NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 22 May 2004
All ISS systems continue to function nominally except those noted previously or below. >>>Today 107 years ago (1897), Russian schoolteacher Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovskiy gave the world the famous “rocket equation”, describing the motion of a rocket in free space. (It was then published in the world’s first science paper on space flight, entitled “Exploration of the Universe with Reaction Machines” and published in May 1903 in Science Review magazine, Issue no. 5.)
Update on EMU 3005 Cooling Failure: As of now, only one of three U.S. EMU spacesuits on board is in “Go” condition (viz., Fincke’s 3011). Today’s crew-volunteered 3 hours of work for onboard testing & verification of EMU 3005 cooling were unsuccessful; thus, 3005, with its cooling system failed, remains “No Go”. Subsequently, the crew unstowed the old EMU #3013 from last year for troubleshooting it with the same procedure used on 3005. Although some water flow was observed, it is far too low to allow us to regain two-EMU capability. Both suits appear to have faulty water pumps. [Today’s testing on 3005 failed in spite of the crew’s successfully executed steps at (1) EMU water degassing and refilling, (2) flushing gas trap, check valve and pump items of any bubbles that may be lodged in the circuit, as well as (3) providing greater flow through the check valve than in earlier steps (to open it in case it was stuck). By a process of elimination, the cause of failure now appears to be the EMU backpack’s water pump. The third suit, #3013, used last time over a year ago (April 2003) before its cooling system failed, had been worked on by Ed Lu and Yuri Malenchenko without luck. The only component of three potentially failure-causing cooling-system components that can be replaced on orbit is the gas trap (the others being check valve and pump). This replacement was done on suit 3013 on 10/25/03, without success. Since 3013’s failure was then assumed to be due to its check valve (“Item 128”) stuck closed because of standing idle over long time, the crew today subjected it to the new procedure with the modified LCVG (liquid cooling & ventilation garment) jumper that for the first time allowed testing the check valve, upstream of the pump, but again without luck. This appears to leave the irreplaceable EMU water pump as possible cause, as for 3005. No more EMU troubleshooting is undertaken over the weekend while spacesuit engineers have returned to their systems diagrams, and the decision on how to proceed from here will be up to the Mission Management Team (MMT) on Monday morning (5/24).]
CDR Gennady Padalka and FE/SO Michael Fincke performed the regular weekly 3-hr. station cleaning, their fourth. [“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.]
Padalka completed the regular daily maintenance/inspection of the SM’s SOZh environment control & life support systems, including ASU toilet system replacements.
The FE collected the periodic CO2 partial pressure reading in the SM and Lab using the U.S. CDMK (CO2 monitor kit), for calldown to MCC-Houston (along with the battery status) for use in trending analyses.
Mike also performed the daily leak check of the Lab window’s inter-pane space (“Volume D”), using the “Aeolus” scopemeter with pressure probe. The pressure rise has been following a relatively steady leak rate of ~27 Torr/0.52 psi per day from the cabin into Volume D.
The crew conducted the weekly planning conference (WPC) with the ground, discussing next week’s “Look-Ahead Plan” (regularly prepared jointly by MCC-H and MCC-M planners), via S-band/audio.
Yesterday’s checkout of the PGT (pistol grip tool) batteries with the PGT itself showed them to be charged enough to operate the tool. It now remains to see whether and how long the NiMH (nickel metal hydride) units can hold their charge. [All PGT battery-charging activities originally scheduled for the rest of the weekend have been cancelled.]
Mike’s attempt at 5/20 to reactivate the SAMS (Space Acceleration Measurement System)’s ICU (Interface Control Unit) computer after its recent hard drive replacement did not succeed in fixing the system. The ground now suspects a defective battery and requested a test to rule it out.
At 9:40am EDT, both crewmembers participated in two TV downlinks with congratulatory greetings from the ISS, recorded at TsUP/Moscow for later delivery. [One addressed the Moscow Geodesics & Cartography State University (MIIGAiK) on its 225th
anniversary on May 26. Today headed by Doctor of Mechanics and Hero of the Soviet Union Viktor P. Savinykh, the school counts former Cosmonauts Savinykh, Vasiliy Tsibliev and Yuri Gidzenko among its most prominent former students. The second message was a cordial congratulation to veteran Pilot-Cosmonaut Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov, the world’s first spacewalker, on the occasion of his 70th
birthday on May 30.]
As an item off the discretionary Russian task list, Gennady set up the equipment for his first round with the MBI-8 “Profilaktika” (preventive health maintenance) experiment for next week’s performance. [During the three usual “Profilaktika” days, Padalka will use the VELO ergometer on Day 1, the Load Trainer on Day 2 and the TVIS treadmill on Day 3. The test is similar to the MedOps MO-3 test, except that it uses the TEEM-100M gas analyzer during exercise operations, blood lactate determination and subjective load assessment. The experiment is supported by the payload laptop 3, with Aerograph and Kardiokassetta-2000 software residing on its hard disk drive.]
Also working off his task list, the CDR started taking an extensive audit of all internal lighting fixtures in the Russian segment (RS), the idea being to obtain a count of inoperable lights, list their locations and determine the number of spare lights still remaining in storage. [There are a total of 18 lights installed in the Service Module (SM), 11 in the FGB and 3 in the DC1. IMS records indicate a spares supply of ten lighting units stowed in FGB (6), SM (3), and DC1 (1).]
A continuing job on Gennady’s task list is to keep a running account of available stowage areas in the FGB and DC1 modules, required for the upcoming Progress-249/14P cargo transfer activities.
Upcoming Progress Events:
- Progress 13P undock — 5/24 (Mon), 5:19am EDT;
- Progress 14P launch — 5/25 (Tues), 8:34am EDT;
- Progress 14P docking — 5/27 (Thurs), 9:55am EDT.
Weekly Science Update (Expedition Nine — 4th):
GASMAP: The next scheduled GASMAP activity occurs on 6/4.
Human Research Facility/Workstation (HRF WS): Continuing.
Advanced Ultrasound (ADUM): The crew was thanked profusely for their commitment, enthusiasm and efforts to provide experimenters with exceptional data. “A special thank-you for keeping ADUM on the timeline on Tuesday (5/18)”, where the crew’s creative restraint system, used in the 11th
hour in lieu of the CMRS, has given the team some new ideas for training future crews. Investigators are awaiting next month’s scans..
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 telemetry from all sensors is not available due to ICU (laptop) lockup on 5/6 (7:09am EDT). Replacing the ICU hard drive on 5/20 did not help. The SAMS team, with support from the crew, are working to correct the problem. In the mean time MAMS’s HiRAP is being used to characterize the vibratory environment in the US Lab
Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS): Both MAMS OSS and HiRAP are operating nominally.
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): Nothing new.
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): The BSTC checkout is currently planned for June.
Yeast Group Activation Packs (Yeast GAP): Nothing new.
Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM): There is one more session scheduled for this Increment.
Earth Science Toward Exploration Research (ESTER): Nothing new.
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): First session planned in June
Crew Earth Observations (CEO): Today’s CEO optional photo targets, limited in XPOP attitude by flight rule constraints on the use of the science window, which is available for only ~1/4 of each orbit when not facing forward (in “ram”), were Internal waves, Philippines (looking left for possible internal wave packets in the northern Sulu Sea), Madras (Chennai), India (looking left for a general context view of the Madras metropolitan region. Later passes supplied opportunity for nadir shots), Karachi, Pakistan (nadir pass. Also looking for dust source points from the coast as ISS tracked track NE over the Rajasthan Desert towards the Himalaya Mts. A dust storm has been raging for days, reducing visibility throughout the Ganges valley. Dust source points [“hot spots”] are a major research interest), and Alexandria, Egypt (looking a touch right for this famous coastal city. City growth has been rapid in the last three decades, with urban development pressing into the coastal swamplands).
CEO images can be viewed at the websites.
See also the website “Space Station Challenge” at
