ISS On-Orbit Status, 10-03-2004

On-Orbit Status 10 Mar 2004

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously
or below. Day 144 in space for Expedition 8 (142 days aboard ISS).

The crew was thanked for yesterday's "great work" on the extensive TVIS
treadmill repair. ["You are expanding the IFM envelope something that
will be increasingly important as we plan and execute missions farther and
farther from home."]

The TVIS IFM (in-flight maintenance) continued today, with 5 hours reserved
for both crewmembers. The activity began at ~3:15am EST. The entire
operation was estimated to take the two crewmembers ~11 hours, and today's
part was the second installment, divided again into a morning and an
afternoon session. The activity is closely coordinated with and monitored
by the ground specialists. As a result of some trouble the crew had
yesterday with fasteners, additional remedial steps were uplinked overnight,
for removing and discarding six of eight fasteners and replacing the other
two fasteners. [The overall objectives of the IFM are to remove the
treadmill from the SM floor (the "pit") and open its chassis up to allow
access to the roll-stabilizing gyroscope for removal of its flywheel. The
failed gyro bearings were then to be replaced, followed by reassembly of the
gyro with careful torque calibration. This required measuring shims and
building a new shim stack, while verifying the running torque for the
fasteners. After reassembly, an acceptance checkout and power draw test
were performed today before nominal TVIS ops will be resumed. The
activities were video-recorded.]

Mike Foale unstowed and set up the equipment for the FOOT (Foot/Ground
Reaction Forces during Space Flight) experiment scheduled for another
experiment run tomorrow, preparing the equipment for EMG (electromyography)
calibration with camcorder/video recording and the actual data take in the
specially equipped outfit. [EMG (electromyography, i.e., electric muscle
currents recording) calibrations are performed after donning the TVIS
treadmill harness before exercising, after working out with harness removed,
and also at end of day prior to removing the LEMS pants. During tomorrow's
actual experiment, wearing these black Lycra "biking tights" with 20
electrodes as well as shoes fitted with insoles that measure impact forces
on the bottom of the foot for the 12-hr session, Foale will go through a
typical on-orbit day while reaction forces against the ISS structure are
recorded passively to determine how much stress his legs and feet endure.
This provides better understanding of the bone loss and loss of muscle mass
experienced by astronauts in zero-G (on Mir, for example, cosmonauts lost as
much bone mass in a month as post-menopausal women do in a year). The
experiment is led by the biomedical engineering department at the Cleveland
Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio.]

Alex Kaleri worked on the Russian condensate water processor (SRV-K2M),
removing the BKO multifiltration unit, which has reached its service life
limit. It was replaced with a new unit and stowed for deorbiting in
Progress 13P. The FE also replaced the SRV-K2M's F-R filter reactor
(catalyst). [The BKO, which contains five purification columns to remove
dissolved mineral and organic impurities from the condensate, has a service
lifetime of at least 450 liters throughput. After it, the condensate water
is treated in the BKV water conditioning unit with salts for taste and
silver ions for preservation, before it flows to the KPV potable water
container.] Before the BKO replacement, Sasha performed closeout steps on
the collection of water samples from the KAV water sampler attached to the
SRV and from the heating unit of the air/liquid condensate separator
(BRPK-M), which he began yesterday.

Mike Foale completed the regular weekly maintenance of the TVIS treadmill,
including the recently introduced required weekly inspection of the TVIS
wire ropes for signs of fraying.

Kaleri performed the regular SOZh life support systems maintenance in the
SM, comprising the water supply equipment, food supply subsystem (SOP), and
sanitary hygiene equipment (SGO), while Mike did the regular routine status
checkup of autonomous Increment 8 Lab payloads.

Sasha also completed his regular daily inspection of the BIO-5 Rasteniya-2
("Plants-2") experiment which studies growth and development of plants
(peas) under spaceflight conditions in the Lada-4 greenhouse.

Today's CEO (Crew Earth Observations) targets, limited in XPOP attitude by
flight rule constraints on the use of the science window, which is available
for only ~1/4 of each orbit when not facing forward (in "ram"), were West
African Aerosols (DYNAMIC EVENT: Satellite imagery and surface station
reports continue to indicate a major aerosol event in progress along the
southern coast of western Africa where under almost cloudless skies, surface
visibilities are less than half a mile. As ISS approached the coast from
the NW, the crew was requested to shoot images left of track [eastward]
along the coast. Of special interest were the edges of this large pall of
dust and smoke and its extent over the darker sea surface), and Patagonian
Glaciers (it being now late summer in Patagonia, snow cover is at its
seasonal minimum. In the first of three daylight passes over this target
area, the crew should have had nadir views of much of the Southern
Patagonian Ice Field. They were to use the long lens for details of the
smaller, less-well photographed glaciers on the eastern and western flanks
of the ice field. During the second daylight pass over this area, which was
the most southerly, they were to try for oblique context views of the ice
fields while looking northward of the spine of the southern Andes. On the
third and last daylight pass over this target area, they were to concentrate
on details of the smaller Northern Patagonian Ice Field with nadir views
where possible).

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/




--
---------------------------

Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info

The crew was thanked for yesterday's "great work" on the extensive TVIS
treadmill repair. ["You are expanding the IFM envelope something that
will be increasingly important as we plan and execute missions farther and
farther from home."]


WARNING - Troll comment follows:

So, I wonder if there's an IFM patch, especially for pushing the edge
of that envelope. Of course, they wouldn't need it if TVIS designers
weren't pushing the "piece of crap" envelope!