NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 19 December 2004

SpaceRef note: This NASA Headquarters internal status report, as presented here, contains additional, original material produced by SpaceRef.com (copyright © 2004) to enhance access to related status reports and NASA activities.

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Sunday — “Enjoy your day off today!” (Flight Control to Crew).

FE Sharipov completed the routine SOZh/ECLSS maintenance including the weekly task of collecting toilet flush (SP) counter and water supply (SVO) readings in the Service Module (SM) for calldown to TsUP.

The crew conducted their daily 2.5-hr. physical exercise program on TVIS, RED exerciser, CEVIS cycle and the VELO cycle with bungee cord load trainer. [Salizhan’s daily protocol prescribes a 1.5-hr structured set on the treadmill (today: Day 4 of a new set) and one hour on VELO.]

At ~9:10am EST, the crew downlinked a TV message of greetings to President Askar Akaevich Akaev and the people of the Kyrgyz Republic, to be included in a live broadcast by the President on national television on 12/25. [Salizhan Sharipov, who hails from Kyrgyzstan: “I would like to wish you, Askar Akaevich, and the entire nation you represent, prosperity, and, more importantly, peace in the upcoming year.”]

Working off the discretionary Russian task list, Sharipov conducted another photography session for the Diatomeya ocean observations program, using the Nikon-F5 electronic still camera with 80-mm lens. [Focus of the observation and photo imagery are color contrast formations (TsKO) and anomalies in the cloud field over the Atlantic and Indian oceans, with the goal of obtaining photos characterizing the methodology specific to performing oceanic observations from space in inertial attitude flight, the feasibility of discovering first signs of formation of tropical cyclones (typhoons), which have the shape of a comma made from clouds in the atmosphere over the ocean, and the structure of cloud fields over cold oceanic currents in the zone of south-eastern trade winds. Target areas were the Atlantic at the equator in a less hot area, and in the tropical zone of young trade winds.]

Later in the day, at ~2:45pm, Leroy Chiao is scheduled to have his weekly PFC (private family conference) via S-band/audio and Ku-band/NetMeeting video.

Postscript: Yesterday at ~11:30am EST, the crew got a phone call from NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe.

No CEO targets for today. The last day for CEO target uplinks will be 12/23 until after the New Year. However, weather predictions are favorable for Santa sightings around the world on 12/24.

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 10 crew visit:

• http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-10/ndxpage1.html at NASA’s Human Spaceflight website.

Expedition 10 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.

Upcoming Key Events:

• Progress 15P undocking & destructive reentry — 12/22 (2:37pm EST).
• Progress 16P launch — 12/23 (5:20pm EST);
• Progress 16P docking — 12/25 (7:04pm EST);
• EVA-12 — 1/25/05;
• Progress 16P undocking & destructive reentry — 2/27/05;
• Progress 17P launch — 2/28/05.
• EVA-13 — 3/25/05;
• Soyuz 9S undock — 4/25/05 (after 193 days on orbit, 191 days on board ISS).

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.