NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 22 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. Sunday — off-duty day for Bill McArthur and Valery Tokarev, except for housekeeping and voluntary work. Ahead: Week 16 for Expedition 12.
CDR/SO McArthur performed the daily routine maintenance of the Service Module (SM)’s environment control & life support system (SOZh), including its toilet system (ASU), and the weekly inspection of the air/liquid condensate separator apparatus (BRPK). He also completed the weekly collection of the toilet flush (SP) counter and water supply (SVO) readings for calldown to TsUP/Moscow.
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).]
In the SM, FE Tokarev used empty drinking bags to collect condensate samples upstream of the Gas-Liquid Mixture Filter (FGS), the Purification Column Unit (BKO), and water samples from the BRP-M water container for return to Earth for analysis.
The Science Officer continued his work on the PromISS-4 (Protein Crystal Growth Monitoring by Digital Holographic Microscope #4) experiment, today replacing video tape #11 with #12 on the MSG (Microgravity Science Glovebox) video system. [Tape exchanges vary due to record times throughout the 15 day running period of the experiment.]
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For his EPO (Educational Payloads Operations) session yesterday, which demonstrated Up/Down (floor/ceiling) directions in zero-gravity, Bill today received warm accolades. [ You had us all Dancing on the Ceiling with the EPO floor/ceilings demo. Thank you for taking the time to film in the Lab and the Node. We really enjoyed being able to see part of your exercise routine. It s always a joy to watch you having fun while you re working&it s contagious! ]
The ground-commanded BCAT-3 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test) activity is continuing, taking time-lapse flash photography of BCAT sample 6 at the MWA (Maintenance Work Area) via EarthKAM camera and SSC-7 laptop. McArthur conducted a check of the alignment and focus of the camera on the sample and position of flash. The imaging is to continue until 1/26.
At ~3:40pm EST, the CDR is scheduled to hold his weekly PFC (private family conference) via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting video.
Working off his discretionary time available task list, Tokarev performed his regular inspection of the BIO-5 Rasteniya-2/Lada-8 (“Plants-2”) experiment which researches growth and development of plants under spaceflight conditions. [The experimental seeds are planted between wicks in a root tray, with environmental control powered on. Regular daily maintenance of the experiment involves monitoring of seedling growth, humidity measurements, moistening of the substrate if necessary, and photo/video recording.]
Valery also 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.]
A third job on Tokarev s task list is the finishing up of preparations of the DC1 Docking Compartment and SM Transfer Compartment (PkhO) for the EVA-15 on 2/3.
The week ahead will be dominated onboard by more EVA preparations. The Orlan spacewalk from the DC1 airlock on 2/3 will last an estimated 5h 58m, beginning at 5:26pm EST and ending at 11:08pm. Major objectives are: Deployment of RadioSkaf (an old Orlan spacesuit equipped with ham radio equipment for radio amateurs on Earth), removal of the Russian/US Strela 2 from the EFGF (electrical flight grapple fixture) on the FGB module and its installation on the FRGF (flight releasable grapple fixture) on the PMA-3 (pressurized mating adapter #3), retrieval of the Biorisk experiment, and various external inspections and photographing.
No CEO (Crew Earth Observation) photo targets uplinked today.
Over 177,000 of CEO (Crew Earth Observation) 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:
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.
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ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 6:55am EST [= epoch]):
- Mean altitude — 347.0 km
- Apogee height — 353.7 km
- Perigee height — 340.2 km
- Period — 91.48 min.
- Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
- Eccentricity — 0.0010036
- Solar Beta Angle — -71.0 deg (magnitude peaking tomorrow)
- Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.74
- Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours — 60 m
- Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 41020
Events Ahead (all dates Eastern; tentative):
- 02/03/06 — Russian EVA-15
- 02/11/06 — ISS Reboost Test (in MMOD avoidance mode)
- 03/03/06 — Progress M-54/19P undocking & reentry
- 03/30/06 — Soyuz TMA-8/12S launch (Exp. 13 + Marcus Pontes/Brazil)
- 04/01/06 — Soyuz TMA-8/12S docking (DC1)
- 04/24/06 — Progress M-56/21P launch
- 04/26/06 — Progress M-56/21P docking
- 06/19/06 — Progress M-55/20P undocking & reentry
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.
