Status Report

NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 19 Jan 2004

By SpaceRef Editor

January 19, 2004

Filed under ISS, ISS On-orbit status, NASA HQ, US

NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 19 Jan 2004 — iss

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously or below. A Holiday: Birthday of Reverent Martin Luther King, Jr. Week 13 of Increment 8 is underway, and today is the crew’s 93rd day in space (95 aboard ISS).

The crew had a well-deserved rest day after yesterday’s return from isolation.

In the Service Module (SM), FE Alexander Kaleri started another regeneration cycle on absorbent bed #1 of the BMP harmful impurities unit, leaving channel 2 in Purify mode. The BMP removes trace contaminants from the air. [The “bakeout” cycle in the filter beds is repeated every 20 days. Each bakeout (to space vacuum) takes about 24 hours.]

The FE completed the daily Russian segment (RS) life support systems (SOZh) maintenance, including toilet facility, food containers, water containers and solid waste containers, while Mike performed the regular routine status checkup of the autonomous Increment 8 payloads.

Sasha performed the regular inspection of the Elektron oxygen generator’s VM gas/liquid system (GZhS) for obstructing air bubbles.

The crew completed their regular physical exercise on TVIS treadmill, RED expander, CEVIS ergometer and VELO bike with force loader.

Last night, the re-opening of the hatches to the US segment (USOS) by the crew went according to schedule. Foale and Kaleri then reconnected the FGB air duct #1. Both sides are assessing all of the pressure data; however, the USOS is still considered very tight. The required Node and US Lab fans are running and nominal. Communications between the modules were restored nominally. The crew will complete final reconfiguration of the Airlock (A/L) and transfer critical equipment and personal items back from the SM to the USOS tomorrow (1/20). [Yesterday at approximately 12:11AM EST, just prior to the start of the procedures for reopening the hatches, the following pressure data were exchanged between the US and Russian sides: US Lab — 748mmHG at 25.0 degC, A/L with Node &PMA — 749.0mmHG at 23.5 degC, FGB — 746.5mmHG at 22.0 degC and SM/DC-1/Soyuz/Progress — 751.0mmHG at 25.9 degC.]

When the crew reopened the Node aft hatch, they noticed a “rain drop residue” on the Node side looking from the PMA side through the window. The ground and crew both agreed the conditions during the isolation exercise were not conducive to any formation of condensation. The crew took photos and the ground will assess.

On the Lab science window, there are uncertainties about the localized dew point at the time of the leak and the fact that it may have been slightly higher than the overall ISS dew point when working volume activity and ventilation are considered. For this reason, MCC-H asked the crew to adjust the 2-hour cumulative Shutter Open time constraint to 90 min over a 24-hour period. [Analysis is underway, but Earthshine thermal effects are still not accounted for.]

Weekly Science Update (Expedition Eight — 11th):

GASMAP: Next scheduled health check will be early next month; however, the ground may be needing crew support with GASMAP prior to that date if they are called upon by ECLSS to continue using GASMAP to support environmental sampling data.

Human Research Facility/Workstation (HRF WS): Continuing.

Advanced Ultrasound: Planned.

Hand Posture Analyzer (HPA: Mike’s second flight session of the HPA experiment was completed. After a quick look analysis of the data acquired, it seems to be very good. The ground looks forward to receiving the video of Mike’s performance and to watch him in action.

In-Space Soldering Investigation (ISSE): Nothing new.

Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation (PFMI): PFMI is back in business and looking forward to continued operations.

Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS): Thank you to Mike for rebooting the SAMS ICU laptop twice on 1/15. Back to nominal operations. Upcoming events include support for PFMI.

Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS): MAMS continues to measure the quasi-steady and vibratory environment of the ISS. Reboost and recent attitude changes were captured and are being analyzed.

Protein Crystal Growth-Single Locker Thermal Enclosure System (PCG-STES): Behaving nominally.

Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions (InSPACE): Planned.

Renal Stone (RS): Thank you to Mike and Sasha for making last week’s data collection a success. It appears from the data sent down via the IMS bar code reader that all pertinent data have been received.

Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SHERES): Pre-Increment requirements have been completed. A second BBT (Beacon & Beacon Tester) session will be scheduled in US Lab.

Foot/Ground Reaction Forces during Space Flight (FOOT): The Foot Team recognizes and greatly appreciates all the extra effort Mike has put in towards ensuring quality data for the experiment. His efforts will go a long way towards quantifying loads on the body and developing effective countermeasures for the future of long-duration spaceflight.

Materials ISS Experiment (MISSE): In progress. Deployed outside. Nominal and collecting data.

Cellular Biotechnology Support Systems-Fluid Dynamics Investigation (CBOSS-FDI): Nothing new.

Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM): Students are looking forward to the next session later this Increment.

Earth Science Toward Exploration Research (ESTER): Looking forward to the sessions next year.

Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures-2 (CSLM-2): Planned.

Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA): Completed.

Miscible Fluids in Microgravity (MFMG): Mike was thanked for setting up MFMG this week. The team is looking forward to MFMG thermal operations using the CGBA the week of 1/20.

Educational Payload Operations (EPO): The education demonstrations continue to be excellent. The video will be used in a variety of ways. The ground is looking forward to upcoming activities.

Crew Earth Observations (CEO): Recent CEO image of 2 large remaining pieces of the 5-year old iceberg A38 NE of South Georgia Island will be published on Earth Observatory this weekend. The ground hopes to continue to monitor these features during this increment as circumstances permit. Kudos for a fine set of images over the Amazon River Delta target. The crew mapped in detail a number of key island and shoal features that should prove useful to ongoing studies of riparian geomorphology. Thanks also for excellent efforts with Patagonian Glacier targets. Even though the weather has been challenging for good views of this area and a heavy cloud cover, the crew has managed to acquire useful views of portions of some of the less-well photographed glaciers in this region. Careful review of most recent imagery suggests that all camera time issues have been resolved and that some modest improvement is evident in the focus of the long-lens views.

Today’s CEO (crew earth observations) targets, in the current XPOP attitude constrained by flight rule to fewer near-vertical targets due to Lab window shutter closure and current condensation-prevention plan, were Singapore (pass over the southern Malay Peninsula: looking right of track for this island nation at the tip of the peninsula. Kuala Lumpur will be visible at the same time left of track), Buenos Aires, Argentina (pass along the southern margin of the city. Looking nadir and left), Plankton bloom, Argentina (Northern end of this 2000 km-long bloom, at nadir and stretching south), Plankton bloom, Patagonia (South-central parts of this major bloom, left and right of track), and Inland deltas, N Amazonia (sun glint opportunity to reveal stream patterns between the Rio Negro and the mountain country on the north side of the Amazon basin. These rivers have formed a newly identified series of nested internal deltas. Suggested was a mapping swath left of track for about 60 secs. ISS/CEO show actual drainage patterns where maps of this remote show interpreted patterns that make little geologic sense).

CEO images can be viewed at the websites.

See also the website “Space Station Challenge” at