NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 24 Aug 2003
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously or below. Second weekend rest day for CDR Yuri Malenchenko and FE/SO Ed Lu.
This being a Sunday, Malenchenko collected the weekly data readings of the Service Module (SM)’s toilet flush counter readings (with inspection of the SP urine collection and pretreat assembly) and SVO water supply status counter readings, both for calldown to MCC-M/TsUP.
Ed Lu prepared the daily IMS delta file for automatic export/import to update the database, while Yuri attended to the daily routine maintenance of the SM SOZh life support system (including ASU toilet facilities).
Both crewmembers worked out with their daily 2.5-h program of physical exercise, on TVIS treadmill, RED expander, and VELO cycle with load trainer.
The crew had their regular weekly PFCs (private family conferences), via S-band/audio and Ku-band/video.
As a long-term item on the Russian task list, Malenchenko was again charged with taking photographs of the PKZ-1V Kromka experiment tablet deployed on the plume deflector of the SM’s plus-pitch thrusters. (Last time done: 7/6/03) [The pictures are taken with the Kodak 760 digital still camera (DSC) from the EVA hatch 1 window in the DC-1 docking compartment.]
Also working off the crew-discretional task list, Yuri continued troubleshooting the ham radio packet mode. [Part 2 of the task consists of power-cycling the ham radio system from the FGB and establishing packet comm above the US and Russia territories. The restart and power-cycling of the packet module is to be conducted over the ground stations in the continental US, where this procedure will be followed by the ham operators on the ground.]
As a further new item on the Russian task list, Yuri was to assemble and install today the VFS-3M video-photometric system of the geophysical Molniya-SM/LSO experiment at SM window #2, aligning its line-of-sight at 27 degrees below local horizon for Earth viewing. [The periodically operated Molniya VFS-3M is used for studying atmospheric, ionospheric and magnetospheric electromagnetic interaction related to storms and seismic activities.]
Continuing the task-listed Russian Uragan earth imaging program, the CDR today focused the Kodak DCS760 digital camera with 800-mm lens on new targets. [They included large cities in England, Holland and Germany, the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains), Sudeten, Tatra and Carpathian Mountains, Kishinev, Odessa, the entire Crimean South coast (from Donuzlav and Sebastopol to Kerch), Krasnodar Reservoir, slopes of the Great Caucasus Range with the ski resort Krasnaya Polyana, the Borzhomi-Bakuriani area, and the city of Teheran.]
Also working off the Russian task list, Yuri conducted another session of the Diatomeya ocean research program. [He used the Nikon F5 with f/80 mm lens to observe sea bloom features and cloud cover anomalies in the fork (branching region) of the North Atlantic Current, the maritime sea range of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Oceanology, and the record-setting long sea bloom features in the Gulf Stream frontal zone.]
Troubleshooting of the Node RPCM (remote power controller module) 13B-C has found that its RPC1 is failed open, preventing the ground from repowering the internal Node light controlled by it. [Although this failure initially caused a power-on reset of the entire RPCM, the module is now otherwise operating well and RPCs 2 through 18 may still be used. Power has been restored to downstream IMV (intermodular ventilation) valves and emergency egress lights. Replacement possibilities for this RPCM are being considered.]
Today’s CEO (crew earth observation) optional targets, including cities during daylight and at night in the current LVLH attitude and also including the targets of the Lewis & Clark 200-year memorial locations, were Typhoon Krovanh, China (Dynamic event. Large cloud mass, with Macao beneath experiencing high winds and heavy rain), Singapore (as clear as the island state has been seen in weeks), Aerosol event, northeast USA (Dynamic event. Ahead of a front sweeping down from Canada, winds should advect aerosols eastward over the ocean, where the dark background is ideal for documenting the phenomenon. A series of obliques was requested), Petra, Jordan (pointing a touch left of track), Betsiboka River delta, Madagascar (Dynamic event. Sunglint opportunity just right of track for this rapidly silting estuary. New island growth has occurred in the last two years. An update image was requested), Kinshasa, Zaire (clearest weather for some weeks. Looking on the south side of the Congo River where it widens at Stanley Pool), Angolan Biomass Burning (fires continue to burn in the Angola-Botswana corridor), Congo-Zimbabwe Biomass Burning (fires continue to burn the savanna biomass that accumulated after the very wet 1999-2000 season), Tropical storm, Cuba (Dynamic event. Depression scheduled to be a named tropical storm by Sunday with 45-knot winds. ISS pass crossed just north of the predicted center), and Monterrey, Mexico (looking a touch left for Mexico’s second city).
CEO images can be viewed at the websites
See also the website “Space Station Challenge” at http://voyager.cet.edu/iss/
