NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 2 October 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. Saturday — first weekend rest day for the crew. Gennady Padalka today reached a personal milestone by completing a cumulative total of One Year in space. Congratulations!
Update on Elektron: Elektron continues to operate successfully during crew wake in 48 amp mode.
|
Previous Reports ISS On-orbit Status [HQ] |
After breakfast, the Commander and the Flight Engineer performed the regular weekly three-hour station cleaning. [“Uborka”, done every Saturday, includes removal of food waste products, cleaning of compartments with vacuum cleaner, wet cleaning of the Service Module (SM) dining table and other surfaces with “Fungistat” disinfectant and cleaning fan screens to avoid temperature rises.]
CDR Gennady Padalka conducted the first experiment session with the Russian TEKh-20 Plasma Crystal-3 (PK-3) payload. [Right after wake-up, Sasha activated the turbopump in the Service Modules 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. The turbopump was to be deactivated tonight at ~5:25pm EDT. 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 study dust plasma crystallization processes at a specified power of HF discharge, pressure, and a varied number of particles with subsequent reduction of HF discharge power, then to observe melting of the structures formed earlier. The experiment is conducted in automated mode.]
For FE/SO Michael Fincke, it was another successful “Saturday Science” session, today featuring the EPO (Educational Program Operations) demonstrations of Puzzles, the Blues Harp, and Water Droplets.
Fincke also completed the regular once-a-week maintenance reboot on the operational PCS (portable computer system) laptops and the restart of the OCA comm router laptop (every two weeks).
The CDR completed the daily routine maintenance of the SM’s SOZh life support system (including ASU toilet facilities)
Mike again filled out the FFQ (food frequency questionnaire), which keeps an (almost-) regular weekly log of his nutritional intake over time on special MEC (medical equipment computer) software.
Working off the Russian discretionary task list, before doing any physical exercise, Gennady conducted another run of the VC6 “Delta” program’s ETD experiment (Investigation of the Coordination of Eye and Head Movements). [After a calibration with the calibrating unit, the experiment investigates horizontal eye and head movement coordination, measured Listing’s plane, and determined the orientation of the vestibulo-ocular coordinate system, using five target marks on the horizontal plane. Each step required another prior calibration run, using visual target cues or the calibration unit.]
A second task-listed job for Gennady was another run of the Uragan earth-imaging program, using the Kodak 760 DSC (digital still camera) with 800mm-lens. [Today’s task featured imagery of the Kolka glacier, the Chirkeisk water reservoir, oil contamination in the Caspian Sea (near the city of Caspiysk) and at sea near Fort Shevchenko in Kazakhstan, dust storms over the Aral Sea, the Karaganda-Temirtau area, and the Volga river near city of Kamyshin and Nikolaevsk.]
Padalka also checked the BIO-5 Rasteniya-2 (“Plants-2”) plant growth experiment hardware in the Lada-5 greenhouse for topping off its water container if required, an item on his discretionary task list.
At 9:30am EDT, the crew had their regular weekly planning conference (WPC) with the ground to discuss the “Look-Ahead Plan” for next week (regularly prepared jointly by MCC-H and TsUP planners), via S-band/audio.
The crew conducted ham radio exchanges with attendees at the current 9th Festival of Ham Radio Operators in Domodedovo near Moscow, where over 350 of the most well-know amateur radio operators from Russia, USA, Germany, France, and former Soviet republics have gathered, holding competitions at HF and VHF. Cosmonauts Krikalev, Manarov, Kaleri, and Treshchev were planning to attend also.
Both crewmembers completed their daily 2.5-hr. aerobic/anaerobic workout program on TVIS treadmill, CEVIS bike, RED exerciser and VELO cycle with bungee cord load trainer.
Weekly Science Update (Expedition Nine — 23rd):
GASMAP: Nothing new.
Human Research Facility/Workstation (HRF WS): Continuing.
Advanced Ultrasound (ADUM): The last ADUM session will be next week.
Hand Posture Analyzer (HPA: Nothing new.
In-Space Soldering Investigation (ISSE): Nothing new.
Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation (PFMI): Nothing new.
Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS): SAMS continues to acquire acceleration data relevant to characterization of the dynamic vibratory environment on the ISS.
Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS): MAMS continues to monitor the quasi-steady microgravity environment.
Protein Crystal Growth-Single Locker Thermal Enclosure System (PCG-STES): Nominal.
Protein Crystal Growth Monitoring by Digital Holographic Microscope (PromISS): Nothing new.
Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions (InSPACE): Planned.
Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3 (BCAT-3): Complete.
Renal Stone (RS): Nothing new.
Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SHERES): Nothing new.
Foot/Ground Reaction Forces during Space Flight (FOOT): Nothing new.
Materials ISS Experiment (MISSE): In progress. Deployed outside on the U.S. Airlock. Nominal and collecting data.
Cellular Biotechnology Support Systems-Fluid Dynamics Investigation (CBOSS-FDI): Nothing new.
Biotechnology Specimen Temperature Controller (BSTC): In planning.
Yeast Group Activation Packs (Yeast GAP): Nothing new.
Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM): Camera charge was completed successfully. The team is waiting “impatiently” for the October run.
Earth Science Toward Exploration Research (ESTER): Nothing new.
Serial Network Flow Monitor (SNFM): First run using SNFM on two laptops was successful. Looking forward to second run on Monday with ground commanded SAMS boot-up.
Fluid Merging Viscosity Measurement (FMVM): Nothing new.
Viscous Liquid Foam–Bulk Metallic Glass (Foam): Nothing new.
BIOPSY (Effects of Prolonged Space Flight on Human Skeletal Muscle): The last in-flight diet logging session will occur on 10/7 and 10/8.
Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures-2 (CSLM-2): Planned.
Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA): Nothing new.
Miscible Fluids in Microgravity (MFMG): Nothing new.
Educational Payload Operations (EPO): The crew’s previous EPO demonstrations have been well received by NASA Education and payload sponsors.
Capillary Flow Experiment (CFE): Nothing new.
Crew Earth Observations (CEO): The crew’s prolific CEO photography efforts have become quite a challenge for the ground to properly review. Over 1,600 frames were received this past week bringing your increment total received as of Thursday to 18,518. The mapping of the perimeter of Beijing was “awesome” and a much better choice than the aerosol views requested at that time. Opportunities to use the long lens will be pretty limited now that the ISS has returned to X-POP.
|
|
Expedition 9 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.
Today’s CEO photo targets, in the current XPOP attitude limited by flight rule constraints for use of the Science Window, which is only available for use for ~1/4 of each orbit when it is in trail (not facing into the RAM), were Internal waves, Azores Islands – Mid Atlantic (weather was predicted to be clear over the western Azores for internal wave photography. Looking to the right of track and slightly behind for the sunglint point), Internal waves, Tuamotu Archipelago (a predicted window in cloud cover over the western archipelago should have allowed for internal wave photography. Looking to the right and slightly ahead of track for the sunglint point), and Internal waves, SE Newfoundland (this pass provided an opportunity for capture of internal waves off the ESE coast of Newfoundland. Looking to the right of track and behind for the sunglint point.
CEO images can be viewed at these websites:
See also the website “Space Station Challenge” at:
To view the latest photos taken by the expedition 9 crew visit:
- http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-9/ndxpage1.html at NASA’s Human Spaceflight website.
Current Soyuz 9S (Expedition 10 + 1) flight plan (Leroy Chiao, Salizhan Sharipov, Yuri Shargin):
- Launch — 10/13, 11:06pm EDT;
- Dock – 10/16; 00:24am.
Current 8S (Expedition 9 + 1) flight plan (Gennady Padalka, Michael Fincke, Yuri Shargin):
- Undocking from FGB — 10/23, 5:05pm EDT;
- Landing — 10/23, 8:32pm EDT.
Other upcoming events:
- Soyuz 9S relocate to FGB nadir port — 11/18;
- EVA-12 — 12/28;
- EVA-13 — 2/21/05;
- Shuttle/LF1 launch — NET 3/6/05;
- Shuttle/LF1 undock — NET 3/16/05.
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.
