NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 9 April 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. Saturday, first weekend rest day for the crew. Today Expedition 10 completes 178 days in space (176 aboard ISS), with 16 days to go. On this date 46 years ago (1959), NASA presented its “Mercury Seven” astronauts to the public (actual selection was on April 2, 1959).
CDR/SO Chiao and FE Sharipov performed the regular weekly 3-hour task of thorough station cleaning, wearing protective garment. As a special task today, the crew equipped the vacuum cleaner with a fresh dust collector, which they later sealed and packed up for return to Earth for analysis of its contents.
Leroy took the periodic (weekly) reading of the cabin air’s current CO2 (carbon dioxide) partial pressure in the SM and Lab, using the U.S. CDMK (CO2 monitor kit), for calldown (along with the battery status) for use in trending analyses.
Chiao also completed the regular weekly maintenance reboot on the operational PCS (portable computer system) laptops and the bi-monthly restart of the OCA comm router laptop.
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Sharipov connected the EGE-2 laptop to the BSR-TM Regul interface unit (part of the Russian radio control & communications system) and the BITS2-12 onboard data/telemetry system in support of a test of an upcoming switch to automated payload data file downlinking. [Tentative plans are to set up automated files downlinking, without crew involvement, for the European ROKVISS remote-control robotics experiment using ground commanding and the onboard “Sigma” application, a ballistic navigation program to compute the station’s ground track on the Earth.]
Salizhan also loaded the ISS Wiener laptop and payload server (BSPN) with new software, updating them to eliminate the current off-nominal situation and recover BSPN hardware functionality in order to support the upcoming ROKVISS hardware operations.
At ~10:20am EDT, Leroy and the ADUM (Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Micro-G) ground team held their post-session analysis to discuss the successful ultrasound Z-scans performed on 4/5, the last for Exp. 10. [Conducting these scans repeatedly has the purpose of increasing the proficiency of crewmembers. The ground compares the scans to evaluate the crew’s learning curves and to see if procedures need to be adjusted. ADUM has to date excellently demonstrated the capability of non-medical personnel to downlink diagnostic information (ultrasound images) for evaluation by medical specialists on the ground.]
Salizhan completed the routine maintenance of the SM’s SOZh environment control & life support system, including ASU toilet facilities.
With the Elektron oxygen generator still off (until 4/13), the FE did some more testing on the unit, today checking the lines of its H2 and O2 gas analyzers with the nitrogen purge assembly (BPA) and the Elektron pressure gauge (BID) for obstructions.
In his last “Saturday Science” session (of 14 all together, totaling 12 hours of Leroy’s own “free” time), the Science Officer today completed the second close-up photography session on the SEM (Space Experiment Module) experiment. [Students involved in SEM had uplinked a list of questions for Leroy. In his Saturday Science programs, Dr. Chiao “accomplished many research objectives that would otherwise not have been completed”, holding conferences with five different experiment teams, including one from a department store in Cleveland (a first for ISS).]
Working off his “job jar” task list, the FE conducted another session with the “Uragan” (hurricane) earth-imaging program that had him focus the Nikon D1X digital camera with f400 or 800 mm lens from SM window #9 on targets specified by an uplinked list. [Today’s targets included detailed imagery of the southern area of the Taman peninsula at the Black Sea coast, Vladikavkaz, and oil sleeks in the Caspian Sea and along the Apsheron-Cheleken line in nadir.]
At 2:33am EDT, FE Sharipov set up the SM’s amateur radio equipment and conducted a ham radio exchange with students in a school at the Russian city of Andijan.
At ~5:00am, the crew held their weekly teleconference with ISS Program Management at JSC/Houston via S-band/audio.
At ~8:05am, Chiao and Sharipov engaged in their weekly planning conference (WPC) with the ground, discussing next week’s “Look-Ahead Plan” (prepared jointly by MCC-H and TsUP/Moscow timeline planners), via S-band/audio, reviewing upcoming activities and any concerns about future on-orbit events.
The crew conducted their regular daily 2.5-hr. physical exercise program on TVIS treadmill, RED exerciser, and VELO cycle with bungee cord load trainer. [Salizhan’s daily protocol currently prescribes a four-day microcycle exercise with 1.5 hr on the treadmill and one hour on VELO (today: Day 4 of a new set).]
Leroy then transferred the daily TVIS and RED exercise data files to the MEC (medical equipment computer) for downlink, as well as the daily wristband HRM (heart rate monitor) data, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium.
During a 5-min “window” at 12:09pm, researchers on the ground again conducted the European/Russian laser-beam experiment SPQR (Specular Point-like Quick Reference). [SPQR, installed at SM window #3 along with its Nikon D1X camera, tests a ground-based imaging system, using special optics and image processing, to determine the feasibility of detecting external damage to a spacecraft in orbit from the ground. It uses a pyramidal corner reflector (CCR, Cube Corner Reflector) at the SM window, to reflect a laser beam emitted by a ground station back to the ground. The crew was advised not to look out the portholes during the sessions, the times of which were uplinked, and there are no CEO targets scheduled during the brief sessions. The SPQR Hazard Report indicates that the laser power at the ISS remains well below the threshold for injury.]
Weekly Science Update (Expedition Ten — 23rd):
GASMAP: Nothing new.
Human Research Facility/Workstation (HRF WS): Continuing.
Advanced Ultrasound (ADUM): The final Scan Z was completed this week, and the full data set is now being analyzed.
In-Space Soldering Investigation (ISSI): Operations are complete. –>For a descriptive article on ISSI background & early surprising results, see AIAA’s “Aerospace America” Magazine, March 2005 issue (page 24)
Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS): SAMS remains in nominal operations.
Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS): MAMS remains in nominal operations.
Protein Crystal Growth-Single Locker Thermal Enclosure System (PCG-STES): PCG-STES is performing nominally.
Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3 (BCAT-3): All done for Increment 10.
Materials ISS Experiment (MISSE): In progress. Deployed outside on the U.S. Airlock. Nominal and collecting data.
Cellular Biotechnology Support Systems-Fluid Dynamics Investigation (CBOSS-FDI): All done for Increment 10.
Dust and Aerosol Measurement Feasibility Test (DAFT): Nothing new.
Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM): Nothing new.
Serial Network Flow Monitor (SNFM): All done for Increment 10.
Fluid Merging Viscosity Measurement (FMVM): Nothing new. Will roll over to Increment 11.
Space Experiment Module (SEM): Last photography session done today.
Effects of Prolonged Space Flight on Human Skeletal Muscle (BIOPSY): Nothing new.
Miscible Fluids in Microgravity (MFMG): Nothing new. Will roll over to Increment 11.
Educational Payload Operations (EPO): Nothing new. Will roll over to Increment 11.
Crew Earth Observations (CEO): As of 4/6, total CEO image count now stands at 15,072. In addition to their PAO release, two of the ISS/CEO views of Discovery in mid-crawl to the launch pad will be posted on NASA’s Earth Observatory Website this weekend (see yesterday’s ISS On-Orbit Status). The crew also recently acquired excellent 180mm views of the Stardust Landing Site in Utah. These will be very useful in directing future long lens requests for this target. Careful review of older CEO imagery from November discovered what appear to be the first verifiable views of the Great Wall of China ever identified in astronaut photography. These are snow-enhanced photos shot with the 180mm lens of an isolated segment of the wall some 200 miles north of Beijing (Ed Lu tried repeatedly to get other segments of the wall, with no luck).
Today’s optional CEO (crew earth observations) photo targets, in the current LVLH attitude no longer limited by flight rule constraints on the use of the Lab nadir/science window, were Northern China Aerosols (DYNAMIC EVENT: For several weeks now northern China has been plagued by a series of dust and smog events that have prompted air pollution warning for Beijing and other urban areas. Clouds and weather will limit photo opportunities but as ISS tracked southeastward over central China the crew was to look obliquely left of track for possible views of the edges and extent of atmospheric aerosols over the region), Mekong River Delta (the station approached this target area from the NW. Using the long lens to carefully map land use and sediment plume patterns on the western flank of the Mekong River, its complex delta, and immediate coastal waters), Indus River Valley Dust Event (DYNAMIC EVENT: Strong, dry monsoon winds are raising large dust clouds in the Indus River valley of Pakistan and western India. Satellite imagery indicates large plumes of dust arching southwestward over the northern Arabian Sea. As ISS approached the coast from the NW this pass, the crew was to shoot right of track over the water to document the edges and extent of this event), and Great Lakes Ice (DYNAMIC EVENT: The crew did a good job of documenting ice in eastern Lake Superior a couple of weeks ago. This pass provided another opportunity to update ice conditions there. Looking for ice particularly in the northern bays and coves of Lake Superior and Huron with special emphasis on the Straits of Mackinac).
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 10 crew visit:
- http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-10/ndxpage1.html at NASA’s Human Spaceflight website.
Expedition 10 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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Upcoming Key Events:
- Soyuz TMA-6 (10S) launch — 4/14 (8:46pm EDT); with Expedition 11 (CDR Sergei Krikalev, FE/SO John Phillips & VC8 cosmonaut Roberto Vittori/ESA-Italy); launch time at Baikonur: 6:46am on 4/15.
- Soyuz TMA-6 docking — 4/16 (10:17pm EDT);
- Soyuz TMA-5 (9S) undocking — 4/24 (2:38pm EDT) with Exp. 10 crew (after 193 days on orbit, 191 days on board ISS) and VC8 cosmonaut Vittori;
- Soyuz TMA-5 landing — 4/24 (6:04pm EDT (Kustanai: 4:04am on 4/25) ;
- LF1 (STS-114) launch — 5/15;
- Progress M-53 (18P) launch — 6/10;
- ULF1.1 (STS-121) launch — NET 7/12;
- Progress M-54 (19P) launch — 8/24;
- Soyuz TMA-7 (11S) launch — 9/27.
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.
