ISS On-Orbit Status, 30-01-2004

ISS On-Orbit Status 30 Jan 2004

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously
or below. At 9:16am EST today, in commemoration of Columbia and her crew,
NASA/JSC observed a moment of silence with a missing-man fly over.

Progress 13P (M1-11 or No. 260) is closing in for tomorrow morning's
rendezvous and docking. Capture at the Service Module (SM) aft end port is
scheduled for 8:18am EST. [Maneuver burn DV3 was performed this morning at
7:49am. Maneuver burn DV4 burn will be at 6:08 am, followed by Progress
Kurs-A activation and self-test at 6:32am, and DV5 burn at 6:54am. As
Kurs-A and Kurs-P (on SM) confer and "compare notes", three successive
braking burns lead into flyaround mode (400 m), stationkeeping (170 m),
final approach (11:30p), and docking (8:18am).]

In preparation for the critical arrival, at 3:15am this morning the crew
conducted a 3-hr. training course on the TORU teleoperated control system
for Progress. [With the manual TORU mode, FE Alexander Kaleri can perform
necessary guidance functions from the SM via two hand controllers in the
event of a failure of the "Kurs" automated rendezvous and docking (AR&D) of
the Progress. 92 min after the failed docking, Sasha would control the
cargo ship's motions from a control panel, viewing the approach to the ISS
on the Simvol-TS screen as seen by the Klest-M television camera mounted on
the Progress. Remote TORU control from the ground is not available at this
point. Today's training covered a review of the applicable data files, math
modeling of the rendezvous, and a consultation with a ground instructor via
UHF and S-band. Simulated were all phases of rendezvous, flyaround, final
approach and docking, plus off-nominal situations like no comm in the
SM-to-12P or 12P-to-SM channels, loss of TV feed, display format hang-up on
the SM's Simvol-TS screen, and docking failure in TORU before capture.]

FE Alexander Kaleri conducted his regular weekly IMS (inventory management
system) tagup with IMS specialists at MCC-M, discussing open issues
concerning identification of equipment and storage locations for the IMS
databases.

CDR/SO Michael Foale activated the MSG (Microgravity Science Glovebox) and
performed the first three steps of setting up the PromISS-2 (Protein Crystal
Growth Monitoring by Digital Holographic Microscope 2) experiment. MSG was
then deactivated again. [He installed the PromISS Experiment Box,
Electronics Box, MSG Camera, and made the cable connections. The remainder
of the setup and activation is scheduled for Sunday, 2/1. An additional 20
minutes was added to today's activity and the remainder of Mike's PromISS
activities has been increased.]

Kaleri conducted the daily routine maintenance of the SM's SOZh life support
system and prepared the daily IMS (inventory management system) "delta" file
for automatic export/import to update the database, while Foale completed
the regular routine status checkup of the autonomous Increment 8 payloads in
the Lab.

In preparation for the arrival of Progress 13P with ESA experiments, the FE
activated the AKVARIUS (AQUA-A) incubator equipment.

Also in preparation of the docking, CDR Foale set up the TV system, linked
from the Russian segment (RS) to the U.S. assets for downlink of the video
imagery via Ku-band.

Yesterday, the ground completed an external video survey of the ISS with the
SSRMS (Space Station Remote Manipulator System). The survey was recorded on
board and will be downlinked. Ground specialists will assess the video.

Sasha took the periodic reading of the cabin air's current CO2 partial
pressure in the SM, using the U.S. CDMK (CO2 monitor kit), for calldown to
MCC-Houston (along with the battery status) for use in trending analyses.
The CDMK was then restowed at the SM Central Post.

A 6-page list of Progress 13P cargo items, with stowage information and a
detailed unloading sequence, was uplinked to the crew.

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 7:17am EST [= epoch]):

Mean altitude -- 368.5 km
Apogee -- 373.8 km
Perigee -- 363.2 km
Period -- 91.9 min.
Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.63 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0007847
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.67
Mean altitude loss last 24 hours -- 80 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. '98) -- 29655

For more on ISS orbit and worldwide ISS naked-eye visibility dates/times,
see http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/station/viewing/issvis.html



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Jacques :-)

Editor: www.spacepatches.info