NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 5 Jul 2003
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted
previously. Second rest day of this long Fourth of July weekend for
the crew.
As regularly on Saturdays, Commander Yuri Malenchenko and Flight
Engineer/Science Officer Ed Lu performed the weekly 3-hr. station
cleaning. [This includes removal of food waste products, cleaning of
compartments with vacuum cleaner, wet cleaning of the SM dining table
and other surfaces with “Fungistat” disinfectant and cleaning fan
screens to avoid temperature rises.]
Ed Lu prepared the daily IMS delta file for automatic export/import to
update the database, while Malenchenko took care of the daily routine
maintenance of the Service Module’s (SM) SOZh life support system
(including ASU toilet facilities).
The CDR also completed the regular periodic (weekly) inspection of the
BRPK-1 air/liquid condensate separator in the SM.
Both crewmembers completed their daily physical exercise program on
TVIS treadmill and RED expander.
As a Russian task list item, Malenchenko was to transfer the
Molniya-SM/LSO data from the equipment mounted at SM window #3 to the
French EGE-1 computer’s hard disk drive (HDD). [Since this involves a
large amount of bulk data, Yuri was to start the transfer early in the
morning.]
Also working off the Russian optional task list, the CDR conducted
another session of the Diatomeya research program, using the Nikon F5
with f/80 mm lens to observe biologically productive ocean waters near
frontal areas of large currents, areas of upwelling (rising of deep
waters), and dynamic centers of macro-scale vortexes. [Where
possible, Yuri was to photograph water bloom and anomalies in the
clouded areas of Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. Specific
targets today were the Black Sea and the Western sector of the Main
Black Sea Current, the frontal area on the border of the Gulf Stream
and Labrador Current in the Atlantic Ocean, and the Western
anticyclonic vortex in the North Atlantic and at the Antilles.]
As a third suggested assignment on the task list, Yuri completed
another session with the Uragan earth imaging program, using the Kodak
760 ESC with f/800-mm lens, today targeting the Northern Kuril Islands.
Weekly Science Update (Expedition Seven — 9th):
This was a very good week for the MSG/InSPACE payload. The crew was
thanked for their great work and some of the most interesting video to
date.
GASMAP: Next 30-day health check is planned for mid-July.
Human Research Facility/Workstation (HRF WS): Continuing.
Ultrasound (USND): Next Ultrasound session is planned for
mid-September.
Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation (PFMI): Waiting to begin
operations.
Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS): SAMS is nominal and
currently analyzing data in support of general characterization of the
ISS acceleration environment. The MAMS/SAMS team at Glenn Research
Center, Ohio, wished the crew a Happy 4th of July.
Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS): MAMS is nominal
and currently analyzing data in support of general characterization of
the ISS acceleration environment. The MAMS/SAMS team at Glenn
Research Center, Ohio, wished the crew a Happy 4th of July.
Protein Crystal Growth-Single Locker Thermal Enclosure System
(PCG-STES): PCG-STES continues to operate nominally.
Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal
Emulsions (InSPACE): InSPACE had its last run this week.
Investigators were excited to observe larger, more elaborate and
dynamic structures of paramagnetic particles in the last two runs, and
thought it particularly interesting to watch the structure
migration/transport process on 7/2. The larger structures were acting
as sinks for smaller structures while others acted as sources from
which smaller structures were driven off. This may give scientists
clues into the structure formation process and how they modify the
field around them.
Materials ISS Experiment (MISSE): In progress. Deployed outside.
Nominal and collecting data.
Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM): There
is a possibility that EK operations next week may be cancelled.
Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures-2 (CSLM-2): The ground
successfully uploaded the CSLM-2 software onto the MLC (MSG laptop
computer). The crew should see two new CSLM-2 icons on the MLC
desktop. The CSLM-2 ground team is assembled and is anxiously
awaiting experiment setup during the week of 7/14.
Educational Payload Operations (EPO): The ground is working the final
issues with the remaining EPO activities and plans to resume
activities soon.
Crew Earth Observation (CEO): PAO has indicated plans to use ISS CEO
images of Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hill. In this week’s review of
downlinked imagery the ground team was able to confirm the following
requests: St. Peter’s Cathedral, the Vatican, Dome and Coliseum in
Rome, Italy, and some of the Great Pyramids in Gizeh, Egypt, but has
not yet seen the Great Wall of China or Alexandria, Egypt. The ground
is gathering and formatting the necessary information for requested
sites in China and hopes to have them included in the target lists
next week. As for Wimbledon, Great Britain (London being one of the
original target requirements), it will continue to be requested every
time suitable viewing conditions are found.
Today’s CEO targets, no longer limited in the current LVLH attitude
and including the targets of the Lewis & Clark 200-year memorial
locations, were Wimbledon, Great Britain (opportunity may present
itself between clouds. Wimbledon lies in SW London and should be
detectable as one of the largest green parklands in the city, due
south of the largest bends of the River Thames), Tigris-Euphrates,
Turkey (nadir pass over the center of this development area. Looking
left for new dam developments), Baghdad, Iraq (nadir pass [115 deg
Fahrenheit on the ground today]), Hanging Gardens of Babylon (nadir
pass. The Greek geographer Strabo, described the gardens of Semiramis
in first century BC: “It consists of vaulted terraces raised one above
another, and resting upon cube-shaped pillars. These are hollow and
filled with earth to allow trees of the largest size to be planted…
The ascent to the highest story is by stairs, and at their side are
water engines, by means of which persons, appointed expressly for the
purpose, are continually employed in raising water from the Euphrates
into the garden.”), Kuwait City, Kuwait (nadir pass), Lisbon, Portugal
(nadir pass), Angolan Biomass Burning (oblique views left [and right?]
should have revealed an intensifying plume of aerosols emanating from
the subcontinent, as one of the earliest burning seasons progresses),
Industrialized SE Africa (cold winter weather is holding aerosols near
the ground. Looking left towards the industrial Witwatersrand
metropolis), Fort Mandan, ND (LEWIS & CLARK SITE: This is where the
expedition spent the winter of 1804-5. The site is near the present
town of Stanton. Looking a touch right of track and south of the
large reservoir, Lake Sacagawea. Stanton is on the west bank of the
Missouri near the point where it turns sharply from south to east),
and Pomeroy, WA LEWIS & CLARK SITE: Looking a touch left on the
south side of the Snake River [within the second bend of the river
upstream of its confluence with the Columbia River]).
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, 6:27am EDT [= epoch]):
- Mean altitude — 387.1 km
- Apogee — 392.5 km
- Perigee — 381.7 km
- Period — 92.30 min.
- Inclination (to Equator) — 51.63 deg
- Eccentricity — 0.0007971
- Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.60
- Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours — 95 m
- Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. ’98) — 26385
- For more on ISS orbit and worldwide naked-eye visibility dates/times,
see http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/station/viewing/issvis.html