NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 8 September 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.

After breakfast, CDR Vinogradov began his first session of the standard 24-hour ECG (electrocardiogram) recording under the Russian MedOps MO-2 protocol, assisted by FE-1/SO Williams. [For the ECG recording, Pavel donned the five-electrode Holter harness that reads his dynamic (in motion) heart function from two leads over the next 24 hours and records data on the “Kardioregistrator 90205” unit. Jeffrey assisted in the harness donning and will also stand by for tomorrow’s doffing. Afterwards the cassette will be stowed for return on Soyuz 12S.]

FE-2 Reiter began his workday by collecting water samples from the Service Module (SM) water supply system (SVO-ZV) in Russian drink bags for return to the ground.

Vinogradov continued the swap-out of metallic hoses on the Russian SRVK-2M condensate water processor system with new flexible spares, begun on 8/24, today replacing two hoses (PZ-NZ; P-MZ) between the BD sensor unit and the BKV water conditioning unit. The old lines, along with their connectors, were discarded as trash. [The SKV air conditioner and SRV-K2M were temporarily switched off for the maintenance activity.]

Working on the SM toilet facilities (ASU), Thomas Reiter completed the periodic replacement of the toilet’s urine receptacle (MP) and filter insert (F-V), stowing the old units for disposal.

At various times of the day, the FE-2 worked on his comprehensive audit/inventory of Russian hardware behind FGB wall panels, verifying entries on an uplinked summary list of over 300 items.

The Science Officer conducted a status inspection of the ALTEA (Anomalous Long-Term Effects on Astronauts’ Central Nervous System) experiment, checking the status of dosimeter LEDs (light emitting diodes) and making sure the hardware is properly mounted and cables are correctly connected.

Pavel Vinogradov performed calibration/adjustment on the TIR-4 flow measurement channel of the IK0501 gas analyzer. [IK0501 is an automated system for measuring CO2, O2, and H2O in the air as well as the flow rate of the gas being analyzed. The adjustment of the latter measurement channel followed the installation of a new GL5187 oxygen channel primary data converter (transducer) on 8/24.]

Later in the day, Jeff Williams ran his weekly atmospheric status check for ppO2 (Partial Pressure Oxygen) and ppCO2 (pp Carbon Dioxide), using the CSA-O2 (Compound Specific Analyzer-Oxygen Sensor) and the CDMK (CO2 Monitoring Kit).

Vinogradov and Williams had another two hours on their schedule for packing cargo items on Soyuz for return to Earth. [The preliminary check list of return cargo contains 77 items, including biomedical experiments & specimen, overall ISS status samples, contract hardware (Ansari Prize items), ESA ops, T. Reiter photo-video gear, US ops (9 items), etc.]

Jeff and Pavel also continued their standard End-of-Increment clean-up, i.e., gathering personal items in preparation for their return home. [This activity continues over the next couple of weeks.]

The FE-1 performed the regular bi-monthly reboot of the OCA (Orbit Communications Adapter) comm router.

At ~4:55am EDT, Vinogradov linked up with TsUP stowage specialists to conduct the weekly IMS tagup, discussing open issues concerning transfer details, stowage locations and bar code identifications for the IMS (Inventory Management System) databases via S-band. [Location/relocation issues today involved a Russian harness, TVIS stand, BPK condensate feed unit and K5D manual pump, S-P2 hoses, DC1 dust filters, and contents of selected bags.]

Later, the CDR updated/edited the standard IMS “delta” file, including location entries, for the regular weekly automated export/import to its three databases on the ground (Houston, Moscow, Baikonur).

Pavel also completed the daily routine maintenance of the SM’s environment control & life support system (ECLSS, Russian: SOZh).

All crewmembers worked out in their regular 2.5-hr. physical exercise program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on TVIS treadmill (CDR, FE-1, FE-2) and RED resistive exerciser (FE-1, FE-2). The CDR’s 2.5-hr. workout again was on TVIS/aerobic only (Day 2).

Afterwards, Jeffrey transferred the TVIS and RED exercise data files to the MEC 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).

The TVIS treadmill is currently being used with bungee cords as a restraint instead of the regular SLDs (Subject Loading Devices), since the left-side SLD failed yesterday by going completely inside the TVIS chassis. [Ground specialists concurred with the crew continuing to use TVIS with bungees. There are no spare SLDs on board ISS. Due to lifecycle issues with the SLDs, they are scheduled for use with TVIS during the last 30 days of an Increment because of their superior universal loading. When SLDs are not used, bungees are acceptable.]

At ~4:05am EDT, the crew held the regular (nominally weekly) tagup with the Russian Flight Control Team (GOGU), including Shift Flight Director (SRP), at TsUP via S-band/audio, phone-patched from Houston and Moscow.

At ~2:55pm, Jeff, Pavel and Thomas will conduct their standard weekly teleconference with the JSC Astronaut Office, via S-band S/G (space-to-ground). [The Astronaut Office is getting a new head: Steven Lindsey.]

At ~4:40pm, the crew is scheduled for their regular weekly tagup with the Lead Flight Director at MCC-Houston.

Working off his discretionary “time permitting” item, the CDR conducted the periodic status check on the long-term BIO-5 Rasteniya-2 (“Plants-2”) micro-G growth payload, including the newly planted barley seeds in the Lada-9 greenhouse.

Jeff’s attempts yesterday to set up an Outlook email account for Soyuz taxi crewmember Anousheh Ansari were not successful. This is a repeat of a problem seen with previous email accounts for Soyuz taxi crewmembers. Plans are in work to give the SFP (Space Flight Participant) a regular ISS email account.

STS-115/12A: Today’s launch of Atlantis has been scrubbed for 24 hours per LCC (Launch Commit Criteria) guidelines relating to ET ECO (External Tank/Engine Cut Off) sensors. The next launch attempt is planned for tomorrow, 9/8 (Saturday); launch window opens at 11:09am EDT, and preferred launch time is 11:14am. [The performance of the failed-wet LH2 ECO sensor #3 will be evaluated later today during the de-tanking process. If a single sensor fails wet (i.e., falsely reporting as being submerged), LCC prescribes a procedure to use the detanking process for verifying proper operation of all sensors as they go dry. If sensors and systems perform as they did today, launch with 3 of 4 healthy sensors will be acceptable.]

No CEO (crew earth observations) photo targets uplinked today.

To date, over 250,000 of CEO images have been taken in the first six years of the ISS, about one third of the total number of images taken from orbit by astronauts.

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:

http://exploration.nasa.gov/programs/station/CEO.html

http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov (about 700,000 NASA digital photographs of Earth are downloaded by the public each month from this “Gateway” site);

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/

See also the website “Space Station Challenge” at http://voyager.cet.edu/iss.

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 1:52am EDT [= epoch]):

• Mean altitude — 342.6 km
• Apogee height– 350.1 km
• Perigee height — 335.1 km
• Period — 91.39 min.
• Inclination (to Equator) — 51.63 deg
• Eccentricity — 0.0011163
• Solar Beta Angle — -30.5 deg (magnitude increasing)
• Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.76
• Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours — 90 m
• Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 44626

Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern and subject to change):

• 09/09/06 — STS-115/12A launch (11:14am EDT)
• 09/11/06 — STS-115/12A docking @ ISS
• 09/18/06 — Soyuz TMA-9/13S launch, 0:08am EDT (Expedition 14 + VC11) –12A dependent
• 09/20/06 – Soyuz TMA-9/13S docking, 1:28am EDT — 12A dependent
• 09/28/06 – Soyuz TMA-8/12S undocking & landing — 12A dependent
• 10/10/06 — Soyuz TMA-9/13S relocation (SM aft port to FGB nadir port)
• 10/18/06 — Progress M-58/23P launch
• 10/20/06 — Progress M-58/23P docking (SM aft port)
• 11/22/06 — Russian EVA-17
• 12/14/06 — STS-116/12A.1 launch
• 12/16-23/06 — STS-116/12A.1 docked mission w/ISS – P5 truss
• 12/19/06 — Progress M-57/22P undocking (DC1) & reentry
• 12/20/06 — Progress M-59/24P launch
• 12/22/06 — Progress M-59/24P docking (DC1)
• 01/22/07 — US EVA-6
• 01/26/07 — US EVA-7
• 01/31/07 — US EVA-8
• 02/06/07 — Progress M-59/24P undocking (DC1) & reentry
• 02/07/07 — Progress M-60/25P launch
• 02/09/07 — Progress M-60/25P docking (DC1)
• 02/22/07 — STS-117/13A launch – S3/S4 trusses
• 02/24-03/03/07 — STS-117/13A docked mission w/ISS (earliest)
• 03/08/07 — Progress M-58/23P undocking (SM aft port) & reentry
• 03/09/07 — Soyuz TMA-10/14S launch (Expedition 15 + VC12)
• 03/11/07 — Soyuz TMA-10/14S docking (SM aft port)
• 03/19/07 — Soyuz TMA-9/13S undocking (FGB nadir port)
• ??/??/07 — Soyuz TMA-10/14S relocation (SM aft port to FGB nadir port)
• 06/11/07 — STS-118/13A.1

ISS Altitude History

Apogee height — Mean Altitude — Perigee height

For more on ISS orbit and worldwide ISS naked-eye visibility dates/times, see http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/ on NASA’s Human Spaceflight website. Additional satellite tracking resources can be found at http://www.spaceref.com/iss/tracking.html.