NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 17 August 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.
The crew s sleep cycle remains shifted four hours to the right, with wakeup this morning at 6:00am EDT. Sleep period begins at 7:30pm tonight. [EVA day tomorrow lasts from 5:20am 2:40pm Friday (8/19) morning. Friday s wake-up will be at 12:00 noon, with sleep period beginning at the regular 5:30p. Starting Saturday (8/20), the crew will then return to the normal schedule of 2:00am 5:30pm (all times EDT).]
|
Shuttle |
After yesterday s successful dry-run of translation maneuvers in the DC1 docking compartment in pressurized Orlan suits, the crew today reviewed an updated version of the EVA-14 timeline, tagging up with ground specialists. [Tomorrow s EVA by Krikalev (EV1) & Phillips (EV2) begins with hatch opening at 2:55pm EDT, at the end of a night pass. There are seven major objectives: (1) Remove the Biorisk payload canister on the DC-1; (2) remove MPAC & SEED panel #3 on the large diameter section (RO2) of the Service Module (SM); (3) remove the Matryoshka experiment on SM RO; (4) install a reserve television camera on the endcone of the SM Assembly Section; (5) photograph and check out the Kromka-3 contamination exposure experiment tablet attached to an SM handrail; (6) change out the SKK-3-SM materials exposure container with the new SKK-5-SM; and (7) remove the Russian/US Strela 2 adapter from the EFGF (electrical flight grapple fixture) on the FGB module and install it on the FRGF (flight releasable grapple fixture) on the PMA-3 (pressurized mating adapter #3). MPAC (a micrometeoroid & orbital debris collector) and SEED (a materials exposure array) are commercial Japanese/JAXA science payloads. Matryoshka is a spherical body-simulating phantom and a human torso model outside on the SM hull, mounted there during EVA-9B on 2/27/04 to study radiation effects. Strela-2 is one of two cranes and work stations mounted at the DC-1, with an adapter end at the FGB, to be moved to the PMA-3. The EVA is estimated to last ~6 hours, and there will be four night passes, during which the spacewalkers will rest. Russian thrusters will be inhibited per TsUP/Moscow command during tasks on the large diameter section (RO2) and Assembly Section of the SM. When thrusters are enabled, the crew will remain in a clearly defined Safe Zone forward of the SM RO2 section. In the event of a CMG (control moment gyro) saturation, the station can remain in free drift for up to 3 hours (2 orbits) while work on RO2 is completed.]
In the Pirs airlock, Krikalev installed the usual additional portable air repress bottle (BNP) to support a DC1 repressurization in the event of inability to open the PEV (pressure equalization valve) in the hatch between the DC1 and the SM Transfer Compartment (PkhO).
FE/SO Phillips prepared cabin systems for the isolation of the Russian segment (RS) from the U.S. segment (USOS) during the EVA, by transferring a PCS (portable computer system) IBM 760Xd laptop with accessories from the Lab, SODF (Systems Operations Data File) books and the CCPK (Crew Contamination Protection Kit) from the USOS to the SM. [SODF items include hardcopies of the SODF Warning book, POC book and Medical Checklist, as well as portions of the CD library.]
Station preparations by John for the spacewalk also include:
- Configuring the EPS (electrical power system) as required for USOS/RS module isolation for EVA (verifying that all U.S. GLAs (general luminaire assemblies) manual rack power switches, except for the failed ones, are in the On position and lights illuminated; this provides for ground control of the lights and the racks, and it also provides for the rack automatic software response to an ISS emergency fire event);
- Reconnecting the UOP (utility outlet panel) bypass power cable at both Lab and Cupola RWS DCPs (display & control panels); and
- Setting up two Sony PD100 camcorders in the Lab & Node for situational awareness/monitoring by the ground during the spacewalk.
- Taking the monthly dose measurements of the Pille-MKS radiation dosimetry experiment, with its ten sensors placed at various locations in the RS (last time done: 7/12), then equipping both Orlans (in pocket on left calf) with a “Pille-MKS” radiation sensor. [Two sensors, A0309 &A0310, were removed from their exposure locations in the RS; a third, A0307, was placed in the SM for background readings. Also, tomorrow when donning his gear, Sergei will place his ID-3 personal dosimeter, normally worn on the flight suit, into the chest pocket in his Orlans lining (near the DIDB) and later return it to the flight suit.], and
- Refilling the U.S. DIDBs (disposable in-suit drink bags) with water and reinstalling them in the Orlans.
Other tasks preparatory to the EVA, worked by Sergei Krikalev, include
At about 3:00pm, John Phillips completed partial hatch closure (isolation) between the RS and the USOS. [Hatches were closed between Lab & Node (2), Node starboard & Airlock, and Node & PMA-1. The remaining hatches will be closed tomorrow prior to the EVA. Between the USOS modules, the IMV (Intermodule Ventilation) valves are open and the MPEVs (Manual Pressure Equalization Valves) are closed to support equalization of module pressures. This configuration provides the ground with module isolation control if necessary and supports the automatic software response to an ISS emergency depressurization event.]
The CDR once more broke out the “Urolux” equipment, setting it up for the Russian PZE MO-9 biochemical urine test tomorrow, a standard requirement before and after Orlan-suited activities. [The MO-9 analysis uses the sophisticated in-vitro diagnostic apparatus Urolux developed originally for the Mir program.]
Krikalev, working off his discretionary task list, also performed the routine maintenance of the SM’s SOZh environment control & life support system, including ASU toilet facilities.
At ~11:45am EDT, the FE used the Sputnik-SM Kenwood D700 amateur radio station in the SM to conduct a 10-min. ham radio (lyubiteljskogo radio) session with students at D.W. Higgins Institute, Tempe, AZ. [D.W. Higgins Institute is a public charter school in Arizona of eight years, servicing children from Kindergarten through 8th grade. Questions by the students were uplinked to the crew beforehand.]
Both crewmembers conducted their regular 2.5-hr. physical exercise program on the TVIS treadmill, CEVIS cycle ergometer, RED resistive machine and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer. [Sergei 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 a new set).]
Today’s CEO (crew earth observations) photo targets from the Lab nadir/science window were Central-Arizona Phoenix (this pass should have been early enough in the day to beat convective cloud formation. Trying for a detailed mapping of the forested portion of the Mogollon Rim from just south of Flagstaff, southeastward to near Silver City, New Mexico), High Central Andean Glaciers (as ISS tracked southeastward, the high Andes will lie to the right of track until it approached Lake Titicaca. Using the long lens settings to carefully map the small ice fields from the NW to just E of the lake), and Pilcomayo River dynamics, N Argentina (the Pilcomayo River breaks out of the Andes as a major river flowing southeastward into the Chaco Plain towards Parana River. However, it rapidly begins to lose size and visibility as a flowing river and all but disappears into its large megafan. The crew should have had good visibility for context views at near nadir along the length of this feature. A short lens setting worked best for this target.)
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 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 morning, 8:34am EDT [= epoch]):
- Mean altitude — 353.8 km
- Apogee height — 354.5 km
- Perigee height — 353.2 km
- Period — 91.62 min.
- Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
- Eccentricity — 0.0000943
- Solar Beta Angle — 22.5 deg (magnitude increasing)
- Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.72
- Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours — 58 m
- Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 38533
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.
