NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 29 Jun 2003
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously. Day 66 in space for Expedition 7. It’s Sunday, and except for standard maintenance and optional task list jobs, the crew is off duty. Ahead: Week 9.
CDR Yuri 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.
Malenchenko also conducted the periodic inspection of the Elektron oxygen generator’s VM gas/liquid system for obstructing air bubbles that may linger after IFMs (in-flight maintenances).
Yuri then completed the regular inspection of the active BRPK-1 air/liquid condensate separator system in the SM.
The crew prepared the daily delta file for automatic export/import to update the IMS (inventory management system) database, then completed the daily routine maintenance on the SOZh life support system which comprises the water supply equipment, food supply subsystem (SOP), and sanitary hygiene equipment (SGO). [Maintenance generally consists of inspection of fluid lines/connections and filter replacement.]
Yuri Ivanovich also performed his regular daily checkup of the BIO-5 Rasteniya-2 (“Plants-2”) experiment which investigates growth and development of plants under spaceflight conditions in the SM’s Lada-2 greenhouse.
In the SM, Malenchenko started the regeneration cycle on absorbent bed #2 of the BMP harmful impurities unit and switched channel #1 from Regeneration back to Purify mode. [The “bakeout” cycle in the filter beds is repeated every 20 days. Each bakeout to space vacuum takes about 24 hours.]
Both crewmembers completed their daily 2.5-h program of physical exercise, on TVIS treadmill, RED expander and, for Yuri, on the Russian VELO cycle ergometer with load trainer.
The crew also had their weekly PFCs (private family conferences) via Ku- and S-band (video/audio).
Tonight shortly before 11pm EDT, ISS will maneuver from sun-pointing XPOP (x-axis perpendicular to orbit plane) attitude back to earth-oriented LVLH (local vertical/local horizontal).
Today’s optional CEO targets, limited in the current XPOP attitude by flight rule constraints on the use of the Lab nadir/science window, and including the targets of the Lewis & Clark 200-year memorial locations, were Western Mediterranean Haze (coastal Spain very hazy. Looking obliquely left and right. Obliqueness of view and slight overexposure both help to capture these aerosol loadings. Sources of the haze are poorly understood, but probably lie hundreds of miles away in France or northern Italy), Betsiboka River delta, Madagascar (Dynamic event: sun glint pass right of track over this fast-changing estuary. A new island was documented late last year, developing as a vast mud bank. Such islands rapidly become permanent as they are colonized by mangrove vegetation. The Betsiboka is one of the most dramatically changing sites we know of, and relates to extreme post-WW II soil erosion rates on the hills inland), Kinshasa, Zaire (looking right for the Kinshasa region on the south side of the Congo River [at the point where the river widens at “Stanley Pool”]), Chongqing, China (nadir pass over this major inland city which lies on the Yangtze River [where the river exits the Red Basin — southeast corner of the basin]), Manila, Philippines (nadir pass), Dust storm, E Iran (Dynamic event: Major dust storm in eastern Iran, western Pakistan and western Afghanistan is raging for a second day. Sources of the dust are a critical item of research [more nadir views of plume origins]. Geology of the source points is easily interpreted from ISS CEO images. Dust transport directions are also of great interest. South Asia is the dustiest part of the planet and needs to be understood to improve global aerosol models), Bangkok, Thailand (looking left for a view of the Bangkok region), and Missouri River sites (LEWIS & CLARK SITES: Nadir series of views (overlapping mapping swath) along the Missouri requested to capture several sites of interest).
CEO images can be viewed at the websites
See also the website “Space Station Challenge” at http://voyager.cet.edu/iss/
ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 6:45am EDT [= epoch]):
- Mean altitude — 387.7 km
- Apogee — 392.8 km
- Perigee — 382.7km
- Period — 92.32 min.
- Inclination (to Equator) — 51.63 deg
- Eccentricity — 0.0007406
- Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.60
- Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours — 95 m
- Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. ’98) — 26276
- For more on ISS orbit and worldwide naked-eye visibility dates/times, see
- http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/station/viewing/issvis.html
