NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 28 January 2005

SpaceRef note: This NASA Headquarters internal status report, as presented here, contains additional, original material produced by SpaceRef.com (copyright © 2004) to enhance access to related status reports and NASA activities.

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. It wasn’t such a rest day for the crew after all…

Since the Russian (RS) and US (USOS) segments are no longer isolated from each other, CDR/SO Leroy Chiao returned the SODF (Systems Operations Data Files) and CCPK (Crew Contamination Protection Kit) back to the USOS from the Service Module (SM). [SODF items included hardcopies of the SODF Warning book, POC book and Medical Checklist, as well as portions of the CD library.]

Also as part of post-EVA cleanup activities, FE Salizhan Sharipov (for whom the EVA-12 spacewalk had been a “first”) started the discharge process on the first of two Orlan 825M3 battery units, terminating it later at ~2:05pm EST.

Salizhan then deinstalled the portable air repress bottles (BNP) from the DC1 docking module and the backup SM work compartment (RO) repress lines and stowed them in the RO for future use.

The crew also restowed all Russian and US EVA tools and equipment.

The FE completed the periodic servicing task of changing out components of the SM toilet system (ASU), then checked out the ASU. [Replaced with new units were the U-receptacle (MP) and filter insert (F-V). The old items were logged in the IMS (Inventory Management System) database and stowed for disposal.]

In the Lab module, the CDR sampled the coolant fluid of the ITCS MTL (Internal Thermal Control System/Moderate Temperature Loop), but without running a pH test or taking a sample for return to Houston.

The CDR also collected the periodic reading of the cabin air’s current CO2 partial pressure in the SM and Lab, using the U.S. CDMK (carbon dioxide monitoring kit), for calldown (along with the battery status) for use in trending analyses.

Sharipov completed the periodic (weekly) replenishing of the Elektron water supply for electrolysis, his twelfth, filling the KOV thermal loop’s EDV container today with water from SM Rodnik tank #1 (BV1). [The procedure is specially designed to prevent air bubbles from getting into the BZh liquid unit where their pressure spikes, from collapsing, could cause micropump impeller cavitation and Elektron shutdown, as happened numerous times in the past. Usually, when the Rodnik’s potable water is not used, the EDV water is condensate drawn from the BKO multifiltration/purification column and the air/liquid separator unit (GZhS) while the crewmember checks for any air bubbles in the EDV (and, if visible, estimates their number). Elektron water is also supplied from USOS condensate in a CWC (collapsible water container) that is checked for its contents of air bubbles and is rejected if the estimated total air bubble volume is more than 30 cubic centimeters (1 cm air bubble is about 0.5 ccm).]

Leroy completed the regular once-a-week maintenance reboot on the operational PCS (portable computer system) laptops and the restart of the SSC (station support computer) OCA comm router laptop (every two weeks).

In preparation for ground-controlled testing of the newly installed German commercial “RokvISS” robotics experiment, Salizhan rebooted the BRI (RS OpsLAN/Ethernet SmartSwitch) in order to assure its performance during the OBC (Onboard Controller) checkout runs. [RokvISS investigates the feasibility of robotic function and remote control in open space environment. Its REU (Robotic External Unit) arm, installed on the URM-D, is controlled by the CUP (Communication Unit for Payloads) via the OBC electronics, part of SM systems.]

Working off the voluntary Russian task list, Salizhan performed the regular daily inspection of the BIO-5 Rasteniya-2 (“Plants-2”) experiment, which researches growth and development of plants under spaceflight conditions in the Lada-5 greenhouse.

The FE also completed the routine SOZh/ECLSS inspection and maintenance, which today included the checking of a US condensate CWC (#1042) for air bubbles harmful to the Elektron micro pumps.

The crew performed their daily 2.5-hr. physical exercise program on TVIS treadmill, RED exerciser and VELO cycle with bungee cord load trainer. Salizhan’s daily protocol currently prescribes a four-day microcycle exercise with 1.5 hr on the TVIS (today: Day 2 of a new set) and one hour on VELO.

Chiao then transferred the daily TVIS and RED exercise data files to the MEC (medical equipment computer) for downlink, as well as the daily wristband HRM (heart rate monitor) data, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium.

At ~9:50pm, the crew held their standard (once every two weeks) teleconference with the JSC Astronaut Office (Kent Rominger), via S-band S/G.

At ~3:45pm EST Chiao and Sharipov are also scheduled for their regular (nominally weekly) teleconference with the ISS Flight Director at MCC-Houston.

The deployment of three newly delivered US. A31p NGLs (Next Generation Laptops) plus 16V DC and 28V DC power supplies and cables in the RS has been added to Chiao’s discretionary “job jar” task list. It will also be hard scheduled for 1/31 (Monday) if not completed prior to that time. [Two IBM A31p ThinkPads will set up in the SM to replace the IBM 760XD SSC Clients, while the third laptop in the FGB will take the place of the 760XD SSC Router. The new SSC Router will be loaded with SSC Router software vers. 2.00 and the two new SSC Clients with SSC Client vers. 9.00. After the software is installed, the new SSC Clients in the SM will be configured manually to join the domain. Once this is done, both SSC1 and SSC2 will also receive Service Pack 01 that has already been deployed on the US A31p clients.]

The station continues to fly “sideways” in earth-fixed LVLH YVV attitude (local vertical local horizontal/y-axis in velocity vector) until 2/8 (Tuesday) when it maneuvers to sun-oriented XPOP (x-axis perpendicular to orbit plane) as the solar Beta angle dips below -60 deg magnitude.

The first volume (402 pages) of “Rockets and People” (Rakety i lyudi), the remarkable memoirs of Russian space veteran Academician Boris E. Chertok, has now been published, with the support of the ISS Program Office, by the NASA HQ History Division.

Today’s CEO (crew earth observations) photo targets, no longer limited in the current LVLH attitude, were Muglad Basin fans, SW Sudan (this overpass provided an opportunity for detailed swath mapping through the central portion of this megafan complex. Active deposition of sediment in this oil-bearing region has been ongoing for over one hundred million years. Numerous overlapping depositional fans are present. Detailed imagery of the region will be useful for fan boundary delineation and mapping), Lake Poopo, Bolivia (weather is predicted to be clear over the southern end of Lake Poopo. Detailed imagery of the smaller salars to the south of Poopo are useful for assessment of hydrologic response to climatic variations in these smaller basins), Caracas, Venezuela (this nadir overpass provided an opportunity for mapping of the urban core of Caracas. Detailed images of the urban area are useful for spatial structure analysis and land cover classification. The distribution and types of surficial materials in the urban core are important variables in urban climate models), and Internal Waves, Bahamas (weather is predicted to be mostly clear over the northern Bahamas for internal wave photography. Looking to the right of track [to the north of Cuba] for the sunglint point.

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:

• http://voyager.cet.edu/iss/

To view the latest photos taken by the expedition 10 crew visit:

• http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-10/ndxpage1.html at NASA’s Human Spaceflight website.

Expedition 10 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.

Upcoming Key Events:

• * Progress 16 (16P) undocking & destructive reentry — 2/27/05;
• * Progress 17 (17P) launch — 2/28/05;
• * EVA-13 — 3/25/05;
• * Soyuz 10 (10S) launch — 4/15/05 with Expedition 11 (CDR Sergei Krikalev, FE/SO John Phillips);
• * Soyuz 9 (9S) undock — 4/25/05 with Exp. 10 crew (after 193 days on orbit, 191 days on board ISS);
• * Progress 18 (18P) launch — 6/10/05;
• * Progress 19 (19P) launch — 8/24/05;
• * Soyuz 11 (11S) launch — 9/27/05.

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 11:40am EST [= epoch]):

• Mean altitude — 357.7 km
• Apogee height — 364.2 km
• Perigee height — 351.2 km
• Period — 91.69 min.
• Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
• Eccentricity — 0.0009614
• Solar Beta Angle — -54.0 deg (magnitude increasing)
• Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.70
• Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours — 85 m
• Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 35375

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.