Status Report

NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 24 Jan 2004

By SpaceRef Editor

January 24, 2004

Filed under ISS, Mars 2003 Rovers, NASA HQ, US

NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 24 Jan 2004 — iss

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously or below. First weekend rest day for the crew.

CDR/SO Michael Foale and FE Alexander Kaleri performed the regular 3-hr. Saturday task of station cleaning. [“Uborka stantsii” focuses on removal of food waste products, cleaning of compartments with vacuum cleaner, wet cleaning of the Service Module (SM) dining table and other surfaces with disinfectants (“Fungistat”) and cleaning of fan screens to avoid temperature rises.]

Kaleri installed the geophysical GFI-1 Relaksatsiya (“relaxation”) experiment, using six GFI-1 kits, and reconfigured the Russian payload laptop 3 for the experiment. He mounted the UV (ultraviolet) camera with spectrometer unit at SM window #9. Purpose: to observe the disturbance in ISS-induced atmosphere by the Service Module (SM) thrusters during today’s station attitude change (see below). [Relaksatsiya normally deals with the study of the chemoluminescent chemical reactions and atmospheric light phenomena (emissions, i.e., molecular relaxation processes) that occur during high-velocity interaction between the exhaust products from space vehicles and the atmosphere at orbital altitude and during the entry of space vehicles into the Earth’s upper atmosphere.]

At 10:00am EST, the crew conducted their monthly teleconference with ISS Program Management via S-band/audio.

FE Kaleri had his weekly PFC (private family conference) via VHF and IP phone.

Mike Foale performed the daily Russian segment (RS) life support systems (SOZh) maintenance, including toilet facility, food containers, water containers and solid waste containers.

Both crews worked out according to their regular daily physical exercise program on TVIS treadmill and CEVIS cycle (aerobic), VELO ergometer with force loader and RED exerciser (anaerobic).

A propellant transfer from Progress 12P to the FGB module was successfully performed yesterday (1/23).

Ground specialists successfully demonstrated a method to tighten the loose US Lab window QD (quick disconnect) with tools and material equivalent to those available to the crew on orbit. A procedure has been written for uplink to the crew to execute from the task list.

At 9:17am, the station started maneuvering from sun-pointing XPOP (x-axis perpendicular to orbit plane) to earth-oriented LVLH (local vertical/local horizontal). The maneuver was conducted with the current procedure of minimizing gimbal loads on the U.S. CMGs (control moment gyros). The firing of the SM thrusters was observed with the Russian GFI-1 “Relaksatsiya” experiment from SM window #9.

Weekly Science Update (Expedition Eight — 12th):
GASMAP: The next scheduled health check should occur in early February. The ground may be calling on the crew before then to help us support ECLSS with some more environmental sampling.

Human Research Facility/Workstation (HRF WS): Continuing.

Advanced Ultrasound: Planned.

Hand Posture Analyzer (HPA: Looking forward to future operations.

In-Space Soldering Investigation (ISSE): Nothing new.

Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation (PFMI): PFMI is back in business and looking forward to continued operations.

Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS): Nothing new.

Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS): MAMS continues to measure the quasi-steady and vibratory environment of the ISS. Planning to cover undocking activity

Protein Crystal Growth-Single Locker Thermal Enclosure System (PCG-STES): Behaving nominally.

Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions (InSPACE): Planned.

Renal Stone (RS): The crew’s last in-flight data collection session will occur in early April. Thanks to the crew for their continued support with taking their daily pills at dinner time.

Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SHERES): Pre-Increment requirements have been completed. A second BBT (Beacon & Beacon Tester) session will be scheduled in US Lab.

Foot/Ground Reaction Forces during Space Flight (FOOT): Data downlink is tentatively planned for early February.

Materials ISS Experiment (MISSE): In progress. Deployed outside. Nominal and collecting data.

Cellular Biotechnology Support Systems-Fluid Dynamics Investigation (CBOSS-FDI): Looking forward to the next set of FDI Tissue Culture runs.

Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM): Fifty-one schools, including two from Japan and one from Chile, are ready for EarthKAM ops next week, to be conducted from the SM.

Earth Science Toward Exploration Research (ESTER): Looking forward to the sessions next year.

Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures-2 (CSLM-2): Planned.

Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA): Completed.

Miscible Fluids in Microgravity (MFMG): Mike was for doing the thermal setup on his free time.

Educational Payload Operations (EPO): The education demonstrations continue to be excellent. The video will be used in a variety of ways. The ground is looking forward to upcoming activities.

Crew Earth Observations (CEO): Continued review of ISS CEO imagery shows that the crew has made the most of the limited photo opportunities available during daylight passes confined to the Southern Hemisphere: Glaciers, icebergs, islands and plankton blooms. The ground is particularly pleased with their recent sessions using the 400mm lens with the doubler. Composition and focus of these images is excellent. Along with beautiful views of snow-capped volcanoes in central Chile, detailed CEO images of the Viedma Glacier in Patagonia are the best the ground has have ever seen. More like these are needed, especially of the other smaller, less-well photographed glaciers of this region. Several publication-worthy images have been identified in this first set of 800mm views. As ISS/CEO daylight passes are progressing further north now investigators hope to see this quality and detail for their coral reef targets as well. They are also finding the crew’s short-lens obliques and pans to be beautiful and well-composed.

Today’s optional CEO (crew earth observations) targets, in the current XPOP attitude constrained by flight rule to fewer near-vertical targets due to Lab window shutter closure and current condensation-prevention plan (limited to 90 min. in 24 hours), were Ocean features, Patagonia (Dynamic event. Looking right for plankton features, and left [towards the glint point] for possible internal waves. Two opportunities),Panama Canal(Dynamic event. Opportunity to shoot this seldom seen part of the world), and Egyptian dust(Dynamic event. Major storm in the Eastern Mediterranean is generating dust in Egypt: looking left and right of track).

CEO images can be viewed at the websites.

See also the website “Space Station Challenge” at