NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 5 February 2006

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.   Sunday — off-duty day for Bill McArthur and Valery Tokarev, except for housekeeping and voluntary work.  Ahead: Week 18 for Expedition 12.

The crew’s sleep cycle today shifted back to the left, with wake-up at 6:00am and sleep time tonight at 7:00pm.  By Tuesday (2/7), the crew’s day/night schedule will have returned to the normal schedule of 1:00am – 4:30pm (all times EST).

FE Tokarev and CDR/SO McArthur completed final post-EVA cleanup activities.   [These consisted of removing oxygen tanks (BK3), telemetry systems (BRTA) and 825-3M batteries from the Orlan-M suit backpacks, setting the first of the two 825-3Ms up for discharging (to be terminated tonight before sleeptime), refilling the spacesuits’ feedwater tanks with water, and arranging the Orlans to dry out during the day’s course.]

After drying out, the Orlan suits and BSS interface units were to be configured for storage and then stowed.

The Science Officer dismantled and stowed the PromISS-4 (Protein Crystal Growth Monitoring by Digital Holographic Microscope #4) experiment hardware.   [The experiment appears to have been quite successful.  Tape exchanges by the SO have run flawlessly. These tapes contain the actual data of the experiment that will be analyzed on Earth.  Daily VTR video of the six experiment cells has successfully been received and analyzed, together with the telemetry data to assess the sound running of the experiment and the instrument.]

Bill McArthur also set up the hardware of EarthKAM (Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students, EK) at the U.S. Lab’s science window for another session.   [The CDR connected an SSC (station support computer) laptop to the EK’s electronic still camera (ESC) and to the OpsLAN via Ethernet cable and readied the automated/remote-controlled process.  The payload will run without crew intervention.  EK is using a Kodak ESC 460C electronic still camera with 50mm (f/1.4) lens, now powered by 16Vdc from a 28 Vdc adapter, taking pictures by remote operation from the ground, without crew interaction.  It is available for students who submit image requests and conduct geographic research. The requests are uplinked in a camera control file to the IBM 760XD SSC laptop which then activates the camera at specified times and receives the digital images from the camera’s storage card on its hard drive, for subsequent downlink via OpsLAN.]

With the Elektron O2 generator still deactivated, the FE serviced the Russian BMP Harmful Impurities Removal System, starting the “bake-out” cycle to vacuum on absorbent bed #1 of the regenerable dual-channel filtration system.  Before sleep time today, the bake-out will be terminated.  Regeneration of bed #2 follows tomorrow.   [Regeneration of each of the two cartridges takes about 12 hours and is conducted only during crew awake periods.  The BMP currently still uses the same vacuum vent valve for regeneration as the Elektron (the latter for venting hydrogen).  Replacement of the Elektron’s external vent valve has been deferred to a later Russian EVA.  Cabin atmosphere repressurization with O2 or air is being conducted with Progress 19 reserves as required.]

Valery is also scheduled to perform the daily routine maintenance of the Service Module (SM)’s environment control & life support system (SOZh), including its toilet system (ASU), as well as the weekly collection of the toilet flush (SP) counter and water supply (SVO) readings for calldown to TsUP/Moscow.

McArthur will conduct another atmospheric status checks for ppO2 (Partial Pressure Oxygen) and ppCO2 (pp Carbon Dioxide), using the CSA-O2 (Compound Specific Analyzer-Oxygen sensor) and CDMK (CO2 Monitoring Kit).

The crew completed their regular 2.5-hr. physical exercise program on the TVIS treadmill, RED resistive exerciser and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer.   [Valery’s daily protocol prescribes a strict four-day microcycle exercise with 1.5 hr on the treadmill in unmotorized mode and one hour on VELO plus load trainer (today: Day 3 of the first set).]

Later today, the FE is to check the operation of the Japanese experiment GCF-JAXA (Granada Crystallization Facility) in the Russian TBU incubator, maintained at 20 degC, including a temperature check on its ART (automatic temperature recorder).   [This daily monitoring/temp checking, carried on the Russian voluntary “time available” task list, will continue until 4/30.]

Also working off his discretionary “time available” task list, Tokarev will service the BIO-5 Rasteniya-2 (“Plants-2”) experiment, completing the daily status check and the regular periodic recharging of its water tank.   [Rasteniya researches growth and development of plants under spaceflight conditions in the Lada-8 greenhouse.  The regular maintenance of the experiment (each Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday) involves monitoring of seedling growth, humidity measurements, moistening of the substrate if necessary, topping off the water tank if ~20-25% of the total amount (4 liters) remains, and photo/video recording.  Once weekly, data from the Lada greenhouse control unit are recorded on floppy disk for weekly downlink via REGUL-Packet or the new BSR-TM at a suitable occasion

A new task on Bill McArthur’s “job jar” task list, starting today, will be to transfer three 0.5 CTBs (Crew Transfer Bags) containing CHeCS (Crew Health Care Systems) items from Progress 20 and stow them below the Cupola RWS (Robotics Workstation) in the Lab.  [The CTBs contain items that the crew will need to perform some sampling activities over the next month.  The CDR was invited to provide with alternate suggestions if desired.]

No CEO (Crew Earth Observation) photo targets uplinked today.

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 12 crew visit:

• http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-12/ndxpage1.html at NASA’s Human Spaceflight website.

Expedition 12 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.

Events Ahead (all dates Eastern & tentative):

• 02/11/06 — ISS reboost (by 20P; maneuver to XPOP after burn)
• 02/22/06 — ISS reboost (by 19P; mvr. back to XPOP after burn)
• 03/03/06 — Progress M-54/19P undocking & reentry (mvr. to LVLH XVV after undock)
• 03/10/06 — ISS reboost (by SM thrusters; mvr. back to XPOP after burn)
• 03/30/06 — Soyuz TMA-8/12S launch (Pavel Vinogradov/Russia, Jeffrey Williams/US, Marcos Pontes/Brazil)
• 04/01/06 — Soyuz TMA-8/12S docking (DC1; mvr. to LVLH XVV after dock)
• 04/09/06 — Soyuz TMA-7/11S undocking & reentry (mvr. to XPOP after undock)
• 04/16/06 — Soyuz TMA-8/12S relocation (DC1 to FGB nadir port)
• 04/24/06 — Progress M-56/21P launch
• 04/26/06 — Progress M-56/21P docking
• 05/03/06 — ULF1.1 launch (NET, not earlier than)
• 06/15/06 — U.S. EVA (under review)
• 06/19/06 — Progress M-55/20P undocking & reentry
• 06/28/06 — Progress M-57/22P launch
• 06/30/06 — Progress M-57/22P docking
• 07/01/06 — 12A launch (under review)
• 08/01/06 — Russian EVA-16 (under review)
• 09/13/06 — Progress M-56/21P undocking & reentry
• 09/14/06 — Soyuz TMA-9/13S launch
• 09/16/06 — Soyuz TMA-9/13S docking (DC1)
• 09/24/06 — Soyuz TMA-8/12S undocking & reentry
• 10/18/06 — Progress M-58/23P launch
• 10/20/06 — Progress M-58/23P docking
• 12/19/06 — Progress M-57/22P undocking & reentry
• 12/20/06 — Progress M-59/24P launch
• 12/22/06 — Progress M-59/24P docking.

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.