer circuit boards that control the experiment. The flight hardware operates in the MSG on top of the g-LIMIT (Glovebox Integrated Microgravity Isolation Technology), with power, vacuum, cooling, and containment for the experiment provided by the MSG.]
Both crewmembers conducted their regular daily physical exercise program of 2.5 hrs., and Ed Lu performed the weekly transfer of accumulated physical exercise files of the TVIS treadmill, RED resistive exerciser and CEVIS cycle ergometer to the MEC (medical equipment computer), for subsequent downlink to the ground. [The data file transfers involve PCMCIA (portable computer memory card international adapter) cards from TVIS and CEVIS, plus the entries from the RED exercise log book, individually for each crewmember.]
Today’s scheduled MSS/SSRMS (Mobile Service System/Space Station Remote Manipulator System) crew proficiency operations were cancelled due to the current LSOS (limited station operations support) mode at MCC-H, which kept Robotics ground personnel from key workstations. [Going to LSOS was required to permit upgrade activities on ground support hardware. This does not affect command uplink and telemetry downlink capability of Flight Control but limits some IMC (ISS Management Center) engineering support as well as ECLS telemetry monitoring.]
The crew performed a familiarization review of the MCAS UMA (MMS Common Attach System/Umbilical Mating Assembly) system and procedures.
Ed Lu was thanked for doing an excellent job on removing and reinstalling (re-winding) the pulley cables in RED canisters #1009 and #1010, which has been on the “job jar” task list. [The new Flexpacks were installed on 6/23 & 6/25 and needed adjustment.]
Ed Lu also received kudos for yesterday’s successful GASMAP (Gas Analyzer System for Metabolic Analysis Physiology) 30-day health check. [The files with the test results are being reviewed by the GASMAP team. Next checkup in 30 days.]
At 12:55pm EDT, both crewmembers participated in an interactive televised PAO/educational event at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) at Edwards, CA, where team leads of regional NASA Explorer Schools were gathered. [Explorer School staff members, working at various Explorer School workshops, had prepared a list of questions for prior uplink.]
ISS continues to fly in XPOP attitude but will return to LVLH YVV/”barbecue” tonight at 11:28pm EDT when the solar Beta angle reaches 60 deg. The very slow angular rotation maneuver takes about 8 min.
Tomorrow and Thursday (7/17), the crew will transition to the NGL (next generation laptop), an IBM ThinkPad A31p, as new File Server (FS) and reload the SSC (station support computer) clients and MPSD (multi-purpose support drive) machines which are IBM ThinkPad 760XDs. [The FS upgrade with the new software will improver stability and increase the speed of the network. The client reload is desired to provide a refresh of the 760XD loads and to take any variables out of the transition that could be connected to old client loads. The network will be down between FS data backup and completion of its transition.]
Today’s CEO targets, limited in the current XPOP attitude by flight rule constraints on the use of the Lab nadir/science window, and including the targets of the Lewis & Clark 200-year memorial locations, were Sahara dust, SW Algeria (Dynamic event. Looking left for dust in the central Sahara moving east [dust usually moves SW in this region]. Dust photographed against the desert as background is more difficult than shots with sea as background. The crew was to check if the dust cloud casts a shadow that might have added dimensionality. Any information of the source points of the dust are of highest interest), Sahara Dust, Senegal (Dynamic event. Looking left for a coherent band of dust exiting Africa into the Atlantic Ocean. Sea as background is best), St. Louis, Missouri (nadir pass), Mississippi R. Sites (LEWIS & CLARK SITES: Shooting both banks of the Mississippi River in and around St Louis, and upriver for about ten miles), Monterrey, Mexico (Mexico’s Detroit, left of track), Tropical Storm Claudette, Mexico (Dynamic event. Storm moving at 6 mph NNW. This storm is being sheared which makes it asymmetric and is reducing its growth. Looking obliquely left of track to see the two halves of the storm, the nearer scattered cloud half, and the wall of cloud where the more distant cloud zone starts. Severe rip currents reported for Galveston beaches already due to storm-related swells), Gardner Atoll, Hawaiian chain (coral reef documentation for global study), and French Frigate Shoals, Hawaii (detailed images requested of this vast network of coral reefs just beneath the sea surface).
CEO images can be viewed at the websites
See also the website “Space Station Challenge” at http://voyager.cet.edu/iss/
Besides the daily CEO (crew earth observation) target list, the station residents were also provided with times of ISS equatorial night crossings for observing the current equatorial-tropical storm zone.
U.S. and Russian Segment Status (as of 8:00am EST).
