NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 7 January 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. Saturday and another Holiday: Russian Orthodox Christmas. S Rodzhestvom Kristovym!
At ~7:10am EST, the ISS crew received a 10-minute VIP call via VHF/audio from Patriarch Alexis II of the Russian Orthodox Church, speaking from TsUP/Moscow and extending best wishes on the occasion of today’s Orthodox Christmas celebration.
At ~7:20am, the crew held their regular weekly planning conference (WPC) with the ground, discussing this week’s “Look-Ahead Plan” (prepared jointly by MCC-H and TsUP/Moscow timeliners), via S-band/audio, reviewing upcoming activities and any concerns about future on-orbit events.
The FE performed the daily routine maintenance of the Service Module (SM)’s environment control & life support system (SOZh), including its toilet system (ASU) and the weekly inspection of the air/liquid condensate separator apparatus (BRPK).
Both crewmembers completed their regular 2.5-hr. physical exercise program on the CEVIS cycle ergometer, 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 2 of the first set).]
Afterwards, McArthur transferred the exercise data files to the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer) for downlink, as well as the daily wristband HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) data of the workouts on RED, followed by their erasure.
As new standard early-morning task, Valery checked 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 still showing on Tokarev s voluntary “time available” task list was the search for a power supply unit (BP) for the Russian SKV air conditioner, reported as “lost” in the IMS. [Due to the unstable operation of SKV-2, TsUP/Moscow plans to have its BP replaced in case of SKV-2 failure.]
In support of the ground-commanded BCAT-3 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test) activity, CDR/SO McArthur conducted a check of the alignment and focus of the camera on the sample and of the position of the flash.
Weekly Science Update (Expedition Twelve — 13th)
Human Research Facility/Gas Analyzer System for Metabolic Analysis Physiology (HRF GASMAP): In progress.
Human Research Facility/Workstation (HRF WS): Complete.
Pulmonary Function System (PFS): Complete.
Space Linear Acceleration Mass Measurement Device (SLAMMD): Complete.
Renal Stone (RS): In progress.
Foot/Ground Reaction Forces during Space Flight (FOOT): Planned.
Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS): Complete.
Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS): Complete.
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Shuttle |
Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3 (BCAT-3): The ground team reported that “the EarthKAM setup is working flawlessly and the pictures have great focus”. They are “a little concerned” that they didn t see an interface being captured in the photos taken by the camera just before the sample was homogenized. While this is a little worrisome, more worrisome is the fact that the bubble in Sample 6 has now moved out of the neck of the sample cell and is migrating across the long dimension of the sample. Bubbles previously stayed put in the sample cell neck, but this one has moved about 0.25 cm in the last 6 hours. This moving bubble may mix the experiment while it is equilibrating. Since the sample holder can’t be simply turned upside down to make the bubble move back into the neck (because of the way the BCAT-3 module is mounted), this may require that the bubble be moved to the top of the sample cell (with respect to the Earth). Then the sample would need to be re-homogenized and the experiment restarted.
Materials ISS Experiment (MISSE): In progress. New MISSE-5 “suitcase” deployed and unfolded during LF-1 EVA outside on the U.S. Airlock.
Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM): Planned for February.
Cellular Biotechnology Support Systems-Fluid Dynamics Investigation (CBOSS-FDI): CBOSS-FDI had very successful operations this past week. The crew conference with Bill McArthur was “extremely valuable” in understanding the long duration flight effects on CBOSS stowage components and the status of the consumables. During Saturday Science on 12/31, the CDR s suggestions provided insight to remove bubbles from a TCM and Syringe to allow quantification of digital imagery data. The downlinked images from 12/31 will be analyzed to determine an effective bubble removal technique
Serial Network Flow Monitor (SNFM): Complete.
Educational Payload Operations (EPO): In progress.
Crew Earth Observation (CEO): The crew was thanked for their continued excellent imagery for CEO. Their recent image of Lake Nasser and the New Valley Project was published on NASA/GSFC s Earth Observatory website this weekend. Earth Observatory also published a striking image of Cayo Largo del Sur during the same week. Next week an image showing the declining lake levels in Egypt s Toshka Lakes will be published
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ISS Location NOW |
Today’s CEO (Crew Earth Observation)photo targets, in the current LVLH attitude no longer limited by flight rule constraints on the use of the Lab nadir/science window, were Sobat fans, SE Sudan (this pass brought ISS over the southern Sobat region. Looking for stream networks originating from the mountains of Ethiopia to the east and tracking them westwards into the interior. Looking for contorted drainage patterns which are lined with vegetation – these are indicative of internal drainage associated with megafans), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (this ascending pass provided an opportunity to map the northwestern urban-rural fringe of Addis Ababa. An overlapping nadir mapping swath along track was desired to capture the transition between undisturbed and built land cover types), and Pilcomayo River dynamics, Northern Argentina (cloud banks restricted imagery of this river system to nadir-only shots. Mapping of the existing river channel and adjacent former channels is desired to track changes in the river course over time due to both natural hydrologic variability and human-induced changes to land cover/land use).
To date, over 177,000 of CEO images have been taken in the first five years of the ISS.
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:
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):
- 01/09/06 — 100 days for Expedition 12
- 02/02/06 — Russian EVA-15
- 03/03/06 — Progress M-54/19P undocking & reentry
- 03/22/06 — Soyuz TMA-8/12S launch (Exp. 13 + Marcus Pontes/Brazil)
- 03/24/06 — Soyuz TMA-8/12S docking (DC1)
- 04/01/06 — Soyuz TMA-7/11S undocking & return (Exp. 12 + Marcus Pontes)
- 04/06/06 — Soyuz TMA-8/12S relocation (DC1 to FGB nadir port)
- 04/09/06 — Progress M-55/20P undocking & reentry
- 04/10/06 — Progress M-56/21P launch
- 04/12/06 — Progress M-56/21P docking
- 06/28/06 — Progress M-57/22P launch
- 06/30/06 — Progress M-57/22P docking
- 09/12/06 — Progress M-56/21P undocking & reentry
- 09/13/06 — Soyuz TMA-9/13S launch
- 09/15/06 — Soyuz TMA-9/13S docking
- 09/23/06 — Soyuz TMA-8/12S undocking & reentry
- 09/28/06 — Soyuz TMA-9/13S relocation (DC1 to FGB nadir port)
- 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.
