NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 8 August 2005
SpaceRef note: This NASA Headquarters internal status report, as presented here, contains additional, original material produced by SpaceRef.com (copyright © 2005) to enhance access to related status reports and NASA activities.
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Underway: Week 16 for Increment 11.
For CDR Krikalev and FE/SO Phillips, preparations are now beginning for the Russian EVA-14 spacewalk, scheduled for 8/18 (egress ~2:45pm EDT; ingress ~8:45pm).
Preparations began with both crewmembers performing the mandatory Russian pre-EVA MedOps procedure MO-6 (hand-cycle ergometry) in the Service Module (SM), supported by tagup with ground specialists who are to clear them for spacewalking. [Because cosmonauts in previous Russian programs have shown noticeable decrease in arm muscle tone, TsUP/IBMP (MCC-Moscow/Institute of Biomedical Problems) physical fitness experts have made the handgrip/arm tolerance test analysis (hand ergometry) a standard pre-Orlan EVA requirement. For MO-6, the subject dons the ECG (electrocardiogram) biomed harness, attaches three skin electrodes and plugs the harness into the PKO medical exam panel on the cycle ergometer. The 30-min exercise itself starts after 10 seconds of complete rest, by manually rotating the cycle’s pedals, set at 150 W, backwards until “complete exhaustion”.]
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Further preparations for the DC1 spacewalk consisted of installing the usual additional portable air repress bottle (BNP) in the “Pirs” docking module (to support a DC1 repress in the event of a failure of the DC1/PkhO hatch’s pressure equalization valve), then setting up the DC1 and the SM transfer tunnel (PkhO) itself, removing temporarily stowed equipment not needed for the spacewalk and recording its interim stowage locations with the IMS (inventory management system).
John Phillips started gathering US tools required for the EVA-14 outboard activities, going by an uplinked list. [US EVA tools include retractable and adjustable equipment tethers, a tool caddy assembly, EVA camera, etc.]
Meanwhile, Sergei unstowed Progress 18-delivered payload hardware intended to be installed outside the SM, such as a new SKK-5 samples exposure box, a pressurized container for the to-be-retrieved SKK-3, additional MLI (multilayer insulation) material (Russian: EVTI, ekranno-vakuumnaya termoizplyatsyia = vacuum-shield thermal insulation) for Soyuz TMA-6, and replacement cassettes of the commercial Japanese/JAXA science hardware MPAC (a micrometeoroid and orbital debris collector) and SEED (a materials exposure array).
After having compressed the bladder of the Rodnik water tank #1 (BV1) of the SM on 7/5, the CDR today worked on tank #2 (BV2). For the compression, Sergei used a pump and an available EDV container for leak checking. After the job, he was to report the ID numbers of EDV filled with water to TsUP/Moscow or record them in the IMS (Inventory Management System) database. [There are two spherical Rodnik tanks, consisting of a hard shell with a soft membrane (bladder) composed of elastic fluoroplastic, used for expelling water from the tank by compressed air pumped into the tank volume surrounding the bladder.]
John undertook the periodic one-hour task of inspecting and cleaning hatch seals and hatch plate sealing surfaces in the U.S. segment (USOS), working on six hatches, viz.: Node (forward, aft & starboard), Lab (aft), and Airlock, in support of regular ACS (atmospheric control system) maintenance. [Hatch seals are lubricated with Braycote-601, which is also deposited on the sealing surfaces. Dust and particles (FOD, foreign object debris) can stick to the lubricant and to both seals and sealing surfaces. These are regularly inspected with a magnifying glass for FOD, nicks, burrs, cuts or gouges that would impair a proper seal, and are cleaned, as required, with brushes, dry wipes and Kapton tape. (Last time done: 5/13).]
The CDR performed the daily routine maintenance of the SM’s SOZh environment control & life support system, including the ASU toilet system. Working off his discretionary “time available” task list, he also prepared the IMS “delta” file for automated export/import top the three IMS databases. [The latter task will be removed from the timeline for the next two weeks to keep the crew from over-allocating their schedule. Maintaining the IMS up-to-date will for now be ground specialists’ job.]
Both crewmembers conducted their regular 2.5-hr. physical exercise program on the TVIS treadmill, RED resistive machine and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer. [Sergei’s daily protocol prescribes a strict four-day microcycle exercise with 1.5 hr on the treadmill and one hour on VELO plus load trainer (today: Day 1 of a new set).]
Afterwards, John 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 on the HRM storage medium (done six times a week).
CMG-3 (control moment gyro #3) was successfully integrated into the USOS (US segment) steering law. Thanks to LF-1, for the first time since June 8, 2002, the ISS is again being controlled by four nominally functioning CMGs.
The periodic RS (Russian segment) solar array efficiency test conducted on 8/7 went well but left some questions. The Russians are working several issues, and a repeat of the test at a different attitude will be scheduled in September
Today’s planned landing of STS-114/SDiscovery was scrubbed for both KSC opportunities due to concerns over a low deck of clouds at 800 feet not clearing in time for the attempts. [The flight crew is preparing for a landing tomorrow at 5:07am EDT for KSC (second opportunity: 6:43am), plus two opportunities at the first backup site of EAFB, CA, and two more at the second backup site of White Sands, NM (Norton). There will also be opportunities available on Wednesday, 8/10.]
No CEO (crew earth observation) targets uplinked.
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 11 crew visit:
- http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-11/ndxpage1.html at NASA’s Human Spaceflight website.
Expedition 11 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.
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ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 6:27am EDT [= epoch]):
- Mean altitude — 354.4 km
- Apogee height — 354.7 km
- Perigee height — 354.0 km
- Period — 91.63 min.
- Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
- Eccentricity — 0.0000502
- Solar Beta Angle — -15.9 deg (magnitude decreasing)
- Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.71
- Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours — 102 m
- Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 38390
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.
