ISS On-Orbit Status, 17-07-2003

ISS On-Orbit Status 27 Jul 2003

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously
or below. Day 94 in space for the Expedition 7 crew. Sunday -- second crew
rest day of this weekend. Ahead: Week 13 of Increment 7.

CDR Yuri Malenchenko collected the weekly data readings of the Service
Module (SM)'s toilet flush counter readings (with inspection of the SP urine
collection and pretreat assembly) and SVO water supply status counter
readings, both for calldown to MCC-M/TsUP.

Malenchenko also conducted the periodic inspection of the Elektron oxygen
generator's VM gas/liquid system for obstructing air bubbles.

The CDR then performed the periodic inspection and a functional test of the
BRPK-1 air/liquid condensate separator in the SM.

FE/SO Ed Lu prepared the daily delta file for automatic export/import to
update the IMS (inventory management system) database.

Malenchenko attended to his regular daily checkup of his BIO-5 Rasteniya-2
("Plants-2") experiment which investigates growth and development of plants
under spaceflight conditions in the SM's Lada-2 greenhouse.

Both crewmembers worked out in their daily 2.5-h program of physical
exercise, on TVIS treadmill and RED expander.

The crew had their the weekly PFCs (private family conferences), via
S-band/audio and Ku-band/video.

Working off his Russian task list, the CDR today had the second photography
session for the Diatomeya ocean observations program. [Today's observations
again presented an opportunity to investigate bioproductive waters in areas
well covered by ship-based observations, namely, the areas in the South
Atlantic and Indian Ocean featuring pronounced temperature gradients.
Photos were to be taken of sea bloom features and anomalies of the cloud
cover over today's targets, viz., the dynamically active waters in the
Indian Ocean along the SE coast of Africa, and the Atlantic around the
Antilles.]

Today's CEO (crew earth observation) targets, no longer limited in the
current LVLH attitude and including the targets of the Lewis & Clark
200-year memorial locations, were Chicago, Illinois (CITY AT NIGHT - The
windy city lay just left of track as ISS approached from the NW), Salt Lake
City, Utah (CITY AT NIGHT - On this nice, clear pass, the city lay just
right of track), Dallas, Texas (CITY AT NIGHT - Looking for "Big D" and "Cow
Town" to the left of track), Bogotá, Colombia (CITY AT NIGHT - Clouds should
have been less of a problem at night. The crew had a near-nadir pass over
the Colombian Capital), Macau, China (CREW SITE - Weather was "iffy" but the
crew had a near-nadir pass), Xianggang [Hong Kong], China (weather is slowly
improving after Typhoon Imbudo. ISS had a nadir pass immediately after
Macau), Cape Town, South Africa (weather should hold off just long enough
for a good view of this historic, coastal city. Looking just left of track
as ISS approached the coast from the SW), Johannesburg, South Africa (fine,
dry weather prevails over interior South Africa. Looking for this large
industrial center just left of track), Angolan Biomass Burning (a nice, long
clear pass for mapping fire locations and burn scar patterns with near-nadir
views), Patagonian Glaciers (this was probably the crew's last opportunity
for a while to document the small, east-slope glaciers of the Northern
Patagonian Ice Field under winter conditions. Trying for nadir views with
the long lenses), Shanghai, China (CITY AT NIGHT - This mega city on the
south side of the Yangtze Delta lay just left of track as ISS tracked
northeastward), High Central Andean Glaciers (this target offers few
opportunities because of frequent cloud cover. Trying for nadir views, with
the long lenses, of the small vanishing ice fields and glaciers where
visible), Lahore, Pakistan (CITY AT NIGHT ISS tracked southeastward,
directly over the Pakistani capital), and Jakarta, Indonesia (CITY AT
NIGHT - ISS approach was from the NW. Looking just left of track for this
large city on the north-facing coast). CEO images can be viewed at the
websites


http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov

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



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Jacques :-)

Editor: www.spacepatches.info

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