ISS On-Orbit Status 26 Jul 2003<br /><br /> All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously<br />or below. Day 93 in space for the Expedition 7 crew, and we are nearing the<br />halfway point of this Increment. First crew rest day of this weekend.<br /><br />As generally on Saturdays, Commander Yuri Malenchenko and Flight<br />Engineer/Science Officer Ed Lu performed the weekly 3-hr. station cleaning.<br />[This includes removal of food waste products, cleaning of compartments with<br />vacuum cleaner, wet cleaning of the Service Module (SM) dining table and<br />other surfaces with "Fungistat" disinfectant and cleaning fan screens to<br />avoid temperature rises.] Malenchenko attended to the daily routine<br />maintenance of the SM SOZh life support system (including ASU toilet<br />facilities), while Ed Lu prepared the daily IMS delta file for automatic<br />export/import to update the database.<br /><br />Both crewmembers completed their daily physical exercise program on TVIS<br />treadmill and RED resistive expander.<br /><br />Yuri and Ed conducted the weekly planning conference with the ground,<br />discussing next week's "Look-Ahead Plan" (regularly prepared jointly by<br />MCC-H and MCC-M planners), via S-band/audio.<br /><br />On the operational PCS (portable computer system) laptops in the station, Ed<br />performed the regular once-a-week maintenance reboot. (Last time done:<br />7/18).<br /><br />All objectives of yesterday's MSS (mobile service system) ground control<br />demo were completed successfully. [The crew had worked ahead to free<br />additional time on their schedule for a possible overrun of the Robotics<br />operations, which turned out to be a good idea. A lot of valuable<br />information was obtained about the planning and execution of MSS ground<br />control. The SSRMS was left in a PDGF 3 ( power and data grapple fixture 3)<br />pre-grapple position. This will be the starting position for the Robotics<br />ops that are scheduled for next week.]<br /><br />CDR Malenchenko was asked to perform, as a new Russian task list item,<br />another session with the Diatomeya ocean observing program, if time<br />permitted. [Today's and tomorrow's observations present an opportunity to<br />investigate bioproductive waters in the areas well covered by ship-based<br />observations, namely, the areas in the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean<br />featuring pronounced temperature gradients. Photos were to be taken of sea<br />bloom features and anomalies of the cloud cover over today's targets, viz.,<br />the South Equatorial Current divergence zone East of Madagascar, and the<br />Western flank of the Sub-Arctic Frontal Zone near the Falkland Islands.]<br /><br />Yesterday's MSG/CSLM (microgravity science glovebox/coarsening in<br />solid/liquid mixtures) activities showed that SPU-6 has a bent mounting<br />plate. Therefore, the plan for next week is to evacuate and process SPU-1.<br />[For SPU-1, the sample chamber will be vented for 24 hours, followed by a<br />short opening of the water valve, and then at least 30 more minutes of<br />venting. Ed Lu will then initiate sample processing, which will last for 48<br />hours.]<br /><br />Weekly Science Update (Expedition Seven -- 12th):<br /><br />GASMAP: The 30-day health check for July was completed successfully.<br />Next: mid-August. Human Research Facility/Workstation (HRF WS):<br />Continuing.<br /><br />Ultrasound (USND): Next Ultrasound session is planned for mid-September.<br /><br />Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation (PFMI): Waiting to begin<br />operations.<br /><br />Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS): SAMS is nominal and currently<br />analyzing data in support of general characterization of the ISS<br />acceleration environment.<br /><br />Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS): MAMS is nominal and<br />currently analyzing data in support of general characterization of the ISS<br />acceleration environment.<br /><br />Protein Crystal Growth-Single Locker Thermal Enclosure System (PCG-STES):<br />PCG-STES continues to operate nominally.<br /><br />Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal<br />Emulsions (InSPACE): Current test matrix is complete.<br /><br />Materials ISS Experiment (MISSE): In progress. Deployed outside. Nominal<br />and collecting data.<br /><br />Cellular Biotechnology Support Systems (CBOSS): Hardware checkout next<br />week.<br /><br />Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM): Activities<br />are completed for Increment 7.<br /><br />Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures-2 (CSLM-2): After minor problems, the<br />setup of the hardware and reprogramming of the ECU to change the SPU soak<br />times in support of next week's engineering run were successful. The vacuum<br />vent leak test was also successful. Next week Ed Lu will evacuate the<br />sample chamber and then perform a 48-hour test run.<br /><br />Educational Payload Operations (EPO): NASA Education and the payload<br />developers from the Museum Aerospace Education Alliance are looking forward<br />to the Pu'ili educational demonstration next week.<br /><br />Crew Earth Observation (CEO): The crew was successful in shooting Macau and<br />the area of Ed Lu's dad's hometown (Panyu) south of Guangzhou. Ed used the<br />long lens and they were high obliques, but quite recognizable. Obliques<br />with the long lenses tend have low contrast because of the optical thickness<br />of the atmosphere. Also, unless the ground has a good idea of what the crew<br />was looking for at the time, these views can be quite difficult to locate<br />and catalog. Bright targets such as clouds, ice, or sand with shadows make<br />much better targets for this type of view. Today's CEO (crew earth<br />observation) targets, no longer limited in the current LVLH attitude and<br />including the targets of the Lewis & Clark 200-year memorial locations, were<br />Mariana Islands (ISS approached the southern end of this archipelago from<br />the SW, and the crew was asked to use the long lenses in nadir views for<br />details of visible coral reef structures), St. Louis, Missouri (CITY AT<br />NIGHT - Looking left of track for this riverside city as ISS approached from<br />the NW), Atlanta, Georgia (CITY AT NIGHT - For a view of "Hotlanta" on a<br />summer's night looking slightly left of track), Jakarta, Indonesia (this is<br />a difficult target because of frequent cloud cover. Crew had a fair chance<br />with this near-nadir pass approaching from the southwest. The city is on<br />the NW coast of the large island of Java), El Paso, Texas (CITY AT NIGHT -<br />This was a nadir pass over this famous border city on the Rio Grande River),<br />Monterrey, Mexico (CITY AT NIGHT - As ISS tracked southeastward across<br />northeastern Mexico, crew was to look just right of track for this large<br />city), La Paz, Bolivia (CITY AT NIGHT - It should have been a clear, crisp<br />night for viewing the Bolivian capital, just right of track), Congo-Zimbabwe<br />Biomass Burning (this was a nice, long clear pass over a major biomass<br />burning area. Trying for nadir views of both active fires and burn scar<br />patterns), Kinshasa, Zaire (this mega city is situated on the S bank of the<br />Congo River just opposite the city of Brazzaville. Crew was to use the 180<br />lens on this nadir pass), Buenos Aires, Argentina (with this nadir pass in<br />clear weather, crew was to try to capture the entire city in a single view),<br />Sao Paulo, Brazil (using this nadir pass for a good single view of this<br />sprawling city, just inland from the coast), Lishan, Taiwan (CITY AT NIGHT -<br />This was nadir pass over the north end of Taiwan approaching from the NW),<br />and Lake Poopo (looking for shoreline changes in this post-El Nino period,<br />and trying for views of both the lake and the large salars to the<br />southwest). CEO images can be viewed at the websites<br /><br /><br />http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov<br />http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov<br /><br />See also the website "Space Station Challenge" at<br />http://voyager.cet.edu/iss/