NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 9 June 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.  

The crew completed the monthly recharging of the Motorola-9505 Iridium satellite phone.   [After retrieving it from its location in the Soyuz TMA-8/12S descent module (BO), Pavel Vladimirovich initiated the recharging of its lithium-ion battery, a 30-min. process.  The charging was monitored every 10-15 minutes as it took place, and upon completion the CDR returned the phone inside its SSSP Iridium kit and stowed it back in the BO’s operational data files (ODF) container.  The satphone accompanies returning ISS crews on Soyuz reentry and landing for contingency communications with SAR (Search-and-Rescue) personnel after touchdown.  The Russian-developed procedure for the monthly recharging has been approved jointly by safety officials.  During the procedure, the phone is left in its fluoroplastic bag with open flap.]

After activating the MSG (Microgravity Science Glovebox) rack, the Science Officer initiated the third and later the fourth session of the InSPACE (Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions) experiment, set up the video recorder equipment for monitoring ops, replacing the videocassette, and finally powered InSPACE and the MSG down.  The fifth and last InSPACE session is scheduled tomorrow for about 2 hrs., after which MSG and InSPACE will be stowed on 6/16.   [InSPACE obtains basic data on magnetorheological fluids, i.e., a new class of “smart materials” that can be used to improve or develop new brake systems, seat suspensions robotics, clutches, airplane landing gear, and vibration damper systems.  The dispersed particles are contained in CAs that subject them to electric fields of certain strength and frequencies.  Today’s runs were conducted at lower frequencies, which were expected to yield less pronounced structures than before, with more particles in a diffusive state, keeping the fluid surrounding the structures more opaque than in previous runs.]

Also in the Lab module, Williams powered up the HRF GASMAP (Human Research Facility/Gas Analyzer System for Metabolic Analysis Physiology) and its laptop for another routine 30-day health check.  But unlike the usual functional check (done last 4/28), today’s procedure included comprehensive environmental sampling (see below), to give ECLSS (Environment Control & Life Support Systems) engineers additional data points on cabin air makeup.  Later in the day, Jeff turned the equipment off again.   [During the health check, the GASMAP AM (Analyzer Module) is powered on and runs for approximately 6 hours to maintain the vacuum integrity of the hardware (ion pump).  In addition, the CM (Calibration Module) tank values are logged to track gas usage.]

At various times during the day, the crew conducted the periodic comprehensive cabin air sampling for subsequent analysis on the ground. [The CDR began by taking the weekly readings with the Real-Time Harmful Contaminant Gas Analyzer (GANK-4M) system of the Service Module Pressure Control & Atmospheric Monitoring System (SM SOGS), which tests particularly for NH3 (ammonia) and HCl (hydrogen chloride).  FE Williams set up the CDMK (Carbon Dioxide Monitoring Kit) for one hour of data recording, to be correlated with the GASMAP readings.  In addition, during the day Jeff collected air samples in the Lab and SM with the Dual Sorbent Tube (DST), using the Russian AK-1M/Draeger tube pump instead of the broken DST pump, and then with a GSC (grab sample container) at the center of the SM, while Vinogradov used the AK-1M adsorber to sample the air in the SM and FGB and for checking for leaked-out Freon.  To check for CO (carbon monoxide) in the SM, Pavel took samples with the IPD-CO Draeger tubes sampler.]

Later in the day, the FE will also run his daily 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 worked on the Russian “Wiener” laptop, installing software from a floppy designed to restore the file structure on the laptop’s hard disk drive.   [The installation was then checked out, with the activity and results to be reported to TsUP/Moscow.]

The Science Officer conducted his daily status check of the alignment and focus of the EarthKAM (EK) camera and position of flash aimed at the current Sample 1 of the BCAT-3 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test) science activity.   [The EK camera is taking automated time-lapse flash photography (once every hour) of BCAT sample #3 at the MWA (Maintenance Work Area), controlled from the SSC-7 laptop (Station Support Computer 7).  The imaging extends over four days.]

Pavel completed the daily routine maintenance of the SM’s environment control & life support system (SOZh), including regular replacements in its toilet system (ASU); he also updated/edited the standard IMS “delta file”, including locations, for the regular weekly automated export/import to its three databases on the ground (Houston, Moscow, Baikonur).

Also in the SM, the CDR removed two panels (#404 &#405) and replaced them with a new integrated panel, delivered on Progress 21P.   [The procedure involved removal and reinstallation of an air duct screen and clean-up with the vacuum cleaner while wearing protective goggles and mask.]

Jeff performed the regular bi-monthly reboot of the OCA (Orbit Communications Adapter) comm router SSC (Station Support Computer) laptop.

At the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer), the FE filled out the regular weekly FFQ (food frequency questionnaire), his sixth, which keeps a log of his nutritional intake over time on special MEC software.   [Jeffrey is using his personalized file that reflects the food flown for his Increment.  The FFQ records amounts consumed during the past week of such food items as beverages, cereals, grains, eggs, breads, snacks, sweets, fruit, beans, soup, vegetables, dairy, fish, meat, chicken, sauces & spreads, and vitamins.  IBMP/Moscow (Institute of Biomedical Problems, Russian: IMBP – Institute of Medico-Biological Problems) recommended average daily caloric value of the crew’s food intake is 2200-2300 cal.  If larger quantities of juices and fruits are taken into account, the value can go to 2400-2500 cal.]

Williams also worked on a late-added task of building an EVA degasser unit.

The CDR prepared the seventh batch of raw data from the ongoing testing of the ASN-M satellite navigation system by TsUP, for subsequent downlink via U.S. OCA assets.   [ASN-M will be required for the arrival of the European ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) “Jules Verne” next year.  During the extensive checkout from ESA (European Space Agency)/Oberpfaffenhofen, special software on Laptop 3 (running the “Solaris” Operating System) is being used for onboard storage of test data and logs.  MCC-H has created a special subfolder for ASN data on the OCA file server to facilitate subsequent data downlinking.  The ASN-M output data are being downlinked every other day throughout the 28-day test period.  The objective of this test is to verify compliance of the ASN-M data with approved requirements and to update ESA’s ASN-M model.]

Pavel also recorded the monthly sensor readings of the Russian “Pille-MKS” radiation dosimetry experiment, which has ten sensors placed at various locations in the Russian segment (port cabin window, starboard cabin window, ASU toilet facility, control panel, etc.). (Last time done: 5/2).

Concluding post-EVA cleanup, Vinogradov removed the supplementary portable air repressurization bottle (BNP) from the repress line of the SM Work Compartment (RO), where he had installed it on 5/26 for EVA-16, and put it back in stowage.

Both 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 the TVIS treadmill (FE, CDR), RED resistive device (FE) and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (CDR).   [Yesterday the crew was able to retrieve the 3/32″ Allen L-wrench that had floated into the TVIS chassis during the monthly maintenance, by “fishing” it out with wire and the vacuum cleaner.  This saved the crew six hours of work, which would have involved removing the treadmill from the SM “pit”, and cleared the TVIS for nominal use.  Pavel Vinogradov’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 3 of the latest microcycle).]

Later today, Jeff transfers the 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).

At ~3:55am 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 ~5:25am EDT, the CDR conducted the weekly IMS tagup with specialists at TsUP/Moscow, discussing open issues concerning identification of equipment and stowage locations for the IMS databases via S-band. [Topics of discussion included questions regarding the post-EVA DC1 and SM PkhO reconfiguration-to-initial-state, “big picture” overviews of the items left in DC1, the stowage location of Orlan spare part kits, etc., upcoming Shuttle pre-pack activities, and Russian gear relocation from USOS.]

At ~2:35pm tonight, the crew will conduct their regular weekly tagup with the Lead Flight Director at MCC-Houston.

A major task added recently to Pavel’s discretionary “time permitting” work list is the onboard search for ~25 “missing” Russian equipment items, listed on an uplinked new 13-page log.   [The list includes such items as a transformer for the SOZh’s water management system with cable and accessories that were delivered on Progress 11 but never used, an air duct section with acoustic screen, a Rodnik pump unit, pressurization equipment, etc.]

Update on Elektron:  The O2 generator continues to be off.  During yesterday’s troubleshooting, after the offnominal shutdown on Wednesday, the crew pressurized the Liquid Unit (BZh) and then bled down the internal pressure for hydraulic resistance checks.  These indicated that the O2 and H2 lines were clear inside and outside the BZh, and there were no leaks.  Future troubleshooting plans are in development, and will focus on the power supply unit.  [There is no immediate impact, since O2 represses can still be performed from either Progress 20P or 21P O2 tanks.]

Today’s Reboost:  After USOS-to-RS attitude control handover at 12:30pm EDT and subsequent thruster-controlled maneuver to reboost attitude, at 2:47pm Progress 21 rendezvous & docking thrusters (DPO) are to perform the scheduled 2min 58s reboost burn, followed by maneuvering to LVLH YVV (local vertical local horizontal/y-axis in velocity vector) at 2:54pm and attitude handover back to USOS CMG (Control Moment Gyro) control at 3:45pm.   [Designed to set up proper orbit phasing for 22P (docking 6/26) and ULF1.1/STS-121 (docking 7/3 earliest, with phasing remaining valid for the duration of the July launch window), the maneuver is expected to yield a delta-V of 0.7 m/s (2.4 fps), raising mean altitude by 1.3 km (2.5 nmi).]

MT Thermal Safing:  Starting tomorrow, attitude control engineers are again prepared for the possibility of having to execute an offnominal MT (Mobile Transporter) thermal safing maneuver.  [With ISS continuing in YVV after the reboost burn, solar Beta angles above 40 deg (starting tomorrow) could cause MT components to exceed allowable lower temperature limits if their single remaining heater string is lost (the second strip having been “guillotined” inadvertently by the MT Trailing Umbilical System 2 (MT TUS-2) cable cutter (to be replaced on Mission ULF1.1).  For that eventuality, a contingency plan is in place to maneuver the station, in YVV, offnominally to a biased roll setting, including a “slow roll” in the Beta range of +50 to +60 deg (and return).  Beta will drop below +40 deg on 6/29.]

Today’s 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 Red Sea Dust Event (Dynamic event. Regional dust event is underway, and may continue today: major dust masses moving out of Egypt and Sudan into the Mediterranean and Red seas.  As ISS passed down the axis of the Red Sea, the crew was to look right for dust sources [highly localized sources are being mapped], and left into Arabia for trajectories and margins of the dust masses), Kwanza Basin, NW Angola (looking left for a mapping swath of this site where economic developments are planned with Angola’s new offshore oil wealth.  Road, rail, power line, and commercial agricultural projects are about to be put in place.  Baseline imagery of the area is requested) and S Amazon basin fans, Brazil (almost never cloudfree, this site is seldom called out as a target.  Looking right for obliques of the southern margin of the Amazon Trough.  One very large fan was discovered in this area from handheld imagery.  The existence of other such features is suspected, with apexes tied to the point where rivers exit the hill country and enter the trough.)

To date, more than 198,000 of CEO images have been taken in the first five years of the ISS, almost 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
• http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov
• http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/AstronautPhotography/

See also the website “Space Station Challenge” at:

• http://voyager.cet.edu/iss/

To view the latest photos taken by the expedition 13 crew visit:

• http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-13/ndxpage1.html at NASA’s Human Spaceflight website.

Expedition 13 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.

ISS Orbit  (as of this morning, 6:46am EDT [= epoch]):

• Mean altitude — 341.6 km
• Apogee height– 348.0 km
• Perigee height –335.2 km
• Period — 91.37 min.
• Inclination (to Equator) — 51.63 deg
• Eccentricity — 0.0009501
• Solar Beta Angle — 35.9 deg (magnitude increasing)
• Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.76
• Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours — 115 m
• Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 43194

Significant Events Ahead (all dates subject to change):

• 06/09/06 — ISS reboost with 21P for 22P & ULF1.1 phasing (2:47pm EDT, delta-V 0.7 m/s)
• 06/15/06 — 20P interface propellant purge (~1:00pm EDT)
• 06/16/06 — 20P interface leak check (~12:50-2:30pm)
• 06/19/06 — Progress M-55/20P undocking from DC1 (10:02am) & reentry
• 06/24/06 — Progress M-57/22P launch (11:08am)
• 06/26/06 — Progress M-57/22P docking at DC1 (~12:27pm)
• 07/01/06 — STS-121/ULF1.1 launch (earliest, 3:43pm)
• 07/03-11/06 — STS-121/ULF1.1 docked mission w/ISS (earliest, 11:28am)
• 07/??/06 — US EVA-5
• 08/28/07 — STS-115/12A launch (earliest)
• 08/30-09/06 — STS-115/12A docked mission w/ISS (earliest) – P3/P4 trusses
• 09/13/06 — Progress M-56/21P undocking (SM aft port) & reentry
• 09/14/06 — Soyuz TMA-9/13S launch (Expedition 14 + VC11)
• 09/16/06 — Soyuz TMA-9/13S docking (SM aft port)
• 09/24/06 — Soyuz TMA-8/12S undocking (FGB nadir port) & reentry
• 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 (earliest)
• 12/16-23/06 — STS-116/12A.1 docked mission w/ISS (earliest) – 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 (earliest) – 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 (earliest).

 
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.