NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 18 June 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 has a somewhat irregular day to accommodate tonight’s arrival of the cargo ship Progress 18.
After wake-up at the regular 2:00am EDT, sleep time began already at 10:00am, lasting thru 4:30pm. The crew will then work during the night to Sunday from 4:30pm to 2:00am.
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CDR Krikalev will first configure the communications setup for covering the 18P docking, while FE Phillips activates the A31p laptop in the FGB and checks out the linkup of the Russian video system in the Service Module (SM) with the Ku-band equipment in the US segment. [The A31p SSC (Station Support Computer) laptop used for the routing from the SM is in the FGB since available cables are not long enough to extend to the Node. The video signal is feed from there via coaxial cable to the SSC Operations LAN (local area network) and from there into the Ku-band system for subsequent conversion from the Russian SECAM format to the American NTSC format on the ground.]
18P docking is scheduled for ~8:44pm EDT tonight, to be carried live by NASA TV. [The third rendezvous maneuver, DV3, was conducted last night at 8:21pm. Tonight (~7:05pm) the Progress Kurs-A system will be activated for a self-test. As Kurs-A and Kurs-P (on SM) confer and “compare notes”, Klest TV camera & floodlight are turned on at 8 km (~8:06pm) and three successive braking burns lead into flyaround mode (400 m), stationkeeping (170 m, ~8:34pm), and final approach (~8:35pm). 18P will then dock at the SM aft end port after the two-day “chaser” flight. Its 2.5 tons of cargo include supplies for the ISS crew (food, batteries, office supplies, and clothes), water, oxygen, air, SFOG “candles”, Elektron components, KOH electrolyte for the Elektron, new spares, software upgrades on CD-ROMs, gear for US & Russian science experiments, propellants, and other critically required items that were approved for the manifest.]
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Progress Cargo Vehicle Procedures According to the introduction to these documents “this book is intended for performing cargo transfer operations in Progress and on stowing equipment in SM and Progress.” These documents contain diagrams and detailed procedures for the transfer of times from the Progress Vehicle currently docked with the ISS. |
After the docking the crew will first tear down the comm link setup and power down the A31p laptop, then conduct leak checks of the docking vestibule and fuel/oxidizer transfer line interface between Progress and SM, starting at ~10:20pm.
Opening of the hatches between the SM transfer tunnel (PrK) and the 18P’s cargo module (GrO) is expected to begin at ~11:35pm, followed by installation of the QD (quick disconnect) screw clamps (BZV) of the SSVP docking and internal transfer mechanism, to rigidize the coupling.
Shortly thereafter, the crew will perform the standard air sampling inside the Progress with the Russian AK-1M air sampler.
Next steps will be deactivation of the cargo ship and installation of the air ventilation duct between it and the SM.
Afterwards the crew will call it a day and begin their sleep time at 2:00am tomorrow, extending to 10:30am on Sunday.
Today’s optional 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 E Greenland (Dynamic event. The east coast of Greenland, and perhaps the southern cape, was expected to be clear. Looking north [left] towards the horizon), N Quebec, Canada (Dynamic event. Quebec to the east of Hudson Bay was expected to be clear. Suggested was a panorama looking north [left] towards Baffin Island), Internal waves, Gulf of Alaska (looking forward and slightly left toward the glint point. Mapping swath requested if the crew observed internal waves), Great Slave Lake, Canada (Dynamic event. Looking north [left] up the axis of the Canadian Rockies, towards Great Slave and Great Bear Lakes), and Internal waves, Sea of Okhotsk (mapping swath requested, near the glint point, if the crew observed internal waves).
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.
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ISS Orbit (as of this noon, 1:09pm EDT [= epoch]):
- Mean altitude — 350.4 km
- Apogee height — 353.2 km
- Perigee height — 347.6 km
- Period — 91.55 min.
- Inclination (to Equator) — 51.65 deg
- Eccentricity — 0.0004105
- Solar Beta Angle — 18.2 deg (magnitude increasing)
- Orbits per 24-hr. day — 23.0
- Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours — 65
- Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 37592
Some Increment 11 Main Events (not final):
- __Progress M-53 (18P) dock — 6/18 (8:44pm EDT);
- __PMA-3 depress — 6/22 (4:50am EDT);
- __Reboost — 6/29 (4:21pm, delta-V 2.3 m/s);
- __LF-1/STS-114 launch — NET 7/13 (18-day window opens);
- __LF-1/STS-114 dock — NET 7/15 (adding 110,713 kg to ISS mass);
- __Soyuz TMA-6 (10S) relocate (from DC-1 to FGB) — ~8/17;
- __Progress M-54 (19P) launch — 8/24 (dock 8/26);
- __ULF1.1/STS-121 launch — NET 9/9 (launch window opens);
- __12A/STS-115 launch — NET 2/16/06;
- __12A.1/STS-116 launch — NET 4/23/06;
- __13A/STS-117 launch — NET 7/13/06.
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.
