NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 2 February 2005

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.

FE Salizhan Sharipov conducted the first experiment session with the Russian TEKh-20 Plasma Crystal-3 (PK-3) payload. [After spending the preceding two days on hardware setup, leak checks of the electronics box, evacuation of the work chamber, uploading new software, doing additional leak checks and verifying the readiness of the experiment, Salizhan today activated the PK-3/N turbopump in the Service Module’s Transfer Compartment (SM PkhO), tagged up with ground specialists and started the evacuation of the vacuum chamber (ZB) in the SM Work Compartment (RO), then monitored PK-3 operations. At Experiment Start + ~10 min, video recording began. The turbopump will be deactivated tonight at ~4:25pm EST. The experiment is performed on plasma, i.e., fine particles charged and excited by HF (high frequency) radio power inside the evacuated work chamber. Main objective is to obtain a homogeneous plasma dust cloud at various pressures and particle quantities with or without superimposition of an LF (low frequency) harmonic electrical field. The experiment is conducted in automated mode.]

Sharipov worked on the SM water supply system, pressurizing the collapsed bladders of the Rodnik water storage tanks (BV1 & BV2) in the Progress M-51 (16P) vehicle, a 1.5 hr. task spread over the day, as a leak-check preparatory to the regular transfer of liquid waste (urine) from EDV-U containers to the Progress for disposal, planned for tomorrow. [Each of the two spherical Rodnik tanks consists of a hard shell with a soft membrane (bladder) composed of elastic fluoroplastic, which is used to expel water from the tank by compressed air pumped into the tank volume surrounding the bladder.]

CDR Leroy Chiao undertook another 2-hr. food rations audit. [The new food inventory, for the 16P Stage, is intended to validate the ground’s food tracking and management system and to provide accurate food data prior to Progress M-52 (17P) arrival. The audit is performed in three systematic steps: crew verifies unopened food containers, including 24 containers set aside for “skip cycle” reserve; crew then assists in determining the disposition of the pre-16P food containers, before Expedition 11 arrival so any pre-16P food not eaten by Expedition 10 will be considered for trash; and crew finally estimates the percentage “full” of all open 16P food containers.]

Leroy also continued cargo prepacking for the LF-1 Shuttle mission (STS-114), the first RTF (return-to-flight) checkout flight. The activity is supported by an updated prepack list uplinked to the crew overnight. [Return equipment will be put in designated bags and predominantly staged on the FGB floor and in one of the ZSRs (zero-G storage racks) in the Lab (LAB1P4), which is slated to return on LF-1.]

Sharipov supported a test of the REGUL-PACKET TLF3 comm channel conducted by TsUP/Moscow on two RGS (Russian ground site) passes. [The FE set up the PACKET laptop for the testing and rebooted it afterwards.]

The FE also completed the routine SOZh/ECLSS maintenance in the SM, including the weekly routine checkup of the IP-1 airflow sensors in the various RS (Russian segment) hatchways and FGB-to-Node tunnel. Meanwhile, the CDR prepared the regular IMS (inventory management system) delta file for export/import to the IMS databases.

Working off the voluntary Russian task list, Salizhan conducted the regular daily inspection of the BIO-5 Rasteniya-2 (“Plants-2”) experiment, which researches growth and development of plants under spaceflight conditions in the Lada-5 greenhouse. \

Leroy completed his daily check of the Total Dose reading and End File values of the TEPC (Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter), which he had relocated to the Node on 1/31, and called them down at the evening DPC (daily planning conference). [This is currently a daily requirement since the UOP (utility outlet panel) near the TEPC’s temporary location (for two weeks) does not allow automated telemetry monitoring by the ground.]

The crew set up the Lab television equipment with camcorder and videoed an introduction to the new SEM (Space Experiment Module) Satchel payload, delivered on 16P. [This is a high point because it is the first time in the long history of SEM that such footage has been taken. The video will show students in grades K-12 how the SEM Satchel is handled, studied and eventually returned from ISS. It also gives a general introduction to SEM’s history and objectives as well as a brief description of its experiments. SEM is an educational program for students, grades K-12 and University (free of charge to U.S., reimbursable to International participants). The program was established in 1996 as a Space Shuttle cargo bay payload; its last flight (SEM-14) was on board STS-107/Columbia. This ISS flight is the first mission of the SEM Satchel carrier. The package, developed by the students, contains 11 zero-G experiments by as many schools, to be left running during Increment 10. Close-up photos will be taken in three separate sessions during the payloads flight in order to document changes in the experiment samples: 1. as soon as possible after transfer; 2. mid-duration of payloads stay; 3. as late as possible before return.]

The crew performed their daily 2.5-hr. physical exercise program on TVIS treadmill (aerobic), RED exerciser (anaerobic) and VELO cycle with bungee cord load trainer (both aerobic and anaerobic). Salizhan’s daily protocol currently prescribes a four-day microcycle exercise with 1.5 hr on the TVIS (today: Day 3 of a new set) and one hour on VELO.

Chiao then transferred the daily TVIS and RED exercise data files to the MEC (medical equipment computer) for downlink, as well as the daily wristband HRM (heart rate monitor) data, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium.

After setting up the Sputnik-SM Kenwood D700 amateur radio station in the SM, Leroy Chiao at 7:55am engaged in a ham radio exchange with cadets of the Air Training Corps 1132 Squadron (Stalham) at Norfolk/England. [The 13 to 18 years old cadets of the ATC 1132 Squadron attend Stalham High School, ~20 km northeast of the city of Norwich, England. Besides the normal school agenda, they study aircraft principles of flight, space flight, radar, radio communications, and VHF/UHF & HF application for both Military and amateur radio use. A list of questions to the crew was uplinked beforehand.]

The current leak testing of manifold 1 of the SM propulsion system (ODU) by Russian specialists is continuing. [Purpose of the test is to characterize the ability of the thruster string to hold a pressure over a period of time, thus providing a determination of whether the manifold is leaking. There has been no indication of a leak to date. The test, started yesterday, will run for approximately four days. This could become a routine activity as determined by the ODU specialists.]

Russian ECLSS specialists, working with NASA representatives, have finalized the new Elektron and O2 (oxygen) management plan for the station. [The Elektron will operate in 32 amp mode until the next regeneration cycle of the Micropurification Unit (BMP), starting on 2/9, which uses the same vacuum vent valve. Following the BMP regeneration, the Elektron will stay off. On 2/15, the station interior will be repressurized with O2 from Progress 16 by ~10mmHg/Torr. Ten days later (2/25), a second O2 repress of ~15mmHg will be performed, depleting the remaining 16P oxygen. Progress undocking is currently scheduled for 2/26. The Elektron O2 generator will then re-activated in early March.]

The station continues to fly “sideways” in earth-fixed LVLH YVV attitude (local vertical local horizontal/y-axis in velocity vector) until 2/8 (Tuesday) when it maneuvers to sun-oriented XPOP (x-axis perpendicular to orbit plane) as the solar Beta angle dips below -60 deg magnitude.

The first volume (402 pages) of “Rockets and People” (Rakety i lyudi), the remarkable memoirs of 93-year old Russian space pioneer Academician Boris E. Chertok, has now been published, with the support of the ISS Program Office, by the NASA HQ History Division.

Today’s CEO (crew earth observations) photo targets, no longer limited in the current LVLH attitude, were Yangtze River Delta, China (weather was predicted to be clear over eastern China. Mapping swaths along the delta’s edge are useful for tracking shoreline and channel changes resulting from upstream land use change), Shanghai, China (this nadir pass provides an opportunity for detailed mapping of the Shanghai urban core. Overlapping mapping swaths through the central Shanghai urban area are useful for land cover classification and spatial structure analysis), and Lahore, Pakistan (weather was predicted to be clear for mapping of the urban extent of Lahore. Mapping of the urban-rural fringe is useful for urban growth detection and ecological change along the city edge).

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 M-51 (16P) undocking & destructive reentry — 2/26/05;
• Progress M-52 (17P) launch — 2/28/05.
• EVA-13 — 3/25/05;
• Soyuz TMA-6 (10S) launch — 4/15/05 with Expedition 11 (CDR Sergei Krikalev, FE/SO John Phillips);
• Soyuz TMA-5 (9S) undock — 4/25/05 with Exp. 10 crew (after 193 days
• on orbit, 191 days on board ISS);
• Progress M-53 (18P) launch — 6/10/05;
• Progress M-54 (19P) launch — 8/24/05;
• Soyuz TMA-7 (11S) launch — 9/27/05.

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 6:22am EST [= epoch]):

• Mean altitude — 357.4 km
• Apogee height — 363.9 km
• Perigee height — 350.9 km
• Period — 91.69 min.
• Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
• Eccentricity — 0.0009663
• Solar Beta Angle — -68.1 deg (magnitude increasing, peaking today)
• Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.70
• Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours — 75 m
• Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 35450

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.