Status Report

NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 27 June 2006

By SpaceRef Editor

June 27, 2006

Filed under ISS, ISS On-orbit status, NASA HQ/SpaceRef/NASA Watch, US

NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 27 June 2006 — http://images.spaceref.com/news/exp.13.jpg

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.

Crew wake-up this morning was shifted by two hours to the right (4:00am EDT). Sleep time will be at the regular time of 5:30pm.

After tagging up with logistics specialists at TsUP/Moscow, the crew began with cargo transfers and commensurate IMS (Inventory Management System) updates, starting off with the fresh ODF (Operations Data Files, bortovaya dokumentatsia) and a medical kit (ZhKU). Payload transfers were supported by ground specialist tagup.

CDR Pavel Vinogradov then transferred high-priority science experiments, leading off with the TKhH-9/CRYSTALLIZER payload, which he activated and set up in the previously powered-up Cryogem-03M thermostat container in the Docking Compartment (DC1).

Afterwards, Vinogradov also unloaded the BTKh-2/MIMETIK-K, installing and activating it in the Cryogem-03M. [MIMETIK-K, transported in the Luch-2 kit, deals with high-quality protein crystal development for later X-ray diffusion analysis.]

The third experiment brought over from 22P to the DC1 was BTKh-31/ANTIGEN, which Pavel set up in its BIOECOLOGIA Kit A05 and photographed with the Nikon D100 camera. [ANTIGEN deals with comparison of a Hepatitis B gene in yeasts under micro-G and gravity conditions, and establishment of synthesis optimization techniques.]

Shuttle
Processing Status
News
Daily Mission
Return to Flight
ISS
Weekly Status
Weekly Science
Daily On-Orbit Status
Daily Crew Timeline
Soyuz | Progress
ISS News | ATV

In the Lab, FE Jeffrey Williams meanwhile powered up the HRF GASMAP (Human Research Facility/Gas Analyzer System for Metabolic Analysis Physiology) and its laptop for another routine 30-day health check. Later in the day, Jeff turned the equipment off again. [During the health check, the GASMAP AM (Analyzer Module) is powered on and runs for approximately 6 hours to maintain the vacuum integrity of the hardware (ion pump). In addition, the CM (Calibration Module) tank values are logged to track gas usage.]

As part of post-docking cleanup, Williams restored the onboard video configuration by disconnecting the UOP DCP (utility outlet panel/display & control panel) bypass power cable from the Lab Robotics Work Station (RWS).

Working in the 22P cargo ship, Vinogradov installed the standard US-21 matching unit, a 1-hr. task. [The US-21 matching unit connects the Service Module (SM) with the Progress motion control and DPO thrusters systems, so that they can be commanded by the SM computer system (BVS). After bolting the box down, Pavel hooked it up with the telemetry (TM) connector to the BITS2-12 onboard TM system on Go from TsUP, after Moscow had inhibited data output to the VD-SU control system mode, powered off the BITS and deactivated the SKV-1 air conditioner. These systems were subsequently turned back on.]

Progress Cargo Vehicle Procedures

Progress Cargo Vehicle Transfer Operations, Part 1, Mission Operations Directorate, 10 August 2000 [English – Acrobat] [Russian – Acrobat]

Progress Cargo Vehicle Transfer Operations, Part 2, Appendix 1, Mission Operations Directorate, 10 August 2000 [English – Acrobat] [Russian – Acrobat]

According to the introduction to these documents “this book is intended for performing cargo transfer operations in Progress and on stowing equipment in SM and Progress.” These documents contain diagrams and detailed procedures for the transfer of times from the Progress Vehicle currently docked with the ISS.

Afterwards, the CDR also completed the electronic integration of 22P into the ISS by installing the LKT local temperature sensor commutator (TA251MB) of the BITS2-12 onboard telemetry system, along with its ROM unit (read-only memory, TA765B). The LKT was subsequently switched on by the ground to complete the basic configuration. [The BITS2-12, VD-SU control mode, and SKV-1 air conditioner were also temporarily powered off for the installation.]

Jeff performed the scheduled monthly routine maintenance on both CSA-CP (Compound Specific Analyzer-Combustion Products) units (#1012 & #1017) currently in use as prime and backup. [Both units received new batteries, the prime and backup unit designation was swapped, and both were zero calibrated. Following the zero calibration, the backup unit was stowed and the prime unit’s datalogger function activated to collect 1 hour of data as a spot check. After one hour, the datalogger was deactivated.]

The FE also collected air samples in the centers of the FGB and SM with the Dual Sorbent Tube (DST), using the Russian AK-1M/Draeger tube pump instead of the broken DST pump, and then with a GSC (Grab Sample Container) at the center of the Lab.

Later, Williams performed the monthly sampling of potable water for chemical and microbial analysis from the SVO-ZV tap and the SRV-K warm tap, the latter after preliminary heating of the water and flushing, today’s being “Week 12” sampling. [From each port, Jeff collected two 500 mL microbial post-flight samples and two 750 mL chemical archival (post-flight) samples for return to Earth, using Russian collection procedures.]

Pavel uninstalled the previously deactivated NPM-3 Navigation Receiver Module hardware of the ASN-M Satellite Navigation System and prepacked it for return on ULF1.1. [The remaining two other NPM modules were secured with Aramide (Velcro) tape behind their panel 338.]

The CDR performed the daily routine maintenance of the SM’s environment control & life support system (SOZh), including its toilet system (ASU), and – off his discretionary “time permitting” task list – he also updated/edited the standard IMS (Inventory Management System) “delta file”, including locations, for the regular weekly automated export/import to its three databases on the ground (Houston, Moscow, Baikonur).

Both crewmembers worked out in their regular physical exercise program, 2.5-hr. for Jeff and 1.5-hr. today for Pavel, (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the TVIS treadmill (FE, CDR), and RED resistive exerciser (FE). [Pavel Vinogradov’s daily protocol prescribes a strict four-day microcycle exercise with 1.5 hr on the treadmill in unmotorized mode and – waived today – one hour on VELO plus load trainer (today: Day 1 of the latest microcycle).]

Afterwards, Jeff transferred the exercise data files to the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer) for downlink, as well as the daily wristband HRM data of the workouts on RED, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium (done six times a week).

A new task added to Jeff Williams’ discretionary “job jar” task list is the preparation of special tools required for replacing, during ULF1.1 EVA, the IUA (Interface Umbilical Assembly) of the MBS (Mobile Base System).

At ~8:55am EDT, the station residents participated in a 20-min. news conference conducted with U.S. media at NASA centers. [The PAO event again utilized the relatively new NASA Television Digital Satellite System. Due to the signal encoding and decoding required, the new digital satellite system has a 4-second audio delay between ISS and ground reception, and vice versa, for which the crew is prepared. Media clients taped the event for use within their respective media outlets.]

Today’s CEO (crew earth observations) photo targets, limited in the current XPOP attitude by flight rule constraints on the use of the Lab nadir/science window, which is available for only ~1/4 of each orbit when not facing forward (in ram), were Dust plumes, SW Africa (Dynamic event. Winter high pressure systems often generate strong dry winds that blow out to sea all around southern Africa. On the desert west coast these winds [the equivalent of Santa Ana winds in California] can raise dramatic dust plumes. The weather satellite shows what appear to be strong dust plumes north of Cape Town today. Looking right well off track. Dust may also start blowing further north, left of track), Beni River dynamics, Bolivia (the Beni River is a strongly meandering river whose bed shifts continuously. As a major river that has developed a large fan feature [450 km in radius], its behavior is of prime interest in the basic description of such rivers and the fan forms they generate. Shooting a mapping swath looking left as close to track as window angles reasonably allow, for two minutes, or until cloud obscures the surface), and Luquillo Forest, Puerto Rico (Long Term Ecological Network site (LTER). The Luquillo Experimental Forest, located at the northeast end of Puerto Rico, has been a center of tropical forestry research for nearly a century. The forest is a recreation site for over a half a million people per year, a water supply for approximately 20% of Puerto Rico’s population, a regional center for electronic communication, and a refuge of Caribbean biodiversity. It is the goal of the USDA Forest Service and the University of Puerto Rico to promote and maintain the forest’s role as a center of active and dynamic scientific inquiry. The main objective from the standpoint of CEO for LTER sites is to record land cover/land use change on a seasonal basis. Sunglint opportunities are also useful for drainage network mapping. 180 mm images are excellent for general context shots and mapping).

To date, more than 198,000 of CEO images have been taken in the first five years of the ISS, almost one third of the total number of images taken from orbit by astronauts.

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:

See also the website “Space Station Challenge” at:

http://voyager.cet.edu/iss/

To view the latest photos taken by the expedition 13 crew visit:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-13/ndxpage1.html at NASA’s Human Spaceflight website.

Expedition 13 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.

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 7:05am EDT [= epoch]):