International Space
Station Status Report
(20 October 2006) The three residents
of the International Space Station spent a busy week with varied science and
technical tasks as they began their second month in
orbit.
Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight
Engineer Mikhail Tyurin practised using the manual docking system for the
Russian Progress cargo ship. They rehearsed rendezvous; fly around manoeuvres
and approach and docking with an on-board simulator.
During the
training, technicians at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan completed
preparations for the launch of a Progress cargo craft on Monday, Oct. 23 at
9:40 a.m. EDT. It is scheduled to dock to the complex Thursday, Oct. 26 at
10:28 a.m. EDT.
The Progress is filled with more than two tons of food,
fuel and supplies for the station and its crew. Also aboard are new spare parts
for the Russian Elektron oxygen-generation system, which has been shut down
since last month.
Earlier Friday, Lopez-Alegria replaced equipment in
the Carbon Dioxide Removal System, used to remove impurities from the station's
atmosphere. Only one of its two systems designed to purge carbon dioxide from
the air has been operating due to particulate matter clogging an air valve.
Lopez-Alegria installed a new air flow regulator valve and a filter to recover
the use of the second of two adsorbent beds in the device.
He also
joined Tyurin to inspect and photograph the Zvezda Service Module windows and
conducted a video tour of the station for training of future expedition
crews.
Lopez-Alegria, who also serves as the NASA science officer,
collected his second set of blood and urine samples for the Nutrition
Experiment. This is NASA's most comprehensive in-flight study of human
physiological changes during long-duration spaceflight. The experiment measures
bone metabolism, oxidative damage, nutritional assessments and hormonal
changes. It also will help to define nutritional requirements and develop food
systems for missions to the moon and Mars.
Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin also
completed a medical officer proficiency training session. European Space Agency
Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter began the first of three runs of the Analysis of
a Novel Sensory Mechanism in Root Phototropism experiment in the European
Modular Cultivation System. Seeds will sprout next week in the modular
cultivation facility, where plants and other small organisms can grow in
variable gravity conditions using a centrifuge.
By sprouting seeds under
different levels of partial gravity and different frequencies of light, this
study will increase the understanding of the different systems plants use to
determine what direction their roots and shoots should grow and which genes are
responsible for successful plant growth.
NASA's payload operations team
at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., co-ordinates U.S.
science activities on the station. Other science work this week included
sessions of the Profilaktika and Urolux Russian experiments.
The station
remains under the control of three gyroscopes after one was shut down more than
a week ago. On Monday, flight controllers conducted a test of Control Moment
Gyro (CMG) 3, which was turned off due to excessive vibrations. Monday's test,
looking at the health of the accelerometer, spun the CMG up to 500 rpm and then
let it coast down to zero while acceleration data were taken with the
Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System to correlate and compare with data
from the internal CMG accelerometer. An initial review indicated no unusual
vibrations, but engineers continue to analyse the results.
On Monday,
flight controllers will begin a five-day checkout of the Thermal Radiator
Rotary Joints (TRRJ) on the S1 and P1 trusses that will rotate once the
station's upgraded external thermal loops are activated during the STS-116
mission. The TRRJ test will enable the radiators to auto track or revolve when
required to dissipate heat from the trusses' avionics equipment.
The
next status report will be issued on Monday, Oct. 23, following the launch of
ISS Progress 23.
(source: NASA)