Updates ISS UPDATES

[IronRain]

Burbank Assumes Command of ISS

 

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CBS News Space: Departing station fliers gear up for return to Earth

Aviation Week: Three Space Station Crew Members Prepare for Return to Earth

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 21/11/2011.

Conjunction Advisory:
NASA/MCC-H is tracking a conjunction with Object 31907 (Fengyun 1C satellite debris) with TCA (Time of Closest Approach) tomorrow (11/22) at 7:17 PM GMT, about 20 hours after today's scheduled undocking of Soyuz TMA-02M/27S. The conjunction is currently classified as Low Concern, primarily because this object has not been seen for the last ~15 days.

 

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[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 22/11/2011.

Russian Prop Transfer:
TsUP/Moscow-controlled propellant transfer begins tonight at 10:01 PM GMT-10:11 PM GMT, the FGB K3 tank to the SM BG1 fuel tank. No crew involvement required.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

CONJUNCTION ALERT

Mission Control Notifies Station Crew of Possible Conjunction

Mission Control notified the Expedition 30 crew aboard the International Space Station that it may have to take shelter early Wednesday because of a possible close call with a piece of space junk.

The object is a piece of debris about 4 inches (10 centimeters) in diameter from the Chinese Fengyun 1C weather satellite that was destroyed in 2007.

Commander Dan Burbank and Flight Engineers Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin received a radio call at 2:06 p.m. EST from Flight Director Ginger Kerrick, alerting them to the possibility. Kerrick was leading a small team in Mission Control, Houston while the crew was in an extended sleep shift following the overnight work associated with the departure of the Expedition 29 crew.

› Listen to the call (1.74 MB mp3)

Predictions indicate the object may come within 2,800 feet (850 meters) of the station. If tracking continues to show the closest approach within a predetermined “pizza box” around the station, the crew will be directed to take precautions that include closing hatches between station modules and getting into their Soyuz spacecraft about 30 minutes before the time of closest approach, or no later than 4:30 a.m.

Standard procedure for such encounters is to maneuver the space station out of the way of the predicted path of the debris if there is enough time to coordinate the move. However, preparations for yesterday’s undocking of the Soyuz spacecraft bringing Mike Fossum, Satoshi Furukawa and Sergei Volkov home slightly changed the station’s orbit, resulting in a closer approach. The object had been monitored earlier but was not then a threat.

Mission Control will continue to track the object, and inform the crew whether it will need to take shelter. If the crew does take shelter, NASA TV will provide live coverage of the activities on orbit starting at 4:35 a.m. EST.

 

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RIA Novosti: Satellite junk no threat to space station crew, Russia says:

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“There is no threat of collision between the ISS and the piece of satellite, the crewmembers will not need to take shelter in the Soyuz [space capsule] because the debris will pass by at 170 kilometers from the station,” a spokesman for the Russian Mission Control said.

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SPACE.com: Thanksgiving in Space: Playing With Food Allowed

 

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SPACE.com: Space Station Crew Avoids Close Shave with Space Junk

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 23/11/2011.

Conjunction Update:
NASA/MCC-H had tracked a conjunction with Object 31907 (Fengyun 1C satellite debris) with TCA (Time of Closest Approach) today, a four-inch piece of debris which at first was predicted to move into the red zone due to the disturbances introduced by the undocking and attitude maneuvers, yielding at first a radial miss distanced around 2,800 ft. Later, tracking updates led to downgrading of the probability of a collision. The Chinese weather satellite debris moved back into the Green zone, and the Shelter-in-Place (retreat into Soyuz TMA-22/28S) considered for the ISS crew was not required.

Russian Prop Transfer:
TsUP/Moscow-controlled propellant transfers continued, tonight at 9:06 PM-9:15 PM GMT, today from the FGB K2 tank to the SM BO1 oxidizer tank. No crew involvement required.

 

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[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htoZwE8n--Q"]Thanksgiving Message from Station Crew - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 24/11/2011.

Russian Prop Transfer:
TsUP/Moscow-controlled propellant transfer continues tonight/tomorrow morning at 8:20 PM-4:00 AM GMT, today from the FGB K3 tank to the SM BG2 fuel tank. No crew involvement required.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 25/11/2011.

Russian Prop Transfer:
TsUP/Moscow-controlled propellant transfers continued, today from the FGB K2 tank to the SM BO2 oxidizer tank at 7:26 AM-3:02 PM GMT. No crew involvement required.

 

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NASA:

Nov. 28, 2011​

MEDIA ADVISORY : M11-241
Coverage Set For Next Soyuz Crew Launch And Docking

HOUSTON -- Fresh off the arrival of three new crew members at the International Space Station, the next trio of residents is set to launch to the outpost Dec. 21. NASA Television will cover prelaunch activities, launch and docking to the orbital laboratory during the next several weeks.

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NASA TV's scheduled coverage includes (all times Central):

• Thursday, Dec. 1
  • 2 p.m. -- Video file of Soyuz TMA-03M crew news conference in Star City, Russia, and visit to Red Square in Moscow
• Thursday, Dec. 8
  • 11 a.m. -- Video file from Star City of crew departure for Baikonur
• Friday, Dec. 16
  • 11 a.m. -- Video file of crew activities in Baikonur
• Monday, Dec. 19
  • 11 a.m. -- Video file of rocket rollout to the launch pad in Baikonur
• Tuesday, Dec. 20
  • 11 a.m. -- Video file of final prelaunch crew news conference and Russian State Commission meeting in Baikonur
• Wednesday, Dec. 21
  • 5:45 a.m. -- Video file feed of the crew prelaunch activities in Baikonur
  • 6:30 a.m. -- Launch coverage begins (launch scheduled at 7:16 a.m.)
  • 9:30 a.m. -- Video file of prelaunch, launch and post-launch interviews
• Friday, Dec. 23
  • 8:45 a.m. -- Docking coverage begins (docking scheduled at 9:20 a.m.), followed by the post-docking news conference from Mission Control in Korolev, Russia
  • 11:45 a.m. -- Hatch opening and welcoming ceremony begins (hatch opening scheduled at 12:20 p.m.)
  • 2 p.m. -- Video file docking, hatch opening and welcoming ceremony

{...}

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 29/11/2011.

In preparation of tomorrow's scheduled CUCU (COTS UHF Communications Unit) software & Dragon CCP (Crew Command Panel) firmware update, CDR Dan Burbank installed a USB thumb drive (#60) and readied a blank CD (#1675) in SSC-10 (Station Support Computer-10). The ground then uplinked a software patch and burned it on the CD. [New software, version R3.2, will be loaded into the CUCU from a DVD delivered on STS-135/ULF-7 and a patch from the thumb drive. CUCU is the SpaceX avionics box that is used for space-to-space communication with "Dragon" during rendezvous. CUCU contains two completely redundant strings, and each string needs a software update to the RIO (Remote Input/Output) control modules, the radio and the 1553 card. In addition, the firmware on the CCP will need to be updated for both the primary and spare CCP. The software update is done with a T61p laptop that will be booted to the Linux operating system from the ULF-7 DVD. After the software load, MCC-X (SpaceX's Control Center in Hawthorne, CA) will be doing some checkouts of the box and then Dan Burbank will do a checkout of both CCPs. Background: The originally planned Demo 2 & 3 missions have been merged. For the new "Dragon" Combined Demo, "Commanding from ISS" via the CCP will be demonstrated while the spacecraft flies 2.5 km under the ISS.]

PBA 1021 Issue:
During the Emergency Egress Equipment Readiness Drill on 11/20, the crew reported that PBA (Portable Breathing Apparatus) bottle #1021 in the A/L (Airlock) had a pressure gauge needle in the red zone (less than 3000 psia). A second photo of the PBA was taken by the crew yesterday and is under review by ground engineers. The PBA has been labeled "Not For Emergency Use". There are still sufficient PBA bottles and masks on board for ISS crew emergency response.

 

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SPACE.com: Fire Burns Differently in Space, Space Station Experiment Shows

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 30/11/2011.

CDR Dan Burbank spent several hours on the scheduled updating of CUCU (COTS UHF Communications Unit) software & Dragon CCP (Crew Command Panel) firmware. After working on the updates of the redundant CUCU strings and the primary & spare CCPs, the subsequent Dryden test of the CCPs was delayed due to frequency clearance issues.

ISS Reboost/Conjunction:
A one-burn reboost of the ISS will be performed tonight at 11:11 PM GMT using the two KD engines of the SM's ODU (Integrated Propulsion System) for a burn duration of 1m 2.68s and a planned Delta-V of 1.00 m/s, increasing mean altitude by 1.75 km. The purpose of the reboost is to set up proper phasing for Soyuz TMA-03M/29S launch & rendezvous, as well as to test a new closed-loop guidance method which incorporates accelerometer data from the USOS (US Segment) in the Russian-executed maneuver. A 2nd reboost for 29S phasing is planned for 12/09. For an upcoming conjunction with space debris (Object 36438, COSMOS 2251 debris) on 12/02 (Friday) at ~4:51 PM GMT, three options for today's reboost were analyzed and the one at 11:11 PM GMT was chosen as best-case option to stay clear of the conjunction (radial miss distance). A final decision for go-ahead for TIG (Time of Ignition) tonight will be made later this afternoon. [If the reboost is called off (in case predicted radial miss distance to 36438 shrinks), a backup option exists on 12/02. Whether the reboost is made tonight or not at all due to 36438, there is still margin with the next scheduled reboost on 12/09 to meet the Soyuz launch criteria for a 12/21 launch & 12/23 rendezvous.]

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 01/12/2011.

CUCU Clarification:
Yesterday's software upload for the CUCU (COTS UHF Communications Unit), which the ground successfully checked out, supports the first SpaceX Dragon Demo flight early next year. The Combined Demo, which would merge Demo 2 & Demo 3, mentioned in yesterday's report, continues to be under study and has not yet been approved for implementation. Yesterday's planned firmware update and checkout of the two CCPs (Crew Command Panels) has been deferred due to insufficient time. They will be required for the Dryden frequency test – which currently has frequency clearance issues. [Currently the soonest the delayed Dryden frequency test can be performed is 12/06, followed by 30 days in which the test can be performed, to support the SpaceX Demo-1 flight, planned for early 2012.]

ISS Reboost Update:
A one-burn reboost of the ISS was performed last evening as planned at 11:11 PM GMT using the two KD engines of the SM's ODU (Integrated Propulsion System) for a burn duration of 1m 2.68s, achieving a Delta-V of 1.04 m/s (planned: 1.00 m/s), increasing mean altitude by 1.82 km (planned: 1.75 km). After the burn, ISS was at 392.14 km mean altitude, with 416.81 km apogee height and 367.48 perigee height. The purpose of the reboost, the first of 2, was to set up proper phasing for Soyuz TMA-03M/29S launch & rendezvous. This was also the first time the US SIGI (Space Integrated GPS/Inertial Navigation System) accelerometers were used for closed loop guidance of the reboost, and all worked well. A 2nd reboost for 29S phasing is planned for 12/09.

Conjunction Update:
The conjunction with Object 36438 (COSMOS 2251 debris), predicted for tomorrow at ~4:51 PM GMT, moved yesterday into the Green zone and is at this time no longer of concern.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 02/12/2011.

Anton Shkaplerov & Anatoly Ivanishin joined for a 3-hr IFM (Inflight Maintenance) task on the TVIS (Treadmill with Vibration Isolation System), performing the long-term periodic chassis Inspection. Afterwards, Anatoly performed the speed characterization test while recording acoustic survey data. [The inspection included the belt slats, weld nuts, treadbelt, drum set screws, 50 truss blue roller assemblies, side black rollers, and bottom black rollers. The crew also replaced 3 misaligned belt slat screws.]

At the SM (Service Module) CP (Central Post), Ivanishin proceeded with the planned software transition to vers. 8.05, first replacing the old RS2 A31p laptop of the KTsP2 Central Post Computer 2 with a new T61p machine, then setting it up and installing KTsP BVS software vers. 8.05 from DVD and CompactFlash, with ground support tagup. Afterwards, the new laptop was deactivated.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 03/12/2011.

GHF Checkout:
On 12/01, JAXA ground controllers began an extensive checkout of the GHF (Gradient Heating Furnace) payload on the Kobairo Rack in the Kibo JPM (JEM Pressurized Module) which will continue through the next 14 days.

VolSci Deferral:
The planned Voluntary Weekend Science activity for Dan Burbank in the JAXA JPM with the CFE (Capillary Flow Experiment) payload was deferred to some later date.