NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 4 December 2004
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. Saturday, first of two off-duty days for the crew (except for standard maintenance and optional task list jobs).
As generally every Saturday, Leroy Chiao and Salizhan Sharipov performed the standard weekly 3-hr. housecleaning of the station.
At ~9:20 am EST, the crew held the weekly planning conference (WPC) with the ground, discussing next week’s “Look-Ahead Plan” (prepared jointly by MCC-H and TsUP/Moscow planners), via S-band/audio, reviewing upcoming activities and any concerns about future on-orbit events.
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Previous Reports ISS On-orbit Status [HQ] |
For today’s “Saturday Science” program, CDR/SO Chiao was scheduled to conduct Test 5 of the ISSI (In-Space Soldering Investigation) experiment. The activity was to be covered by camcorder and recorded on the ground-commanded VTR (video tape recorder). [Test 5 consists of soldering 12 different shaped wire “coupons”: six ISSI L-Shape and six ISSI Large Loop samples.]
Working off the Russian “job jar” task list, Salizhan conducted his third session with the biomedical MBI-9 “Pulse” experiment, preceded by setting up the equipment. [Execution of the medical cardiological assessment is controlled from the Russian payload laptop, using a set respiration rate (without forced or deep breaths) and synchronizing respiration with computer-commanded “inhale” commands. First, arterial blood pressure is measured with the “Tensoplus” sphygmomanometer, followed by the “Pulse” test to record the ECG (electrocardiogram) and a report to TsUP in the next comm pass.]
Leroy continued his monitoring of the EVA battery charging currently underway in the Airlock. [The charging of four batteries was initiated yesterday: two EMU batteries (#2045, #2046) and two REBAs (rechargeable EVA battery assemblies, #1004, #1011).]
Sharipov conducted the regular daily maintenance/inspection of the SM’s environment control & life support systems (SOZh).
The crew performed their daily 2.5-hr. physical exercise program on TVIS treadmill, RED exerciser, CEVIS cycle and VELO cycle with bungee cord load trainer. Salizhan’s daily protocol currently prescribes 1.5 hrs on the treadmill (today: Day 1 of a new set) and one hour on VELO.
Afterwards, Chiao 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 ~1:15pm, the CDR had his weekly PFC (private family conference) via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting video.
MCC-H uplinked a revised list of US items to be disposed of on Progress, with the activity currently kept on the discretionary task list. [The revised trash roster lists additional locations to assist Leroy with his search for missing items, as well as some pictures to help in identifying items not found yet.]
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ISS Location NOW |
TsUP/Moscow is continuing the new extensive test of the Russian ASN-M satellite navigation system, now involving the combined system. [The state vector (SV) update determined by the ASN yesterday turned out to be bad, resulting in a large difference from the solution of the U.S. GPS system (SIGI-1 & SIGI-2) so that it was “voted out” by the US selection filter. If the bad SV update would have been used in the attitude determination, an error of approximately 2 deg would have resulted. Testing continues until 12/6 (1:00am EST), after which Russian SV will again be uplinked from the ground as in the past before the test.]
Station flight attitude continues to be earth-oriented LVLH TEA (“barbecue mode”), until 12/13, when ISS maneuvers to sun-pointing XPOP.
Today’s optional CEO photo targets, no longer limited in the current LVLH attitude, were Internal Waves, Bahamas (the overpass provided an opportunity for photography of internal waves. Looking to the right of track for the sunglint point; it will be located off the NW coast of Hispaniola), Palmyra Atoll, central Pacific (the nadir pass provided an opportunity for high-resolution photography of this atoll. Such data are useful for updating geographic maps and assessing reef health), and OLE_LINK1Kingman Reef, Hawaiian Island chain (weather was predicted to be clear for reef photography. High-resolution imagery of this reef is useful for assessing coral bleaching and island geomorphology).
CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:
See also the website “Space Station Challenge” at:
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 15P undocking & destructive reentry — 12/22 (Eastern);
- Progress 16P launch — 12/23 (Eastern);
- Progress 16P docking — 12/25 (7:00pm EST);
- EVA-12 — January 2005 (1/27?).
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.
