NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 2 January 2006

SpaceRef note: This NASA Headquarters internal status report, as presented here, contains additional, original material produced by SpaceRef.com (copyright © 2006) to enhance access to related status reports and NASA activities.

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.  Russian Holiday: 2nd New Year’s Day — and off-duty day for Bill McArthur and Valery Tokarev, except for housekeeping and voluntary work. Underway: Week 13 for Expedition 12.

As new standard early-morning task, FE Valery Tokarev checked the operation of the Japanese experiment GCF-JAXA (Granada Crystallization Facility) in the Russian TBU incubator, maintained at 20 degC, including a temperature check on its ART (automatic temperature recorder).  [This daily monitoring/temp checking, carried on the Russian voluntary “time available” task list, will continue until 4/30 next year.]

At the Service Module (SM)’s window #3, Valery set up and activated the new Russian experiment DZZ-11 Volni (“Waves”), after updating it with the latest NORAD orbital parameters. The experiment will run automatically for three days and will be deactivated and torn down on 1/6. The activity was supported by ground tagup via S-band/VHF.  [Volni monitors and documents Earth natural resources & ecology data, using the French LSO equipment and two micro cameras installed on a mounting bracket at the window to observe wave disturbances (of natural and man-made origins) in the intermediate-altitude atmosphere. The images are transferred between the French EGE1 and EGE2 laptops for downlink via the BSR-TM channel. The original objective of LSO was to study rare optical phenomena occurring in the upper layers of Earth’s atmosphere, so-called “sprites” (i.e., puzzling glow phenomena observed above thunderstorm clouds). The payload uses the French EGE-1 laptop running the latest NORAD orbital parameters (TLEs, two-line elements) provided by NASA.]

At ~10:50am EST, the crew set up the Sputnik-SM Kenwood D700 amateur radio station in the SM and at 10:55am conducted a 10-min. ham radio session with students at STS Escola de AviaçÄ?o Civil in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  [STS is a Civil Aviation School located in Jacarepaguá Airport, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The age of their private and commercial pilot students ranges from 18 to 25 years and for the refreshment courses the age varies from 25 to 45 years. “How do you manipulate liquids in orbit, like drinking water?”; “Is there anything similar between piloting a space shuttle and a standard aircraft?”; “How were your holidays aboard the ISS?”]

Working off his voluntary “time available” task recommendation list, the Flight Engineer began a search for a power supply unit (BP) for the Russian SKV air conditioner, reported as “lost” in the IMS (Inventory Management System).  [Due to the unstable operation of SKV-2, TsUP/Moscow plans to have its BP replaced in case of SKV-2 failure.]

The Commander performed the daily routine maintenance of the SM’s environment control & life support system (SOZh), including its toilet system (ASU).

Both crewmembers completed their regular 2.5-hr. physical exercise program on the TVIS treadmill, RED resistive exerciser and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer.  [Valery’s daily protocol prescribes a strict four-day microcycle exercise with 1.5 hr on the treadmill in unmotorized mode and one hour on VELO plus load trainer (today: Day 1 of the first set).]

Afterwards, McArthur transferred the exercise data files to the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer) for downlink, as well as the daily wristband HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) data of the workouts on RED, followed by their erasure.

At ~7:25pm EST, Valery Tokarev met with his family for a private New Year’s chat (PFC) via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting video.

The Science Officer was provided with details for this week’s potential “Saturday Science” activity. [Because Saturday (1/7) is Russian Orthodox Christmas, Bill may prefer to perform this option on Sunday instead. The activity, lasting an estimated 2:15 hrs, will consist of a review of on-board training materials prior to TCM (Tissue Culture Module) supplementation activity , followed by supplementing fluid in six experimental TCMs using fluid from spare TCM.]

No CEO (Crew Earth Observation) photo targets uplinked today.

To date, over 177,000 of CEO images have been taken in the first five years of the ISS.

 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 12 crew visit:

• http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-12/ndxpage1.html at NASA’s Human Spaceflight website.

Expedition 12 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.

Events Ahead (all dates Eastern; tentative):

• 01/09/06 — 100 days for Expedition 12
• 02/02/06 — Russian EVA-15
• 03/03/06 — Progress M-54/19P undocking & reentry
• 03/22/06 — Soyuz TMA-8/12S launch (Exp. 13 + Marcus Pontes/Brazil)
• 03/24/06 — Soyuz TMA-8/12S docking (DC1)
• 04/01/06 — Soyuz TMA-7/11S undocking & return (Exp. 12 + Marcus Pontes)
• 04/06/06 — Soyuz TMA-8/12S relocation (DC1 to FGB nadir port)
• 04/09/06 — Progress M-55/20P undocking & reentry
• 04/10/06 — Progress M-56/21P launch
• 04/12/06 — Progress M-56/21P docking
• 06/28/06 — Progress M-57/22P launch
• 06/30/06 — Progress M-57/22P docking
• 09/12/06 — Progress M-56/21P undocking & reentry
• 09/13/06 — Soyuz TMA-9/13S launch
• 09/15/06 — Soyuz TMA-9/13S docking
• 09/23/06 — Soyuz TMA-8/12S undocking & reentry
• 09/28/06 — Soyuz TMA-9/13S relocation (DC1 to FGB nadir port)
• 10/18/06 — Progress M-58/23P launch
• 10/20/06 — Progress M-58/23P docking
• 12/19/06 — Progress M-57/22P undocking & reentry
• 12/20/06 — Progress M-59/24P launch
• 12/22/06 — Progress M-59/24P docking.

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.