Ежедневная хроника полета МКС

[Liss]

[row]
[col color=darkblue:d371dcc7cc]
ISS On-Orbit Status 12/16/07
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.   Sunday – EVA preparation day 1 for CDR Whitson, FE-1 Malenchenko and FE-2 Tani.   Ahead: Week 9 of Increment 16.

[row]
[col color=#303030:d371dcc7cc]
After wakeup and before breakfast, FE-2 Dan Tani again accessed the SLEEP experiment (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight) software for data logging and completing questionnaire entries in the experiment's laptop session file on the HRF-1 laptop for later downlink.    [To monitor the crewmember's sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Dan wears a special Actiwatch device which measures the light levels encountered by him as well as his patterns of sleep and activity throughout the Expedition.  The log entries are done within 15 minutes of final awakening for seven consecutive days, as part of the crew's discretionary "job jar" task list.]

The crew began preparations for the spacewalk (EVA-13) on 12/18 (Tuesday), starting with FE-2 Dan Tani printing out uplinked EVA procedures/timeline material which was then reviewed jointly by all crewmembers (covering SARJ overview, BGA inspection, updated EVA-13 procedures and the usual EVA crib sheet with contingency actions).    [The spacewalk, scheduled to begin at approximately 6:00am and to last ~6.5 hrs, has two major objectives: (1) Inspection of 1A BGA (Beta Gimbal Assembly) and BMRMM (Bearing Motor Roll Ring Module, "broom"), including assisting fault search by the ground by disconnecting/reconnecting cables and possibly performing an R&R (removal & replacement) of the 1A ECU (Electronic Control Unit) on the S4 truss;  (2) inspection and photo documentation of the Stbd SARJ (Solar Alpha Rotary Joint), including temporary removal of protective MLI covers (8 double-wide, 12 single-wide, plus 2 DLA/Drive Lock Assembly covers), debris removal, DLA inspection, finally unbolting (3 bolts) & removing TBA-5 (Trundle Bearing Assembly #5) for return to Earth.]

In Node-2, the FE-2 discontinued picture taking on the BCAT-3 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3) science payload and deinstalled the EarthKAM DCS 760 digital still camera, which will be used for the EVA.  The equipment will be returned to BCAT-3 photography on 12/19 after the EVA is complete.

In the course of the day CDR Peggy Whitson and FE-2 Dan Tani worked in the Airlock (A/L) where they -

Initiated (later terminated) recharging the EMU (Extravehicular Mobility Unit) batteries and two batteries for the DCS 760 camera;
Configured the camera for taking outside;
Prepared EVA tools required for the spacewalk activities;
Consolidated the contents of two PWRs (Payload Water Reservoirs, #1023 & #1025) in a third PWR #1024), yielding approximately 9 lbs of water (PWR can contain up to 20 lbs), then
Degassed PWR #1024 and inspected #1005 to degas if necessary (i.e., manually removing gas bubbles to minimize the amount of air introduced into the EMU feedwater tanks);
Checked out the EMU spacesuits (#3006 for Tani, #1005 for Whitson);
Resized the EMU that had been modified for 1E/Love;
Equipped EMU #3006 with its REBA (Rechargeable EVA Battery Assembly) and checked out #1005's already-installed REBA;
Installed and checked out the METOX (Metal Oxide) CO2 absorption canisters in the suits, and
Tagged up with the ground at ~10:05am EST to discuss EVA/timeline particulars.
FE-1 Yuri Malenchenko meanwhile performed a refresh of the cabin atmosphere from Progress M-61/26P section 2 storage tank, to utilize its gas stores prior to its jettisoning on 12/22.

The FE-1 also completed the routine servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the Service Module (SM).    [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists, among else, of checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers.  Weekly SOZh reports (on Sundays) to TsUP/Moscow deal with number & dates of water and urine containers, counter readings of water consumption & urine collection, and total operating time of the POTOK air filtration system.]

At ~2:30pm, Dan Tani had his weekly PFC (Private Family Conference) via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on the SSC-9 laptop).

The crewmembers performed their regular 2.5-hr physical workout program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the CEVIS cycle ergometer (CDR, FE-2), TVIS treadmill (FE-1), RED (CDR, FE-2) and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1).

Still on Yuri's "time permitting" job list was the periodic collection & deletion of readings on the MOSFET (metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor) radiation sensor reader/display of the RBO-3-2 Matryoshka-R antroph-amorphous (human torso) "phantoms" located inside the station for sophisticated radiation studies, collecting radiation measurements every 15 minutes around the clock.

A second job item on the FE-1's discretionary list for today was another KPT-3 session to make observations and take aerial KPT-3 photography of environmental conditions for Russia's Environmental Safety Agency (ECON) using the Nikon D1X digital camera with SIGMA 300-800mm telephoto lens.   [KPT-3 photography has been a frequent earth observing experiment for ECON.]

Also on the voluntary task list for Yuri was a late-added session of the Russian "Uragan" (hurricane) earth-imaging program, using the Nikon D2X digital camera with 800 mm focal length lenses to take pictures of the Kerch Strait at low sun angle to record an oil spill, the aftermath of a ship wreck in the strait during a recent hurricane.   [According to media report an oil spill covering several kilometers was spotted on 12/4.  Also a target region for Uragan photography for today were glaciers of northern and southern islands of New Zealand in nadir.]

No CEO photo targets uplinked for today.

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov  (about 700,000 NASA digital photographs of Earth are downloaded by the public each month from this "Gateway" site);
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/AstronautPhotography

[row]
[col color=#303430:d371dcc7cc]
ISS Orbit  (as of this morning, 7:25am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude -- 337.1 km
Apogee height -- 337.7 km
Perigee height -- 336.4 km
Period -- 91.27 min.
Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.64 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0000922
Solar Beta Angle -- -28.2 deg (magnitude increasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.78
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours -- 124m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) -- 51954

[row]
[col color=#303034:d371dcc7cc]
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Standard, some changes possible. NET = Not Earlier Than):
12/18/07 -- Stage 10A EVA (Whitson/Tani) -- Stbd SARJ, 1A BGA BMRRM; (~6:00am)
12/18/07 -- STS-122/Atlantis ET tanking test (7:00am)
12/22/07 -- Yuri Malenchenko's Birthday
12/22/07 -- Progress M-61/26P undocking (DC1) & reentry
12/23/07 -- Progress M-62/27P launch
12/26/07 -- Progress M-62/27P docking (DC1)
01/10/08 – NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E launch -- Columbus Module, ICC-Lite.
01/31/08 -- 50-Year Anniversary of Explorer 1 (1st U.S. Satellite on Redstone rocket)  [Check it out at http://usspace50.com/ ]
02/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P launch
02/09/08 -- Progress M-63/28P docking
02/14/08 -- NET:  ATV-1 "Jules Verne" launch/Ariane V (Kourou, French Guyana)
02/14/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A launch/1J/A, ~11:53am, w/SLP-SPDM, JEM ELM-PS
02/16/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A docking
02/27/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour undocking
02/29/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour landing
03/01/08 -- Progress M-62/27P undocking (DC1) & reentry
03/06/08 -- NET: ATV-1 docking (SM aft port)
04/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P undocking (DC1) & reentry
04/08/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S launch
04/10/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S docking (DC1)
04/19/08 -- Soyuz TMA-11/15S undocking (FGB nadir port)
04/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S relocation (from DC1 to FGB nadir port)
04/24/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J launch – JEM PM "Kibo", racks, RMS.
04/26/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J docking
05/04/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J undocking
05/14/08 -- Progress M-64/29P launch
05/16/08 -- Progress M-64/29P docking (DC1)
07/29/08 -- NET: ATV-1 undocking (from SM aft port)
08/11/08 -- Progress M-64/29P undocking (from DC1)
08/12/08 -- Progress M-65/30P launch
08/14/08 -- Progress M-65/30P docking (SM aft port)
09/13/08 -- Progress M-66/31P launch
09/15/08 -- Progress M-66/31P docking (DC1)
09/18/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 launch – MPLM Leonardo, LMC
09/29/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 undocking.
10/01/08 -- 50th Birthday of NASA
10/11/08 -- Progress M-65/30P undocking (from SM aft port)
10/14/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S launch
10/16/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S docking (SM aft port)
11/06/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A launch – S6 truss segment
04/??/09 -- Six-person crew on ISS  (with Soyuz 18S docking)
04/15/09 -- Constellation's Ares I-X Launch
04/??/10 -- STS-132/Discovery/20A – Node-3 + Cupola.
[/table]

[Liss]

[row]
[col color=darkblue:1d4a25a234]
ISS On-Orbit Status 12/17/07
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.   Underway: Week 9 of Increment 16.

[row]
[col color=#303030:1d4a25a234]
After wakeup and before breakfast, FE-2 Dan Tani again accessed the SLEEP experiment (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight) software for data logging and completing questionnaire entries in the experiment's laptop session file on the HRF-1 laptop for later downlink.    [To monitor the crewmember's sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Dan wears a special Actiwatch device which measures the light levels encountered by him as well as his patterns of sleep and activity throughout the Expedition.  The log entries are done within 15 minutes of final awakening for seven consecutive days, as part of the crew's discretionary "job jar" task list.]

In preparation for Progress M-62/27P arrival on 12/26 at the DC1 Docking Compartment, Malenchenko and Whitson supported a ground-controlled functions test of the SM (Service Module) & Progress TORU telemanipulator system without Progress DPO thrusters firing.   [Commands were entered via the RUO (Rotational Hand Controller) and RUD (Translational Hand Controller), during an RGS (Russian Groundsite) comm pass at 3:22am EST.  The TORU teleoperator system provides a manual backup mode to the Progress' KURS automated rendezvous radar system.  The two crewmembers will be monitoring the approach and docking of Progress M-62 at the DC1 from the TORU station in the SM.]

FE-1 Malenchenko set up the pumping equipment and initiated (later closed out) the periodic transfer of urine from 3 EDV-U containers in the SM to the Rodnik BV1 tanks of Progress M-61/26P, adding ~5 L of disinfectant solution.   [Leak checks performed by the crew on 10/8-9 on the membrane (expulsion bladder) of the Progress' Rodnik BV1 tank showed that BV1 appeared unsuitable for liquid waste transfer due to a small leak in the tank's bladder.  Last week, TsUP-Moscow learned from the supplier that the bladder is acceptable for urine transfer provided the KN1 bladder expulsion valve is closed during today's pump-over, i.e., no pressure adapter installed on the bladder outlet.  Transfers to the BV2 tanks were performed on 10/23 and 11/15.]

For tomorrow's EVA-13, final preparations by FE-2 Dan Tani & CDR Peggy Whitson today included -

Reconfiguring two DCS 760 digital still cameras for the spacewalk (leaving them connected to station power for now to conserve batteries),
Attaching a tie wrap around one camera's flash (to allow visual identification during EVA),
Setting up 4 batteries in the A/L BSA (Airlock Battery Stowage Assembly) for charging during the prebreathe period and to be installed in the EVA flashes prior to egress,
Powering down onboard amateur (ham) radio equipment (Kenwood in SM, Ericsson in FGB) to prevent RF (radio frequency) interference with the EMU (Extravehicular Mobility Unit)/spacesuits,  
Preparing the A/L EL (Airlock Equipment Lock) for the Campout & spacewalk,
Tagging up with ground specialists at ~8:40am EST for reviewing EVA particulars, and
Undergoing the standard pre-EVA PMC (Private Medical Conference) via S- & Ku-band audio/video.
Also for the spacewalk, FE-1 Malenchenko prepared three Russian "Pille-MKS" radiation dosimeters, recorded their dosages and equipped each of the two EMUs with a radiation sensor, on the outer surface (A0309/CDR & A0310/FE-2).   [A third sensor, A0308, was placed in the SM on the PULT reader for background readings.]

Dan (EV1) and Peggy (EV2) will begin their "campout" in the A/L with hatch closure and depressurization of the CL (Crewlock) from 14.7 to 10.2 psi at ~2:20-2:50pm, followed by mask prebreathe at ~2:50-4:00pm.  Sleep time for the ISS crew begins at 4:30pm.    [For the Campout, METOX (Metal Oxide) canisters #0017 & #0019) have been installed in the A/L for CO2 control.]

After the usual hygiene break/with mask prebreathe for Whitson & Tani at ~1:30-2:40am tomorrow morning after spending the night on 10.2 psi campout, the A/L hatch will be closed again by Malenchenko for EVA preps in 10.2 psi, followed by EMU purge (~4:20-4:35am) and prebreathe (~4:35-5:25am).  Afterwards, with CL depressurization and EV1/EV2 egress, EVA-13 nominally begins at ~6:00am EST.  Yuri will support the spacewalk as IV (Intravehicular) crewmember, keeping tabs with the detailed activity steps and crib sheet.
[EVA-13 is expected to last about 6h 30m.  Its objectives are: (1) Inspection of 1A BGA (Beta Gimbal Assembly) and BMRMM (Bearing Motor Roll Ring Module, "broom"), including assisting fault search by the ground by disconnecting/reconnecting cables and possibly performing an R&R (removal & replacement) of the 1A ECU (Electronic Control Unit) on the S4 truss;  (2) inspection and photo documentation of the Stbd SARJ (Solar Alpha Rotary Joint), including temporary removal of protective MLI covers (8 double-wide, 12 single-wide, plus 2 DLA/Drive Lock Assembly covers), debris removal, DLA inspection, finally unbolting (3 bolts) & removing TBA-5 (Trundle Bearing Assembly #5) for return to Earth.  Note:  The A/L repress after crew ingress will use for the first time the new IMV (Intermodular Ventilation) Flange Saver installed by the CDR Whitson in Node-1 on 12/5.  The new Flange Saver slows the equalization rate between the A/L and the ISS in the event of an emergency-triggered equalization during EVA campout, protecting the crew from possible ear damage due to the rapid pressure increase in the airlock.]

Malenchenko completed the routine servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM.    [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists, among else, of checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers.]

Working from his discretionary "time permitting" task list, Yuri also handled the daily IMS (Inventory Management System) maintenance, updating/editing its standard "delta file" including stowage locations, for the regular weekly automated export/import to its three databases on the ground (Houston, Moscow, Baikonur).

The crewmembers performed their regular 2.5-hr physical workout program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the CEVIS cycle ergometer (FE-2), TVIS treadmill (CDR, FE-1), RED (CDR, FE-2) and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1).

Afterwards, Dan copied the exercise data file to the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer) laptop for downlink, including the daily wristband HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) data of the workouts on RED, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium (done six times a week).

ITCS Transition:   At ~11:15am, the Lab ITCS (Internal Thermal Control System) was switched by ground commanding from Single LTL (Low Temperature Loop) to Single MTL (Moderate Temperature Loop) to support offloading of power channel 1A for EVA-13, i.e., provide power balance.  Transition back to nominal Single LTL will be on 12/19.

MT Translation:   Relocation of the MT (Mobile Transporter) from WS7 (Worksite 7) to WS4, postponed on 12/14 due to a possible obstruction by MLI (Multi-Layered Insulation) on the NTA (Nitrogen Tank Assembly), has now been rescheduled for 12/20 (Thursday).  Analysis of the NTA insulation showed that there is sufficient clearance for the roll-over which is intended to provide added protection of the TUS (Trailing Umbilical System) from MMOD (Micrometeoroid/Orbital Debris) between now and Flight 1E.

KURS Radar Antenna Test:   The pre-docking test (for Progress M-62/27P) of the KURS automated rendezvous & docking system, performed on 12/13 with off-nominal results for the backup string 2, was repeated on 12/14 & 12/16.  After an extended warm-up time for the system (1.5 hrs instead of nominal 30 min), results for string 2 were nominal.  Both subsets of the KURS system are now considered ready for the docking, but another test is planned for 12/19-20.

SVK-1 Air Conditioner Restoration:   As per report by Moscow this morning at the MMT (Mission Management Team), the Russian air conditioner SKV-1, long nonfunctional due to a blocked line 3 of the BRPK's membrane tank, is now back in service.

No CEO photo targets uplinked for today.

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov  (about 700,000 NASA digital photographs of Earth are downloaded by the public each month from this "Gateway" site);
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/AstronautPhotography

[row]
[col color=#303430:1d4a25a234]
ISS Orbit  (as of this morning, 4:35am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude -- 337.0 km
Apogee height -- 337.4 km
Perigee height -- 336.5 km
Period -- 91.27 min.
Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.64 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0000687
Solar Beta Angle -- -33.1 deg (magnitude increasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.78
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours -- 100m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) -- 51967

[row]
[col color=#303034:1d4a25a234]
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Standard, some changes possible. NET = Not Earlier Than):
12/18/07 -- Stage 10A EVA (Whitson/Tani) -- Stbd SARJ, 1A BGA BMRRM; (~6:00am)
12/18/07 -- STS-122/Atlantis ET tanking test (7:00am)
12/22/07 -- Yuri Malenchenko's Birthday
12/22/07 -- Progress M-61/26P undocking (DC1) & reentry
12/23/07 -- Progress M-62/27P launch
12/26/07 -- Progress M-62/27P docking (DC1)
01/10/08 – NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E launch -- Columbus Module, ICC-Lite.
01/12/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E docking
01/21/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E undocking
01/31/08 -- Explorer-1 50 Years (1st U.S. Satellite on Redstone rocket)  [Check it out at http://usspace50.com ]
02/06/08 -- Progress M-62/27P undocking & reentry
02/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P launch
02/09/08 -- Progress M-63/28P docking (DC1)
02/14/08 -- NET:  ATV-1 "Jules Verne" launch/Ariane V (Kourou, French Guyana)
02/14/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A launch/1J/A, ~11:53am, w/SLP-SPDM, JEM ELM-PS
02/16/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A docking
02/27/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour undocking
02/29/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour landing
03/06/08 -- NET: ATV-1 docking (SM aft port)
04/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P undocking (DC1) & reentry
04/08/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S launch
04/10/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S docking (DC1)
04/19/08 -- Soyuz TMA-11/15S undocking (FGB nadir port)
04/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S relocation (from DC1 to FGB nadir port)
04/24/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J launch – JEM PM "Kibo", racks, RMS
04/26/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J docking
05/04/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J undocking
05/14/08 -- Progress M-64/29P launch
05/16/08 -- Progress M-64/29P docking (DC1)
08/07/08 -- NET: ATV-1 undocking (from SM aft port)
08/12/08 -- Progress M-65/30P launch
08/14/08 -- Progress M-65/30P docking (SM aft port)
09/09/08 -- Progress M-64/29P undocking (from DC1)
09/10/08 -- Progress M-66/31P launch
09/12/08 -- Progress M-66/31P docking (DC1)
09/18/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 launch – MPLM Leonardo, LMC
09/20/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 docking
10/01/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 undocking.
10/01/08 -- NASA 50 Years
10/11/08 -- Progress M-65/30P undocking (from SM aft port)
10/12/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S launch
10/14/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S docking (SM aft port)
10/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S undocking (FGB nadir)
11/03/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S relocation (from SM aft to FGB nadir)
11/06/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A launch – S6 truss segment
11/08/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A docking
11/17/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A undocking
11/20/08 -- ISS 10 Years
11/26/08 -- Progress M-67/32P launch
11/28/08 -- Progress M-67/32P docking (SM aft port)
04/15/09 -- Constellation's Ares I-X Launch
05/??/09 -- Six-person crew on ISS  (following Soyuz 18S-2 docking)
04/??/10 -- STS-132/Discovery/20A – Node-3 + Cupola.
[/table]

[Liss]

План работ с 17 по 23 декабря 2007 года
ОСНОВНЫЕ СЛУЖЕБНЫЕ ПОЛЕТНЫЕ ОПЕРАЦИИ

[row color=darkblue:25cf476a36]
[col]Дата
[col]Наименование и проводимые работы
[col]Исполнитель и время
[col]Примечание

[row color=darkblue:25cf476a36]
[col]Подготовка к расстыковке с ТКГ «Прогресс М-61» и прибытию ТКГ «Прогресс М-62»
[col]
[col]
[col]
 
[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 17-20.12
 [col]
 Наддув МКС кислородом из средств подачи кислорода ТКГ «Прогресс М-61»
 [col]
 БИ1 – 10 мин
 [col]
 
[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 18.12 вт
 [col]
 Перекачка урины из ЕДВ-У в бак для воды БВ1 системы «Родник» ТКГ «Прогресс М-61»»
 [col]
 БИ1 – 1 час 30 мин
 [col]

[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 19.12 ср
 [col]
 Тест подсистемы телеоператорного режима управления (ТОРУ) СМ и ТКГ без воздействия на ДПО ТКГ (межбортовой)
 [col]
 КЭ, БИ1 – 40 мин
 [col]
 
[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 20.12 чт
 [col]
 Тренировка по ТОРУ, переговоры со специалистами
 [col]
 КЭ, БИ1 – 3 час
 [col]
 
[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 18,21.12
 [col]
 Укладка удаляемого оборудования в ТКГ «Прогресс М-61» с отметкой в системе инвентаризации; *
 [col]
 Суммарно: КЭ – 4 час 30 мин, БИ1 – 6 час 05 мин
 [col]

[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 21.12 пт
 [col]
 Доклад о завершении укладки
 [col]
 БИ1 – 10 мин
 [col]

[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 19.12 ср
 [col]
 Подзаряд буферной и резервной батарей ТКГ от СМ
 [col]
 ЦУП
 [col]
 20.12 – резерв

[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 [col]
 Демонтаж локального коммутатора температур и программно-запоминающего устройства в ТКГ
 [col]
 БИ1 – 1 час
 [col]


[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 20.12 чт
 [col]
 Демонтаж контейнера с устройством сопряжения
 [col]
 БИ1 – 1 час
 [col]
 
[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 [col]
 Монтаж стыковочного механизма ТКГ «Прогресс М-61»
 [col]
 КЭ, БИ1 – 1 час
 [col]
 
[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 21.12 пт
 [col]
 Расконсервация ТКГ и демонтаж воздуховодов
 [col]
 БИ1 – 45 мин
 [col]
 
[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 [col]
 Снятие состояния быстросъемных винтовых зажимов со стороны СО1
 [col]
 КЭ, БИ1–20 мин
 [col]
 
[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 [col]
 Видеосъемка стыкаСО1-ТКГ и сброс видео на Землю
 [col]
 КЭ – 10 мин
 [col]
 
[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 [col]
 Закрытие переходных люков СО1-ТКГ
 [col]
 КЭ,БИ1 – 20мин
 [col]

[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 [col]
 Контроль герметичности люка СО1-СУ и СУ-ТКГ
 [col]
 КЭ – 1 час
 [col]

[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 22.12 сб
 [col]
  Расстыковка ТКГ «Прогресс М-61» с МКС в 6 час 57 мин
 [col]
 [col]
 
[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 23.12 вс
 [col]
 Старт ТКГ «Прогресс М-62» с МКС в 10 час 12 мин
 [col]
 [col]

[row color=darkblue:25cf476a36]
 [col]Мероприятия по поддержанию здоровья экипажа
[col]
[col]
[col]
 
[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 18.12 вт
 [col]
 Приватная медицинская конференции через АС из ЦУП-Х
 [col]
 БИ1 – 15 мин
 [col]
 
[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 20.12чт.
 [col]
 Измерение объема голени
 [col]
 3 чел – 10 мин
 [col]
 
[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 20.12чт
 [col]
 Измерение массы тела
 [col]
 3 чел – 15 мин
 [col]
 
[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 21.12 пт
 [col]
 Снятие показаний дозиметров аппаратуры «Пилле»
 [col]
 БИ1 – 50 мин
 [col]
 
[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 22.12 сб
 [col]
 Приватная беседа с семьей
 [col]
 БИ1 – 20 мин
 [col]
 
[row color=darkblue:25cf476a36]
 [col]Техническое обслуживание систем
[col]
[col]
[col]

[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 Ежедн.
 [col]
 Техническое обслуживание системы обеспечения жизнедеятельности
 : замена по рекомендации с Земли одного из блоков СОЖ,
 переработка конденсата АС; 21.12 – контроль положения
 ИП-1; 23.12 – сброс информации со счетчиков систем
 водообеспечения и санитарно-гигиенического обеспечения и устройства обеззараживания воздуха «Поток»
 [col]
 БИ1 – 40 мин
 [col]

[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 18, 21.12
 [col]
 Техническое обслуживание системы обеспечения газового состава
 [col]
[col]

[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 [col]
 18.12 - корректировка показаний газоанализатора ГА ИК0501
 [col]
 БИ1 – 15 мин
 [col]

[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 [col]
 21.12 – измерение уровня содержания вредных примесей в СМ с помощью пробоотборника CMS
 [col]
 БИ1 – 30 мин
 [col]
 
[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 21.12 пт
 [col]
 Техническое обслуживание системы водообеспечения: заправка контейнера очищенной воды для системы «Электрон»
 [col]
 БИ1 – 40 мин
 [col]
 
[row color=darkblue:25cf476a36]
 [col]Прочие работы
[col]
[col]
[col]

[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 Ежедн.
 [col]
 Сброс файлов c научной и служебной информацией через бортовую информационно-телеметрическую систему и блок сопряжения с системой «Регул»
[col]
 ЦУП
 [col]
 На всех видимых витках

[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 18-21.12
 [col]
 Работы по инвентаризации:
[col]
[col]

[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
[col]
 [col]
 18-21.12 - редактирование данных системы инвентаризации
 [col]
 БИ1 – 40 мин
 [col]
 
[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
[col]
 [col]
 21.12 – телефонные переговоры по инвентаризации
 [col]
 БИ1 – 15 мин
 [col]
 
[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 19.12 ср
 [col]
 Копирование данных термостатов КУБИК1 и КУБИК2 на карту памяти, сброс информации на Землю через БСР-ТМ, демонтаж термостатов и укладка на хранение
 [col]
 БИ1 – 1 час 35 мин
 [col]
 
[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 21.12 пт
 [col]
 Еженедельная конференция экипажа с руководством ГОГУ
 [col]
 3 чел – 15 мин
 [col]
 
[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 22.12 сб
 [col]
 Еженедельная влажная уборка станции
 [col]
 3 чел – 3 час
 [col]
 
[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 23.12 вс
 [col]
 Перевод системы «Воздух» в автоматический режим управления
 [col]
 БИ1 – 20 мин
 [col]
 
[row color=darkblue:25cf476a36]
 [col]Совместные работы по программе Американского Сегмента
[col]
[col]
[col]

[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 17.12 пн
 [col]
 Тренировка по аварийным ситуациям, связанным с прибытием модуля «Колумбус»
 [col]
 3 чел – 1 час 30 мин
 [col]
 
[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 17.12 пн
 [col]
 Конференция экипажа с руководством программы
 [col]
 3 чел – 20 мин
 [col]

[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 21.12 пт
 [col]
 Конференция экипажа с руководителем полета
 [col]
 3 чел – 20 мин
 [col]

[row color=#303030:25cf476a36]
 [col]
 22.12 сб
 [col]
 Еженедельная конференция по планированию
 [col]
 3 чел – 30 мин
 [col]
[/table]

[Liss]

[row]
[col color=darkblue:d917ee32ec]
ISS On-Orbit Status 12/18/07
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.

[row]
[col color=#303030:d917ee32ec]
EVA-13 by CDR Peggy Whitson & FE-2 Dan Tani was completed successfully in 6h 56m, accomplishing its objectives.  

During the spacewalk, Tani (EV1) & Whitson (EV2), supported by FE-1 Yuri Malenchenko as intravehicular (IV) crewmember, inspected the Stbd (right-side) 1A BGA (Beta Gimbal Assembly) and BMRMM (Bearing Motor Roll Ring Module), followed by a detailed investigation and photo documentation of the Stbd SARJ (Solar Alpha Rotary Joint).
Specifically, the spacewalkers –

Found no obvious signs of external damage on cables or hardware of the BGA & BMRMM that might have caused the repeated tripping of circuit breakers (RPCs/Remote Power Controllers), making it more likely that the issue is internal to the hardware or its electrical system;
Entered into the S5 truss to disconnect some wiring to allow the ground to perform diagnostic continuity tests, and later reconnected the cables;
Temporarily removed 22 protective MLI (Multi-Layer Insulation) covers to inspect the SARJ, its two DLAs (Drive Lock Assemblies), and its 12 TBAs (Trundle Bearing Assemblies), reattaching the covers afterwards,
Found most metal shavings around TBA-4 and TBA-5, i.e., metallic, magnetic contamination on the main gear bearing's outboard angled race ring as well as pitting and abrasions on the ring but no obvious damage on the inboard race ring or on the gear teeth themselves.  DLA (Drive Lock Assembly) #2 appeared especially "ugly", i.e., filled with contamination, and, according to the spacewalkers, the further away from the DLA, the less contamination was observed;
Took photographs, measured the depth of surface pits with a special probe and collected debris samples; and
Deinstalled and removed TBA-5 from its housing under cover #20, using a PGT (Pistol Grip Tool), then brought it inside in a bag for eventual return to Earth aboard STS-122/Atlantis (SARJ can function OK on only 11 TBAs).
[Official start time of the spacewalk was 4:50am EST, 70 minutes ahead of the timeline, ending at 11:46am.  Total EVA duration (PET = Phase Elapsed Time) was 6h 56min.  It was the 100th spacewalk for ISS assembly & maintenance and the 72nd from the station (28 from Shuttle, 50 from Quest, 22 from Pirs) totaling 436h 3m, and the 4th for Expedition 16 (totaling 28h 11m.  During the spacewalk, her fifth, Peggy Whitson set a new record of aggregated EVA time by a woman (of 32h 36m) when she exceeded the 29h 18m held by Sunita Williams.  After today's EVA, a total of 121 spacewalkers (90 NASA astronauts, 21 Russians, and ten astronauts representing Japan-1, Canada-4, France-1, Germany-1 and Sweden-3) have logged a total of 624h 25m outside the station on building, outfitting and servicing.  It was also the 122nd spacewalk by U.S. astronauts.  The 100th EVA dedicated to ISS assembly & maintenance originally was to have been conducted by Rex Walheim & Hans Schlegel of the delayed STS-122/1E mission.]  

Prior to the spacewalk, FE-1 Malenchenko verified closure of the protective Lab window shutter.  

Malenchenko also completed the pre-egress reconfiguration of the Russian STTS (onboard telephone/telegraph subsystem) to its EVA settings.  After the crew's return, Yuri reconfigured the STTS for nominal ops.   [The "Voskhod-M" STTS enables telephone communications between the SM (Service Module), FGB, DC1 Docking Compartment and U.S. segment (USOS), and also with users on the ground over VHF channels selected by an operator at an SM comm panel, via STTS antennas on the SM's outside.  There are six comm panels in the SM with pushbuttons for accessing any of three audio channels, plus an intercom channel.  Other modes of the STTS include telegraphy (teletype), EVA voice, emergency alarms, Packet/Email, and TORU docking support.]

During the spacewalk, Yuri provided IV support, prepared the DCS 760 camera setup for post-ingress photographing of the EVA gloves and subsequently assisted the spacewalkers in ingressing, CL (Crew Lock) repressurization and post-EVA activities.

The FE-1 also performed the routine servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM (Service Module).    [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists among else of replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers.]

During Campout, after wakeup and before breakfast, FE-2 Dan Tani again accessed the SLEEP experiment (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight) software for data logging and completing questionnaire entries in the experiment's laptop session file on the HRF-1 laptop for later downlink.    [To monitor the crewmember's sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Dan wears a special Actiwatch device which measures the light levels encountered by him as well as his patterns of sleep and activity throughout the Expedition.  The log entries are done within 15 minutes of final awakening for seven consecutive days, as part of the crew's discretionary "job jar" task list.]

After returning on board from outside, Whitson and Tani doffed the EMUs, after taking photographs of the gloves and overgloves while still pressurized.  As part of post-EVA tasks, the spacewalkers also reported on size fit of their EMUs and components.

Later today, CDR Whitson will downlink the EVA imagery to the ground and reconfigure the DCS 760 for regular use (e.g., removing its thermal blanket).

Afterwards, Peggy and Dan are also scheduled for their regular post-EVA PMCs (Private Medical Conferences) with the ground.

CEO photo target uplinked for today was Khartoum, Sudan (Greater Khartoum [population 8.3 million, 2007 est.] includes Khartoum [2.2 million] in the acute angle between the Blue and White Niles, and Omdurman [3+ million] on the west side of the White Nile.  Omdurman is the largest city in the Sudan and the fastest growing, partly because of refugees fleeing western Sudan.  The growth of cities, especially in the Third Word, is best documented by remote means from the air or space.  Looking a touch right for Khartoum and at nadir for Omdurman, shooting city margins).

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov  (about 700,000 NASA digital photographs of Earth are downloaded by the public each month from this "Gateway" site);
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/AstronautPhotography

[row]
[col color=#303430:d917ee32ec]
ISS Orbit  (as of this morning, 2:25am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude -- 336.9 km
Apogee height -- 337.3 km
Perigee height -- 336.4 km
Period -- 91.27 min.
Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.64 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0000727
Solar Beta Angle -- -38.0 deg (magnitude increasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.78
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours -- 129m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) -- 51982

[row]
[col color=#303034:d917ee32ec]
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Standard, some changes possible. NET = Not Earlier Than):
12/21/07 -- Progress M-61/26P undocking (DC1) ~10:59pm (to continue free-flying mission)
12/22/07 -- Yuri Malenchenko's Birthday
12/23/07 -- Progress M-62/27P launch; ~2:12am
12/26/07 -- Progress M-62/27P docking (DC1); ~3:25am
01/10/08 – NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E launch -- Columbus Module, ICC-Lite.
01/12/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E docking
01/21/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E undocking
01/31/08 -- Explorer-1 50 Years (1st U.S. Satellite on Redstone rocket)  [Check it out at http://usspace50.com ]
02/06/08 -- Progress M-62/27P undocking & reentry
02/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P launch
02/09/08 -- Progress M-63/28P docking (DC1)
02/14/08 -- NET:  ATV-1 "Jules Verne" launch/Ariane V (Kourou, French Guyana)
02/14/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A launch/1J/A, ~11:53am, w/SLP-SPDM, JEM ELM-PS
02/16/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A docking
02/27/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour undocking
02/29/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour landing
03/06/08 -- NET: ATV-1 docking (SM aft port)
04/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P undocking (DC1) & reentry
04/08/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S launch
04/10/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S docking (DC1)
04/19/08 -- Soyuz TMA-11/15S undocking (FGB nadir port)
04/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S relocation (from DC1 to FGB nadir port)
04/24/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J launch – JEM PM "Kibo", racks, RMS
04/26/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J docking
05/04/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J undocking
05/14/08 -- Progress M-64/29P launch
05/16/08 -- Progress M-64/29P docking (DC1)
08/07/08 -- NET: ATV-1 undocking (from SM aft port)
08/12/08 -- Progress M-65/30P launch
08/14/08 -- Progress M-65/30P docking (SM aft port)
09/09/08 -- Progress M-64/29P undocking (from DC1)
09/10/08 -- Progress M-66/31P launch
09/12/08 -- Progress M-66/31P docking (DC1)
09/18/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 launch – MPLM Leonardo, LMC
09/20/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 docking
10/01/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 undocking.
10/01/08 -- NASA 50 Years
10/11/08 -- Progress M-65/30P undocking (from SM aft port)
10/12/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S launch
10/14/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S docking (SM aft port)
10/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S undocking (FGB nadir)
11/03/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S relocation (from SM aft to FGB nadir)
11/06/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A launch – S6 truss segment
11/08/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A docking
11/17/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A undocking
11/20/08 -- ISS 10 Years
11/26/08 -- Progress M-67/32P launch
11/28/08 -- Progress M-67/32P docking (SM aft port)
04/15/09 -- Constellation's Ares I-X Launch
05/??/09 -- Six-person crew on ISS  (following Soyuz 18S-2 docking)
04/??/10 -- STS-132/Discovery/20A – Node-3 + Cupola.
[/table]

[Liss]

[row]
[col color=darkblue:e72f4d1d26]
ISS On-Orbit Status 12/19/07
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.

[row]
[col color=#303030:e72f4d1d26]
>>>>Today at ~5:30am EST, the ISS, specifically its FGB module, completed 52,000 orbits of the Earth, having covered a distance of 2.2 billion kilometers (1.37 billion st.miles) in 3316 days.   The 19,300 kg (42,600 lbs) Zarya ("Dawn") was launched on a Russian/Khrunichev Proton from Baikonur over nine years ago (11/20/1998) as the first element of the multi-national space station.<<<<

After wakeup and before breakfast, FE-2 Dan Tani again accessed the SLEEP experiment (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight) software for data logging and completing questionnaire entries in the experiment's laptop session file on the HRF-1 laptop for later downlink.    [To monitor the crewmember's sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Dan wears a special Actiwatch device which measures the light levels encountered by him as well as his patterns of sleep and activity throughout the Expedition.  The log entries are done within 15 minutes of final awakening for seven consecutive days, as part of the crew's discretionary "job jar" task list.]

For the subsequent METOX (Metal Oxide) CO2 absorption canister regeneration, the FE-2 connected the regular ITCS LTL (Internal Thermal Control System/Low Temperature Loop) coolant jumper to the LAB1D6 rack, to support the ground-commanded activation of the U.S. CDRA (Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly), and Houston lowered the temperature setpoint to the regular 9.4 degC.   [CDRA activation was performed from 4:30-5:30am.]

As part of post-EVA cleanup activities, FE-1 Yuri Malenchenko recorded the "Pille" radiation readings from the EMU-worn (plus one background) "Pille-MKS" dosimeters in a log table for subsequent downlink to the ground.

Other cleanup activities performed by Dan Tani during the day were –

Disconnecting the UOP DCP (Utility Outlet Panel/Display & Control Panel) bypass power cables at the Lab RWS (Robotics Work Stations), used during the EVA for SSRMS (Space Station Remote Manipulator System) video coverage,
Powering down the no-longer-needed A31p PCS (Portable Computer System) laptop in the Airlock (A/L), and
Initiating and monitoring regeneration of METOX canisters #0017 & #0019 in the A/L bakeout oven.
At ~8:25am EST, the three crewmembers wrapped up post-EVA activities by discussing the spacewalk in the usual post-EVA debriefing conference with the ground via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplink on the SSC-10 laptop).

In the Lab, after inspecting, activating and configuring the MSG (Microgravity Science Glovebox) facility, CDR Peggy Whitson initiated another series of vacuum draws on the sample chamber containing SPU-11 (Sample Processing Unit #11), by opening the vent and vacuum valves, for subsequent CSLM-2 (Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures 2) experiment ops on its third run, to be controlled by the ground for the next 36 hrs (until 12/22).    [CSLM-2 examines the kinetics of competitive particle growth within a liquid matrix.  During this process, small particles shrink by losing atoms to larger particles, causing the larger particles to grow (coarsen) within a liquid lead/tin matrix.  This study defined the mechanisms and rates of coarsening that govern the manufacture with metals from turbine blades to dental amalgam fillings.]

In Node-2, the FE-2 restored the BCAT-3 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3) science payload in the MWA WSA (Maintenance Work Area/Work Surface Area) to nominal operation by setting up Sample 3 and reinstalling the DCS-760 digital still camera, run by an A31p SSC (Station Support Computer) with EarthKAM software for automatically taking flash photography of the sample every two hours over the next several days.  Dan checked on correct focus and flash settings, taking manual photos for ground analysis.   [The EarthKAM DCS 760 had been temporarily removed on 12/16 for being used for yesterday's EVA.]

FE-1 Malenchenko took the periodic readings of cabin air components with the IK0501 GA (gas analyzer) of the SOGS Pressure Control & Atmospheric Monitoring System in the Service Module (SM),   [IK0501 is an automated system for measuring CO2, O2, and H2O in the air as well as the flow rate of the gas being analyzed.]

The FE-1 performed a one-hour O2 (oxygen) refresh of the cabin atmosphere from Progress M-61/26P storage tank, to utilize its gas stores prior to its jettisoning on 12/22.

Also in preparation for 26P undocking, Malenchenko worked an hour in the cargo ship to dismantle and remove the LKT local temperature sensor commutator/switch (TA251MB) of the BITS2-12 onboard telemetry system, along with its PZU-1M ROM (read-only memory) unit, stowing the avionics items on ISS for reuse in a future vehicle.

Yuri and Peggy had two hours each set aside for finishing up stowing discarded equipment and trash in the 26P cargo ship-turned-trash can while keeping track of movements in the IMS (Inventory Management System).

Malenchenko installed and configured the thermostat-controlled science coolers KUBIK-1 & KUBIK-2 in the SM and transferred their stored data via data cable and PCMCIA card to the RSE1 laptop for subsequent downlink to the ground over the BSR-TM payload channel.   The KUBIK refrigerators were then deactivated, removed and put back in stowage in the FGB.

Dan Tani today performed the routine servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM.    [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists among else of replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers.]

Working from his discretionary "time permitting" task list, Yuri Malenchenko conducted the daily IMS (Inventory Management System) maintenance, updating/editing its standard "delta file" including stowage locations, for the regular weekly automated export/import to its three databases on the ground (Houston, Moscow, Baikonur).

The crewmembers performed their regular 2.5-hr physical workout program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the CEVIS cycle ergometer (CDR, FE-2), TVIS treadmill (FE-1), RED (CDR, FE-2) and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1).

Afterwards, the FE-2 copied the exercise data file to the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer) laptop for downlink, including the daily wristband HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) data of the workouts on RED, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium (done six times a week).

At ~1:25pm EST, Peggy Whitson and Dan Tani supported two PAO TV interviews of 6 minutes each, one with CBS News (Bill Harwood), the other with ABC News (Victor Ratner).  Afterwards, the CDR downlinked a TV message to MCC-H for taping on the occasion of NASA's upcoming Day of Remembrance, to be broadcast on NASA TV and used at other NASA occasions marking those solemn days.   [NASA's Day of Remembrance, the final Thursday in January (this time 1/31/08), commemorates and honors the fallen heroes of Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia and all of those who have given their lives in the cause of exploration and discovery.  In their memory, flags across the agency will fly at half-staff.]

KURS Tests:  After the two pre-docking tests for Progress M-62/27P of the KURS automated rendezvous & docking system on 12/14 & 12/16, two additional tests are being performed today and tomorrow to confirm positive test results.   [Test results for the previously (12/13) failed KURS String 2 subset were nominal, but only after an extended warm-up time for the system (1.5 hrs instead of nominal 30 min).  Today's and tomorrow's testing should provide more assurance of adequate functioning for the docking on 12/26 (~3:25am).]

MT Translation:   Relocation of the MT (Mobile Transporter) from WS7 (Worksite 7) to WS4, postponed on 12/14 due to a possible obstruction by MLI (Multi-Layered Insulation) on the NTA (Nitrogen Tank Assembly), will take place tomorrow (12/20) at ~10:55am-12:55pm.    [Analysis of the NTA insulation showed that there is sufficient clearance for the roll-over which is intended to provide added protection of the TUS (Trailing Umbilical System) from MMOD (Micrometeoroid/Orbital Debris) between now and Flight STSA-122/1E.]

MPEG-2 Testing:  The recent end-to-end testing of analog & digital video transmission & downlinking from the Russian Segment (RS) via the MPEG-2 (Moving Pictures Expert Group 2) encoder and Ku-band in "streaming video" packets over the U.S. OpsLAN has to date yielded results that are unacceptable for ATV1 "Jules Verne" docking.  To obtain more data, a repeat of the end-to-end test is planned for tomorrow (~2:00pm) with some modifications, preparatory to using the video linkup during the Progress 26P undocking on 12/21 (Friday).

Power Management Update:   Yesterday after the EVA-13, DLA-1 (Drive Lock Assembly 1) of the Stbd SARJ (Solar Alpha Rotary Joint) was re-engaged, moded to Directed Position and moved to safe parking at 45 deg.  Between 1:37-2:07pm EST, with the SPS (Secondary Power System) temporarily powered down, ground commanding then transferred power loads on the 1A channel to the 4A channel via the MBSUs (Main Bus Switching Units) by means of the SPCH (Seamless Power Channel Handover) technique.  This was necessitated by the limited power generation caused by the combination of Stbd SARJ anomalies, BGA 1A trips and the high Sun Beta angle period just ahead.  Channel 1A is now in the so-called "parachute mode" as backup to channel 4A which carries the loads.    [SPS was powered up again yesterday at 2:30-2:45pm.]

Onboard Work Look-ahead:   The following tasks are being considered for Stage 10A (i.e., between now and 1E): OGS (Oxygen Generation System) activation (from Stage 1E), Regenerative ECLS modification kit, RPCM (Remote Power Controller Module) replacements in cases where RPCs have been open for some time, and R&R (removal & replacement) of ER1 (EXPRESS Rack 1)'s leaky water valve.  Over the holidays, the crew will be busy with payloads ops.

CEO photo targets uplinked for today were Walvis Bay dunes, Namibia (Dynamic event.  Viewing conditions improve as winter coastal fog is reduced with the onset of southern spring.  Fast-moving dunes [meters per year] on the Namibian coast leave tracks ["footprints"] that are thought to be analogs for hard-to-interpret features seen in many Mars impact craters.  A mapping pass on the inshore margin of the small fishing port of Walvis Bay, where these features are known, was requested.  Sun angles were ideal), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Addis is seldom clear of cloud cover.  The city has a population of more than 3 million.  As the capital of Ethiopia and home of the African Union, it has communities representing 80 nationalities.  It is growing fast, and CEO observers requested images of the urban fringe where change is focused), and Chari River Basin, Chad (Dynamic event.  The imaging window between summer cloud and winter smoke haze in the Sahel allows documentation of the complex landscape south of Lake Chad.  Major rivers are depositing sediment in the form of several very large fanlike features, both active and inactive. The active fans change constantly.  ISS/CEO imagery helps understand these changes.  A mapping pass along track at nadir and a touch left, was requested. Recent research suggests that the huge sediment fans may be a good analog for some rock units on Mars).

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov  (about 700,000 NASA digital photographs of Earth are downloaded by the public each month from this "Gateway" site);
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/AstronautPhotography

[row]
[col color=#303430:e72f4d1d26]
ISS Orbit  (as of this morning, 7:09am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude -- 336.7 km
Apogee height -- 337.3 km
Perigee height -- 336.1 km
Period -- 91.27 min.
Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.64 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0000896
Solar Beta Angle -- -42.9 deg (magnitude increasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.78
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours -- 130 m  
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) -- 52001

[row]
[col color=#303034:e72f4d1d26]
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Standard, some changes possible. NET = Not Earlier Than):
12/21/07 -- Progress M-61/26P undocking (DC1) ~10:59pm (to continue free-flying mission)
12/22/07 -- Yuri Malenchenko's Birthday
12/23/07 -- Progress M-62/27P launch; ~2:12am
12/26/07 -- Progress M-62/27P docking (DC1); ~3:25am
01/10/08 – NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E launch -- Columbus Module, ICC-Lite.
01/12/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E docking
01/21/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E undocking
01/31/08 -- Explorer-1 50 Years (1st U.S. Satellite on Redstone rocket)  [Check it out at http://usspace50.com ]
02/06/08 -- Progress M-62/27P undocking & reentry
02/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P launch
02/09/08 -- Progress M-63/28P docking (DC1)
02/14/08 -- NET:  ATV-1 "Jules Verne" launch/Ariane V (Kourou, French Guyana)
02/14/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A launch/1J/A, ~11:53am, w/SLP-SPDM, JEM ELM-PS
02/16/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A docking
02/27/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour undocking
02/29/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour landing
03/06/08 -- NET: ATV-1 docking (SM aft port)
04/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P undocking (DC1) & reentry
04/08/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S launch
04/10/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S docking (DC1)
04/19/08 -- Soyuz TMA-11/15S undocking (FGB nadir port)
04/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S relocation (from DC1 to FGB nadir port)
04/24/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J launch – JEM PM "Kibo", racks, RMS
04/26/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J docking
05/04/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J undocking
05/14/08 -- Progress M-64/29P launch
05/16/08 -- Progress M-64/29P docking (DC1)
08/07/08 -- NET: ATV-1 undocking (from SM aft port)
08/12/08 -- Progress M-65/30P launch
08/14/08 -- Progress M-65/30P docking (SM aft port)
09/09/08 -- Progress M-64/29P undocking (from DC1)
09/10/08 -- Progress M-66/31P launch
09/12/08 -- Progress M-66/31P docking (DC1)
09/18/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 launch – MPLM Leonardo, LMC
09/20/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 docking
10/01/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 undocking.
10/01/08 -- NASA 50 Years
10/11/08 -- Progress M-65/30P undocking (from SM aft port)
10/12/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S launch
10/14/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S docking (SM aft port)
10/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S undocking (FGB nadir)
11/03/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S relocation (from SM aft to FGB nadir)
11/06/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A launch – S6 truss segment
11/08/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A docking
11/17/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A undocking
11/20/08 -- ISS 10 Years
11/26/08 -- Progress M-67/32P launch
11/28/08 -- Progress M-67/32P docking (SM aft port)
04/15/09 -- Constellation's Ares I-X Launch
05/??/09 -- Six-person crew on ISS  (following Soyuz 18S-2 docking)
04/??/10 -- STS-132/Discovery/20A – Node-3 + Cupola.
[/table]

[Liss]

[row]
[col color=darkblue:b6a63a6427]
ISS On-Orbit Status 12/20/07
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.

[row]
[col color=#303030:b6a63a6427]
After wakeup and before breakfast, FE-2 Dan Tani again accessed the SLEEP experiment (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight) software for data logging and completing questionnaire entries in the experiment's laptop session file on the HRF-1 laptop for later downlink.    [To monitor the crewmember's sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Dan wears a special Actiwatch device which measures the light levels encountered by him as well as his patterns of sleep and activity throughout the Expedition.  The log entries are done within 15 minutes of final awakening for seven consecutive days, as part of the crew's discretionary "job jar" task list.]

In preparation for the arrival of Progress M-62/27P on 12/26 (~3:25am EST), FE-1 Malenchenko and CDR Whitson successfully conducted the standard 3-hr. training course on the TORU teleoperated control system.   [The drill involved a review of procedures and docking/math model data, UHF/S-band tagup with a ground instructor, and onboard training on a special TORU simulation program with video on laptop computer TP2.  Flown on the simulator were all phases of rendezvous, flyaround, final approach and docking, plus off-nominal situations like no comm in the SM-to-27P or 27P-to-SM channels, loss of TV feed, display format hang-up on the SM's Simvol-TS screen, and docking failure of TORU before capture.  During Kurs-controlled rendezvous, the TORU is in "hot standby" mode, and it would allow Malenchenko to perform necessary guidance functions manually 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.  Should the docking attempt fail, the cargo ship's motions would be controlled by the crewmember from a console by viewing the approach to the ISS on the Simvol-TS screen as seen by the Klest-M television camera mounted on the Progress, followed by stationkeeping at 30m.  Final approach should then be initiated not earlier than 3:16am (local "night") to ensure RGS coverage, important for situational awareness, although remote TORU control from the ground is not available at this point.  Nominal docking will be inside RGS (Russian ground site) coverage.]

To complete preparations for Progress M-61/26P undocking tomorrow night on its own free-flyer mission (~10:59pm), FE-1 Malenchenko installed the StM Docking Mechanism between Progress and the DC1.   [StM is the "classic" probe-and-cone type, consisting of an active docking assembly (ASA) with a probe (SSh), which fits into the cone (SK) on the passive docking assembly (PSA) for initial soft dock and subsequent retraction to hard dock.  The ASA is mounted on the Progress' cargo module (GrO), while the PSA sits on the docking ports of the SM, FGB and DC1.]

Afterwards, Malenchenko performed the usual dismantling & removal of electronic US-21 matching unit equipment from the cargo ship, to be recycled on another flight.    [After deactivating the US-21 matching unit and SKV-1 dehumidifier and disconnecting the cables of the BITS 2-12 onboard telemetry measurement system, with its VD-SU monitoring mode turned off, the crew unbolted and removed the Progress' US-21 in its container box.  US-21, with its associated commutator gear, provides the electronic interface between the Service Module (SM) and the Progress for SM computer control of Progress propulsion.  When a Progress is undocked and jettisoned, the valuable electronics are retained, to be recycled on a future vehicle.  Tomorrow's final steps for the undocking will include completion of trash loading, activation of the cargo ship and tearing down the ventilation air duct, removing the threaded quick-disconnect (QD) screw clamps of the SSVP the docking & internal transfer system, closing hatches between 26P and the transfer tunnel (PrK) to the DC1 after taking video of the mating surfaces/seals, conducting the vestibule leak check, and downlinking video imagery of the SM/Progress hatch interface.]

FE-2 Dan Tani and CDR Peggy Whitson conducted their first session of the LOCAD-PTS (Lab-on-a-Chip Application Development-Portable Test System)/Phase 2 experiment, starting off with a teleconference with the Project Scientist at POIC (Payload Operations & Integration Center/Huntsville).  After setting up the payload equipment, the CDR completed today's LOCAD exploratory survey activities, taking single swab samples from five different sites in the station.  Five more swab samplings will be conducted tomorrow.  In Phase 2, no media sides will have to be prepared.   [LOCAD uses small, thumb-sized "microfluidic" cartridges that are read by the experiment reader.  The cartridges contain dried extract of horseshoe crab blood cells and colorless dye. In the presence of the bacteria, the dried extract reacts strongly to turn the dye a green color. Therefore, the more green dye, the more microorganisms there are in the original sample.  The handheld device tests this new analysis technology by sampling for the presence of gram negative bacteria in the sample in about 15 minutes, showing the results on a display screen.  Lab-on-a-Chip technology has an ever-expanding range of applications in the biotech industry.  Chips are available (or in development) which can also detect yeast, mold, and gram positive bacteria, identify environmental contaminants, and perform quick health diagnostics in medical clinics.  The technology has been used to swab the MERs (Mars Exploration Rovers) for planetary protection.  With expanded testing on ISS, began by Sunita Williams in March/April this year, this compact technology has broad potential applications in space exploration--from monitoring environmental conditions to monitoring crew health. The current study should prepare for long-duration exploration by demonstrating a system that enables the crew to perform biochemical analysis in space without having to return samples to Earth.]

In the Lab, Tani also continued his servicing of the CSLM-2 (Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures 2) experiment on its third ground-controlled session.    [In Step 1, the FE-2 configured the MSG (Microgravity Science Glovebox) facility, closed the vacuum vent, checked for acceptable humidity levels, and opened the SPU-11 (Sample Processing Unit #13) water valve to initiate unattended vacuum preparation.  Later, in Step 2, he reset MSG, closed the water valve, again checked for acceptable humidity levels in the sample chamber, then opened the vent & vacuum valves to initiate the required vacuum draw on the sample chamber.  CSLM-2 examines the kinetics of competitive particle growth within a liquid matrix.  During this process, small particles shrink by losing atoms to larger particles, causing the larger particles to grow (coarsen) within a liquid lead/tin matrix.  This study defined the mechanisms and rates of coarsening that govern the manufacture with metals from turbine blades to dental amalgam fillings.]

During the afternoon, the crew performed a repeat of the previous end-to-end test of analog & digital video transmission & downlinking from the Russian Segment (RS) from the MPEG-2 (Moving Pictures Expert Group 2) encoder via U.S. OpsLAN and Ku-band in "streaming video" packets, after previous attempts had yielded results unacceptable for ATV1 "Jules Verne" docking.  For the testing, Tani set up the necessary cabling and three SSC (Station Support Computer) laptops (#4, #6, #9) for viewing and recording MPEG2 stream on the LAN (Local Area Network).  [Afterwards the FE-2 shut down SSC-4 and SSC-6, leaving the SSC-9 A31p powered for downloading its files via OCA.]

In Node-2, where the BCAT-3 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3) science payload is running by itself since 12/13 (with a brief picture taking interruption for EVA-13 support), the FE-2 performed his daily status check on the A31p laptop controlling the EarthKAM digital still camera, verifying on the last image taken that image focus and alignment remain in check.    [The SSC (Station Support Computer) is taking photography of the phase separation occurring in the BCAT Sample 3, with the photo flash going off every half hour for the next few days.]

The FE-1 was scheduled to perform another one-hour O2 (oxygen) refresh of the cabin atmosphere from Progress M-61/26P storage tank, to utilize its gas stores prior to its jettisoning on 12/22.

Whitson ran the periodic check of active U.S. payloads, i.e., cleaning the ANITA (Analyzing Interferometer for Ambient Air) inlet plus inspecting and filter cleaning of the CGBA-5 (Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus 5) incubator payload.    [The CGBA incubator is controlled from the ground, with automatic video downlinked to Earth.  ANITA continues to collect data every six seconds and downlinks the data daily to the ground team.  ANITA monitors low levels of potential gaseous contaminants in the ISS cabin atmosphere with a capability of simultaneously monitoring 32 gaseous contaminants. The experiment is testing the accuracy and reliability of this technology as a potential next-generation atmosphere trace-gas monitoring system for ISS and future spacecraft. This is a cooperative investigation with the European Space Agency.]

Peggy also took air samples for the periodic (weekly) atmospheric status check for ppO2 (Partial Pressure Oxygen) and ppCO2 (pp Carbon Dioxide), using the hand-held CSA-CP (Compound Specific Analyzer-Combustion Products), CSA-O2 (CSA -Oxygen sensor) and CDMK (CO2 Monitoring Kit).  Batteries were to be replaced if necessary.     [Purpose of the 15-min activity is to trend with MCA (Major Constituents Analyzer), i.e., to correlate the hand-held readings with MCA measurements.  CSA-CP sensors (and readings) employed in the SM were #1051 (21.7%) & #1044 (21.8%); in Node-1 #1058 (20.9%); and in Node-2 #1058 (20.9%).  O2 sensor checks used #1042 (21%), #1063 (21.8%), #1052 (21.8%), #1041 (21.7%).  CDMK CO2 level in Lab and SM was ~0.20%.]

Peggy and Dan completed their second run with the MedOps WinSCAT (Spaceflight Cognitive Assessment Tool) experiment by logging in on the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer) and performing the psychological evaluation exercise on the laptop-based WinSCAT experiment.   [WinSCAT is a time-constrained questionnaire test of cognitive abilities, routinely performed by astronauts aboard the ISS every 30 days before or after the PHS (periodic health status) test or on special CDR's, crewmembers or flight surgeons request.]

In the Joint Airlock, the CDR and FE-2 performed more post-EVA cleanup, recharging the EMU/spacesuits with water from PWR (Payload Water Reservoir) #1024 and CWC (Contingency Water Container) #1059, then reconnecting the LTAs (Lower Torso Assemblies) to the EMUs and capping the UIA (Umbilical Interface Assembly).

Tani also terminated the overnight regeneration of METOX (Metal Oxide) canisters #0017 & #0019 in the A/L bakeout oven and initiated the process on canisters #0020 & #0021.   [METOX CO2 absorption cans, rather than LiOH (Lithium Hydroxide) filters, were used yesterday both in the Airlock for the Campout and in the two EMUs for the spacewalk.]

Afterwards, Dan started discharging two EMU batteries, #2063 & #2077, used during EVA-13.   [The full maintenance discharge is handled automatically by an SSC laptop equipped with a special DOS application.]

Peggy Whitson conducted the weekly 10-min. CWC audit as part of on-going WDS (Water Delivery System) assessment of onboard water supplies.   [Updated "cue cards" based on the crew's water calldowns are sent up every other week.  The current cue card (16-0018K), to be updated with today's data, lists 26 CWCs; ~983 liters total) for the four types of water identified on board: technical water (735.4 l, for Elektron, flushing, hygiene), potable water (221.3 l), condensate water (0 l), waste/EMU dump and other (26.6 l).  Two CWCs (#1004 & #1081, ~89 l) with potable water are off limits due to the Wautersia bacteria found in sample analysis, the source of which is still not understood.  Impact of losing this potable CWC is negligible since there are sufficient drinking water supplies onboard.  Also currently not to be used are nine CWCs with technical water (~389 l).]

Peggy unstowed and set up the NUTRITION with Repository hardware for the blood draw and urine collection part of her third session with this experiment, beginning tomorrow with a combination blood draw (Serum & Heparin), requiring Dr. Whitson to forego exercising & food intake for eight hours, i.e., starting tonight.  Urine sample collection begins tomorrow morning and continues for 24h, i.e., through Tuesday morning.    [The Clinical Nutritional Assessment profile currently required on all U.S. Astronauts collects blood and urine samples preflight and postflight.  NUTRITION expands this protocol by also capturing in-flight samples (plus an additional postflight sample), made possible by the MELFI (Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS).  Furthermore, additional measurements are included for samples from all sessions, including additional markers of bone metabolism, vitamin status, and hormone and oxidative stressor tests.  The results will be used to better understand the impact of countermeasures (exercise and pharmaceuticals) on nutritional status & nutrient requirements.]

At ~3:15am EST, Yuri Malenchenko had a PMC (Private Medical Conference) via S-band/audio to discuss his exercise regimen.

The crewmembers performed their regular 2.5-hr physical workout program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the CEVIS cycle ergometer (CDR, FE-2), TVIS treadmill (FE-1), RED (CDR, FE-2) and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1).

Afterwards, the CDR copied the exercise data file to the MEC laptop for downlink, including the daily wristband HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) data of the workouts on RED, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium (done six times a week).

FE-2 Tani conducted the routine servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM.    [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists among else of replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers.]

Working from his discretionary "time permitting" task list, Yuri Malenchenko completed the daily IMS (Inventory Management System) maintenance, updating/editing its standard "delta file" including stowage locations, for the regular weekly automated export/import to its three databases on the ground (Houston, Moscow, Baikonur).

The relocation of the MT (Mobile Transporter) from WS7 (Worksite 7) to WS4, postponed on 12/14 due to a possible obstruction by MLI (Multi-Layered Insulation) on the NTA (Nitrogen Tank Assembly), was performed at 10:55am-12:55pm, with the Russian MCS (Motion Control System)/thrusters temporarily inhibited due to loads constraints.    [Analysis of the NTA insulation had shown that there was sufficient clearance for the roll-over which has the purpose to provide added protection of the TUS (Trailing Umbilical System) from MMOD (Micrometeoroid/Orbital Debris) between now and Flight STSA-122/1E.  MT will be translated back to WS7 about three days before 1E arrival.]]

MBSU Health Flag:   MBSU (Main Bus Switching Unit) 2 is showing a new health flag in a data dump conducted yesterday, indicating an anomaly in one of its firmware blocks.  Two other health flags were discovered earlier in different blocks.  Exact impacts are unknown until further analysis.  All MBSU telemetry appears nominal.

Progress Launch Preps:  At Baikonur, Kazakhstan, the Progress M-62/27P orbital module was integrated today with the Soyuz-U launch vehicle in the Processing Facility.

Sad Note:  Early this morning it was announced at the MMT (Mission Management Team) meeting that Flight Engineer Dan Tani's mother Rose died late yesterday during a car crash.  Dan was informed in a private phone call.  This is the first time an orbiting NASA Astronaut loses a close kin.  We all feel truly sorry for your loss, Dan!

CEO photo targets uplinked for today were Greater Khartoum, Sudan (Khartoum and Omdurman, cities at the confluence of the White and Blue Niles, were at nadir and a touch left.  The margins of these cities are of greatest interest.  Omdurman on the west bank is more earth-colored than Khartoum and thus less easily visible), Sahara dust (Dynamic event.  Conditions have set in for an extended dust event in the central Sahara, north of Lake Chad, in one of the planet's prime dust-generating basins.  Dust particles from this basin are now known to reach the Americas several times per year.  Looking right for oblique views of the dust plumes and trying to shoot the edges of the dust mass), Tunis, Tunisia (looking right for this historic port city which lies at the head of a major bay, the crew's main visual cue), and Mount Vesuvius, Italy (Vesuvius is one of the so-called "Decade Volcanoes".  The Decade Volcanoes project focuses on a small number of active volcanoes world-wide in order to encourage a range of research and public-awareness activities, all aimed at improving understanding of volcanoes and the hazards associated with them).

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov  (about 700,000 NASA digital photographs of Earth are downloaded by the public each month from this "Gateway" site);
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/AstronautPhotography

[row]
[col color=#303430:b6a63a6427]
ISS Orbit  (as of this morning, 7:30am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude -- 336.5 km
Apogee height -- 337.1 km
Perigee height -- 335.9 km
Period -- 91.26 min.
Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.64 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0000907
Solar Beta Angle -- -47.8 deg (magnitude increasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.78
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours -- 176 m  
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) -- 52017

[row]
[col color=#303034:b6a63a6427]
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Standard, some changes possible. NET = Not Earlier Than):
12/21/07 -- Progress M-61/26P undocking (DC1) ~10:59pm (to continue free-flying mission)
12/22/07 -- Yuri Malenchenko's Birthday
12/23/07 -- Progress M-62/27P launch; ~2:12am
12/26/07 -- Progress M-62/27P docking (DC1); ~3:25am
01/10/08 – NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E launch -- Columbus Module, ICC-Lite.
01/12/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E docking
01/21/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E undocking
01/31/08 -- Explorer-1 50 Years (1st U.S. Satellite on Redstone rocket)  [Check it out at http://usspace50.com ]
02/06/08 -- Progress M-62/27P undocking & reentry
02/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P launch
02/09/08 -- Progress M-63/28P docking (DC1)
02/14/08 -- NET:  ATV-1 "Jules Verne" launch/Ariane V (Kourou, French Guyana)
02/14/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A launch/1J/A, ~11:53am, w/SLP-SPDM, JEM ELM-PS
02/16/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A docking
02/27/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour undocking
02/29/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour landing
03/06/08 -- NET: ATV-1 docking (SM aft port)
04/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P undocking (DC1) & reentry
04/08/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S launch
04/10/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S docking (DC1)
04/19/08 -- Soyuz TMA-11/15S undocking (FGB nadir port)
04/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S relocation (from DC1 to FGB nadir port)
04/24/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J launch – JEM PM "Kibo", racks, RMS
04/26/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J docking
05/04/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J undocking
05/14/08 -- Progress M-64/29P launch
05/16/08 -- Progress M-64/29P docking (DC1)
08/07/08 -- NET: ATV-1 undocking (from SM aft port)
08/12/08 -- Progress M-65/30P launch
08/14/08 -- Progress M-65/30P docking (SM aft port)
09/09/08 -- Progress M-64/29P undocking (from DC1)
09/10/08 -- Progress M-66/31P launch
09/12/08 -- Progress M-66/31P docking (DC1)
09/18/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 launch – MPLM Leonardo, LMC
09/20/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 docking
10/01/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 undocking.
10/01/08 -- NASA 50 Years
10/11/08 -- Progress M-65/30P undocking (from SM aft port)
10/12/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S launch
10/14/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S docking (SM aft port)
10/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S undocking (FGB nadir)
11/03/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S relocation (from SM aft to FGB nadir)
11/06/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A launch – S6 truss segment
11/08/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A docking
11/17/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A undocking
11/20/08 -- ISS 10 Years
11/26/08 -- Progress M-67/32P launch
11/28/08 -- Progress M-67/32P docking (SM aft port)
04/15/09 -- Constellation's Ares I-X Launch
05/??/09 -- Six-person crew on ISS  (following Soyuz 18S-2 docking)
04/??/10 -- STS-132/Discovery/20A – Node-3 + Cupola.
[/table]

[Liss]

[row]
[col color=darkblue:1ddde7f24b]
ISS On-Orbit Status 12/21/07
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.

[row]
[col color=#303030:1ddde7f24b]
After wakeup and before breakfast, FE-2 Dan Tani completed his daily access of the SLEEP experiment (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight) software for data logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the experiment's laptop session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink.    [To monitor the crewmember's sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Dan wears a special Actiwatch device which measures the light levels encountered by him as well as his patterns of sleep and activity throughout the Expedition.  The log entries are done within 15 minutes of final awakening for seven consecutive days, as part of the crew's discretionary "job jar" task list.]

Having passed the Day 60 mark in her flight, Dr. Peggy Whitson began her third session with the NASA/JSC experiment NUTRITION w/Repository, for which she had to forego exercising and food intake for eight hours.  Today's protocol consisted of two blood draws (for Serum & Heparin).  Later, the CDR set up the equipment for the 24-hour urine collections which start with the first void early tomorrow morning and continue through Sunday morning.    [Acting as operator, Dan Tani as performed phlebotomy on Peggy Whitson, i.e., drawing blood samples (from an arm vein) which was first allowed to coagulate in the Repository, then spun in the HRF RC (Human Research Facility/Refrigerated Centrifuge) and finally placed in MELFI (Minus-Eighty Laboratory Freezer for ISS).  The RC was later powered off after a temperature reset to limit wear on the compressor, and cleaned.  Background: NUTRITION is the most comprehensive in-flight study done by NASA to date of human physiologic changes during long-duration space flight; this includes measures of bone metabolism, oxidative damage, nutritional assessments, and hormonal changes.  The Clinical Nutritional Assessment profile currently required on all U.S. Astronauts collects blood and urine samples preflight and postflight.  NUTRITION expands this protocol by also capturing inflight samples and an additional postflight sample.  Furthermore, additional measurements are included for samples from all sessions, including additional markers of bone metabolism, vitamin status, and hormone and oxidative stressor tests.  The results will be used to better understand the impact of countermeasures (exercise and pharmaceuticals) on nutritional status and nutrient requirements.  The Clinical Nutritional Assessment profile (MR016L), first started on two Mir crewmembers and then on all ISS US crews, nominally consists of two pre-flight and one post-flight analysis of nutritional status, as well as an in-flight assessment of dietary intake using the FFQ (Food Frequency Questionnaire). The current NUTRITION project expands MR016L testing in three ways: Addition of in-flight blood & urine collection (made possible by MELFI), normative markers of nutritional assessment, and a return session plus 30-day (R+30) session to allow evaluation of post-flight nutrition and implications for rehabilitation.]

FE-2 Tani conducted his second session of the LOCAD-PTS (Lab-on-a-Chip Application Development-Portable Test System)/Phase 2 experiment, completing another LOCAD exploratory survey by taking single swab samples from five more surface sites in the station.  In Phase 2, no media sides have to be prepared.    [LOCAD uses small, thumb-sized "microfluidic" cartridges that are read by the experiment reader.  The cartridges contain dried extract of horseshoe crab blood cells and colorless dye. In the presence of the bacteria, the dried extract reacts strongly to turn the dye a green color. Therefore, the more green dye, the more microorganisms there are in the original sample.  The handheld device tests this new analysis technology by sampling for the presence of gram negative bacteria in the sample in about 15 minutes, showing the results on a display screen.   Background:  Lab-on-a-Chip technology has an ever-expanding range of applications in the biotech industry.  Chips are available (or in development) which can also detect yeast, mold, and gram positive bacteria, identify environmental contaminants, and perform quick health diagnostics in medical clinics.  The technology has been used to swab the MERs (Mars Exploration Rovers) for planetary protection.  With expanded testing on ISS, began by Sunita Williams in March/April this year, this compact technology has broad potential applications in space exploration--from monitoring environmental conditions to monitoring crew health. The current study should prepare for long-duration exploration by demonstrating a system that enables the crew to perform biochemical analysis in space without having to return samples to Earth.]

Afterwards, the FE-2 performed his daily status check on the BCAT-3 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3) science payload, running by itself in Node-2 since 12/13 (briefly interrupted for EVA-13 photo support).  The status check, conducted on the last image taken by the DCS 760 digital still camera which is controlled by EarthKAM software on an A31p laptop, is to verify proper image focus and camera alignment.    [The SSC (Station Support Computer) is taking photography of the phase separation occurring in the BCAT Sample 3, with the photo flash going off every half hour.  Today Dan received ground feedback that "the photos are looking really good now!"]

In the Lab, the CDR continued crew support of the CSLM-2 (Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures 2) experiment in the MSG (Microgravity Science Glovebox) facility, terminating the final (fourth) vacuum draw on the SPU11 (Sample Processing Unit 11) and initiating sample processing on SPU11, to be finished prior to Progress 26P undocking tonight to avoid vibration disturbances on the processing.    [CSLM-2 examines the kinetics of competitive particle growth within a liquid matrix.  During this process, small particles shrink by losing atoms to larger particles, causing the larger particles to grow (coarsen) within a liquid lead/tin matrix.  This study defined the mechanisms and rates of coarsening that govern the manufacture with metals from turbine blades to dental amalgam fillings.]

Working in the Airlock (A/L) on more post-EVA cleanup tasks, Peggy Whitson set up and started the periodic scrubbing process on the EMUs' (Extravehicular Mobility Units) cooling water loops, by initiating its ionic and particulate matter filtration (using a 3-micron filter) on suits #3006 & #3018.  The cooling loops were then reconfigured and the EMU water processing kit disassembled and stowed.   [Purpose of the scrubbing, including iodination of the LCVGs (Liquid Cooling & Ventilation Garments) for biocidal maintenance, is the elimination of any biomass and particulate matter that may have accumulated in the loops.]

The CDR also terminated the regeneration of METOX (Metal Oxide) canisters #0020 & #0021 in the Airlock (A/L) bakeout oven.   [METOX CO2 absorption cans, rather than LiOH (Lithium Hydroxide) filters, were used on 12/19 both in the A/L for the Campout and in the two EMUs for the spacewalk.]

Afterwards, Peggy checked out the U.S. Sound Level Meter (SLM) instrument and then used it to conduct the periodic noise level measurements program in the station interior for a 2-hr acoustic survey, including transfer of the recorded data to the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer).    [The acoustic level may have been somewhat impacted by the fans running in the A/L for the EMU iodination procedure.  A total of 48 acoustic measurements are obtained at 13 locations in the Lab (including in the TESS {Temporary Sleep Station} with door closed), four locations in Node-1, three locations in the A/L, six locations in Node-2, 11 locations in the SM, three locations in the DC1 Docking Compartment, and 4 locations in the FGB..  The survey also includes four crew preference locations taken at their perceived loudest locations in the station.  The SLM gives instantaneous noise levels and their frequency spectra, which are transferred to the MEC laptop via an RS232 cable and later downlinked with regular CHeCS (Crew Health Care Systems) data dump or via OCA.]

For tonight's operation of SAMS (Space Acceleration Measurement System), Tani configured the ER1 (EXPRESS Rack 1) by connecting its MTL (Moderate Temperature Loop) cooling jumper QDs (quick disconnects) to the nearby LAB1O2 UIP (Utility Interface Panel, "Z-panel").  Later, Dan will also verify proper functioning of the SAMS laptop in ER4.    [Background]

Returning to the ITCS (Internal Thermal Control System) panels later today, the FE-2 will demate and take down the ITCS LTL (Internal Thermal Control System/Low Temperature Loop) jumper at the CDRA-supporting LAB1D6 rack, after the CDRA (Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly) failed yesterday due to a warm slug of water resulting from an unexpected transition of LTL to single LT.    [Since CO2 levels during METOX remained acceptable level, CDRA did not have to be reactivated.]

Unstowing the two HRDs (High Rate Dosimeters) from the Passive Dosimetry Kit, Dan Tani replaced their batteries with fresh ones, as is done once a year to ensure the units are ready to be used in a contingency situation.    [Purpose of the hand-held HRDs is to measure & record high rate radiation data, i.e., dose (in Gy) and dose rate (in Gy/hr or cGy/hr), and relay to MCC-H during a contingency event.  The instruments measure absorbed dose, also known as total ionizing dose (TID),  a measure of the energy deposited in a medium by ionizing radiation.  Since it is equal to the energy deposited per unit mass of medium, it the unit Joule/kg, which is given the special name "gray" (Gy).]

The FE-2 also filled out the regular FFQ (Food Frequency Questionnaire), his 7th, on the MEC.    [By means of these FFQs, U.S. astronauts keep a personalized log of their nutritional intake over time on special MEC software.  Recorded are the amounts consumed during the past week of such food items as beverages, cereals, grains, eggs, breads, snacks, sweets, fruit, beans, soup, vegetables, dairy, fish, meat, chicken, sauces & spreads, and vitamins.  At TsUP/Moscow, food specialists are currently preparing the Russian food "menu" for delivery by Progress M-63/28P next February.  28P will carry "bonus food" for Peggy and Yuri, plus about 15 kg of fresh food items (apples, grapefruit, oranges, lemons, garlic) in two containers.]

CDR Whitson unstowed and assembled the HRF (Human Research Facility) ultrasound hardware for Day 1 of the Braslet experiment (SDTO/Station Development Test Objective).     [The SDTO-17011 "Validation of On-Orbit Methodology for the Assessment of Cardiac Function and Changes in the Circulating Volume Using Ultrasound and Braslet-M Occlusion Cuffs (Braslet)" is a collaborative effort between NASA and the Russian FSA (Federal Space Agency), with the goal to establish a valid ultrasound methodology for assessing a number of aspects of central and peripheral hemodynamics and cardiovascular function, specifically in rapid changes in intravascular circulating volume. Braslet uses Braslet-M occlusion cuffs, i.e., the Russian-made operational countermeasure already pre-calibrated and available onboard for each ISS crewmember.  Braslet employs multiple modes of ultrasound imaging and measurements, in combination with short-term application of Braslet-M occlusive cuffs and cardiopulmonary maneuvers (Valsalva, Mueller) to demonstrate and to evaluate the degree of changes in the circulating volume on orbit.  This will be accomplished by performing echocardiographic examinations in multiple modes (including Tissue Doppler mode), ultrasound measurements of lower extremity venous and arterial vascular responses to Braslet-M device under nominal conditions and also during cardiopulmonary Mueller and Valsalva maneuvers.  Identical measurements will be repeated without Braslet-M, with Braslet-M applied, and immediately after releasing the occlusion device.]

Yuri and Peggy completed preparations for Progress M-61/26P undocking tonight on its own free-flyer mission (~10:59pm).    [The FE-1 and CDR finished trash loading and reported completion to the ground for the final Go from TsUP/Moscow, followed by cargo ship activation, tearing down the ventilation air duct, removing the threaded BZV QD (quick disconnect) screw clamps screw clamps of the SSVP docking & internal transfer system, and closing hatches between 26P and the transfer tunnel (PrK) to the DC1 after taking video of the mating surfaces/seals.  They then conducted the one-hour vestibule leak check and downlinked the video imagery of the SM/Progress hatch interface.  Russian MCS/thrusters were temporarily inhibited during the clamp removal due to loads constraints.]

Before sleeptime tonight, Dan will verify closure of the protective Lab science window shutter and power down the onboard amateur/ham radio equipment to prevent RF interference with the departing Progress.

Using the SKDS CMS (Pressure Control & Atmosphere Monitoring System/Countermeasure System), Malenchenko took readings of potentially harmful contaminants in the SM.  The hardware was then returned to initial stowage.   [The CMS uses preprogrammed microchips to measure Formaldehyde (H2CO, methanal), Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Ammonia (NH3), taking one measurement per microchip.]

With Progress 26P's oxygen (O2) stores depleted yesterday, Yuri today supported the ground's reactivation of the Elektron O2 generator at 32 amps by monitoring the external temperature of its secondary purification unit (BD) for the first 10 minutes of operations to ensure that there was no overheating.    [During nominal operations a gas analyzer is utilized to detect hydrogen (H2) in the O2 line (which could cause overheating) but is not included in the control algorithm until 10 minutes after Elektron startup.]  

Malenchenko performed the routine servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM.    [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists among else of replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers.]

Later, Yuri also will conduct the daily IMS (Inventory Management System) maintenance, updating/editing its standard "delta file" including stowage locations, for the regular weekly automated export/import to its three databases on the ground (Houston, Moscow, Baikonur).

At ~3:20am EST, Yuri linked up with TsUP stowage specialists via S-band to conduct the weekly IMS tagup, discussing stowage issues and equipment locations.   [Issues discussed included number of PCMCIA memory cards used for KUBIK experiment data, number of discarded urine transfer hoses & adapters, and confirmation that a large number of trashed items have been stowed in Progress M-61/26P which are not yet showing in the IMS log.]

At ~3:40pm, the crew is scheduled for their conducted their seventh weekly tagup with the Lead Flight Director at JSC/MCC-H via S-band/audio.  [S/G-2 (Space-to-Ground 2) phone patch via SSC-10 (Station Support Computer 10)].

The CDR and FE-2 each were scheduled for their weekly PFC (Private Family Conference) via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on the SSC-9 laptop), Dan at ~8:05am, Peggy at ~2:45pm.

The crewmembers performed their regular 2.5-hr physical workout program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the TVIS treadmill (CDR, FE-1, FE-2), RED (CDR, FE-2) and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1).

Afterwards, the FE-2 will transfer the exercise data file to the MEC laptop for downlink, including the daily wristband HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) data of the workouts on RED, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium (done six times a week).

Progress Launch Preps:  At Baikonur, Kazakhstan, preparations continue for the launch of the Progress M-62/27P cargo vehicle on 12/23 (2:12am EST).  At 4:00am Moscow time (8:00pm EST last night), the Soyuz-U launch vehicle was rolled out from the Integration Building to the launch pad and installed on the pad.  L-2 days activities have been started.

CEO photo targets uplinked for today were Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMC — also known as noctilucent clouds).  Southern spring is the season for relatively uncommon polar mesospheric clouds to form very high over Antarctica.  PMC are being studied as part of the International Polar Year [IPY] investigation of climate change in high latitudes. PMC form in the stratosphere and higher, i.e. well above the lowest layer of the atmosphere [troposphere, or weather layer, characterized by clouds, and an orange tinge produced by brushfire smoke, smog, etc.].  The AIM satellite (Aeronomy of Ice in the Atmosphere) has just been launched to investigate how PMC form and why they are apparently becoming thicker and brighter.  ISS/CEO imagery will complement images from AIM and from the ground.  The collaborating IPY scientist is excited to receive any images ISS may acquire.  Collaborating Swedish scientists have arrived at a base in Antarctica (73S 13 W) for PMC observation.)

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov  (about 700,000 NASA digital photographs of Earth are downloaded by the public each month from this "Gateway" site);
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/AstronautPhotography

[row]
[col color=#303430:1ddde7f24b]
ISS Orbit  (as of this morning, 7:49am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude -- 336.3 km
Apogee height -- 337.1 km
Perigee height -- 335.6 km
Period -- 91.26 min.
Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.64 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0001088
Solar Beta Angle -- -52.7 deg (magnitude increasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.78
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours -- 142 m  
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) -- 52033

[row]
[col color=#303034:1ddde7f24b]
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Standard, some changes possible. NET = Not Earlier Than):
12/21/07 -- Progress M-61/26P undocking (DC1) ~10:59pm (to continue free-flying mission)
12/22/07 -- Yuri Malenchenko's Birthday
12/23/07 -- Progress M-62/27P launch; ~2:12am
12/26/07 -- Progress M-62/27P docking (DC1); ~3:25am
12/30/07 -- ISS Reboost (phasing)
01/10/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E launch -- Columbus Module, ICC-Lite.
01/12/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E docking
01/21/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E undocking
01/31/08 -- Explorer-1 50 Years (1st U.S. Satellite on Redstone rocket)  [Check it out at http://usspace50.com ]
02/06/08 -- Progress M-62/27P undocking & reentry
02/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P launch
02/09/08 -- Progress M-63/28P docking (DC1)
02/22/08 -- ATV-1 "Jules Verne" launch/Ariane V (Kourou, French Guyana)
02/14/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A launch/1J/A, ~11:53am, w/SLP-SPDM, JEM ELM-PS
02/16/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A docking
02/27/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour undocking
02/29/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour landing
03/06/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 1
03/12/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 2
03/15/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 3 & Docking (SM aft port)
04/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P undocking (DC1) & reentry
04/08/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S launch
04/10/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S docking (DC1)
04/19/08 -- Soyuz TMA-11/15S undocking (FGB nadir port)
04/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S relocation (from DC1 to FGB nadir port)
04/24/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J launch – JEM PM "Kibo", racks, RMS
04/26/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J docking
05/04/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J undocking
05/14/08 -- Progress M-64/29P launch
05/16/08 -- Progress M-64/29P docking (DC1)
08/07/08 -- NET: ATV-1 undocking (from SM aft port)
08/12/08 -- Progress M-65/30P launch
08/14/08 -- Progress M-65/30P docking (SM aft port)
09/09/08 -- Progress M-64/29P undocking (from DC1)
09/10/08 -- Progress M-66/31P launch
09/12/08 -- Progress M-66/31P docking (DC1)
09/18/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 launch – MPLM Leonardo, LMC
09/20/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 docking
10/01/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 undocking.
10/01/08 -- NASA 50 Years
10/11/08 -- Progress M-65/30P undocking (from SM aft port)
10/12/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S launch
10/14/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S docking (SM aft port)
10/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S undocking (FGB nadir)
11/03/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S relocation (from SM aft to FGB nadir)
11/06/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A launch – S6 truss segment
11/08/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A docking
11/17/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A undocking
11/20/08 -- ISS 10 Years
11/26/08 -- Progress M-67/32P launch
11/28/08 -- Progress M-67/32P docking (SM aft port)
04/15/09 -- Constellation's Ares I-X Launch
05/??/09 -- Six-person crew on ISS  (following Soyuz 18S-2 docking)
04/??/10 -- STS-132/Discovery/20A – Node-3 + Cupola.
[/table]

[Liss]

[row]
[col color=darkblue:f43573cf74]
ISS On-Orbit Status 12/22/07
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.  Saturday -- off-duty day for CDR Whitson, FE-1 Malenchenko and FE-2 Tani except for housekeeping and voluntary work.   Happy 46th Birthday, Yuri Ivanovich!

[row]
[col color=#303030:f43573cf74]
Last night, Progress M-61/26P successfully undocked from the ISS at 10:59pm EST (hook opening command: 10:57pm).  The separation appeared smooth with no vibrations noted.  Downlinked video from the cargo vehicle showed that the docking ring surface was nominal.  The first separation burn was performed at 11:03pm and a second separation burn followed at 11:09pm.  The spacecraft initially moved aft of the station, then forward, overtaking the ISS on a lower (faster) orbit.  26P will remain in orbit in free flight for 3-4 weeks, continuing to phase out in front of the ISS (about 40 km per orbit) as part of a Russian Earth observation experiment.

After the undocking, FE-1 Yuri Malenchenko manually closed the PEV (Pressure Equalization Valve) between the DC1 and its docking port vestibule.

Before breakfast, FE-2 Dan Tani and CDR Peggy Whitson (who now has joined in this activity) completed their daily access of the SLEEP experiment (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight) software for data logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the experiment's laptop session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink.    [To monitor the crewmember's sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Dan wears a special Actiwatch device which measures the light levels encountered by him as well as his patterns of sleep and activity throughout the Expedition.  The log entries are done within 15 minutes of final awakening for seven consecutive days, as part of the crew's discretionary "job jar" task list.]

Also before breakfast, Dr. Whitson completed the last day (FD 60) of her 3rd session with the NASA/JSC experiment NUTRITION w/Repository.  Today she conducted the 24-hour urine collections starting with the first void early in the morning and continuing through tomorrow morning.  The samples were stored in the MELFI (Minus-Eighty Laboratory Freezer for ISS) and the sampling kit was then stowed away.    [The current NUTRITION project is the most comprehensive in-flight study done by NASA to date of human physiologic changes during long-duration space flight.  It includes measures of bone metabolism, oxidative damage, nutritional assessments, and hormonal changes, expanding the previous Clinical Nutritional Assessment profile (MR016L) testing in three ways: Addition of in-flight blood & urine collection (made possible by MELFI), normative markers of nutritional assessment, and a return session plus 30-day (R+30) session to allow evaluation of post-flight nutrition and implications for rehabilitation.]

The crew performed the regular weekly three-hour task of thorough station cleaning.   ["Uborka", normally done on Saturdays, includes removal of food waste products, cleaning of compartments with vacuum cleaner, damp cleaning of the Service Module (SM) dining table, other frequently touched surfaces and surfaces where trash is collected, as well as the FE's sleep station with a standard cleaning solution; also, fan screens and grilles are cleaned to avoid temperature rises. Special cleaning is also done every 90 days on the HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) bacteria filters in the Lab.]

The CDR conducted her first self-scanning session for the Braslet experiment (SDTO/Station Development Test Objective), leading off with a video review and followed by the actual ultrasound scanning activity on herself (for which she had to abstain from caffeine 12 hrs prior to the scan session, heavy meals 4 hrs before and any food at all 2 hrs prior to the scan, plus no exercise 2 hours before and no liquids 30 mins before).    [The SDTO-17011 "Validation of On-Orbit Methodology for the Assessment of Cardiac Function and Changes in the Circulating Volume Using Ultrasound and Braslet-M Occlusion Cuffs (Braslet)" is a collaborative effort between NASA and the Russian FSA (Federal Space Agency), with the goal to establish a valid ultrasound methodology for assessing a number of aspects of central and peripheral hemodynamics and cardiovascular function, specifically in rapid changes in intravascular circulating volume.  Braslet uses Braslet-M occlusion cuffs, i.e., the Russian-made operational countermeasure already pre-calibrated and available onboard for each ISS crewmember.  Braslet employs multiple modes of ultrasound imaging and measurements, in combination with short-term application of Braslet-M occlusive cuffs and cardiopulmonary maneuvers (Valsalva, Mueller) to demonstrate and to evaluate the degree of changes in the circulating volume on orbit.  This will be accomplished by performing echocardiographic examinations in multiple modes (including Tissue Doppler mode), ultrasound measurements of lower extremity venous and arterial vascular responses to Braslet-M device under nominal conditions and also during cardiopulmonary Mueller and Valsalva maneuvers.  Identical measurements will be repeated without Braslet-M, with Braslet-M applied, and immediately after releasing the occlusion device.]

For FE-2 Tani, it was time again for his daily status check on the BCAT-3 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3) science payload, running by itself in Node-2 since 12/13 (briefly interrupted for EVA-13 photo support).  The status check, conducted on the last image taken by the DCS 760 digital still camera which is controlled by EarthKAM software on an A31p laptop, is to verify proper image focus and camera alignment.    [The SSC (Station Support Computer) is taking photography of the phase separation occurring in the BCAT Sample 3, with the photo flash going off every half hour.]

In the Lab, Peggy continued her support of the CSLM-2 (Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures 2) experiment in the MSG (Microgravity Science Glovebox) facility, terminating SPU-11 (Sample Processing Unit #11) processing, transferring its data to the MLC (MSG Laptop Computer) and verifying them, then removing SPU-11, installing a new SPU (#10), and finally turning the payload off.  Later, the MSG was also powered off.    [CSLM-2 examines the kinetics of competitive particle growth within a liquid matrix.  During this process, small particles shrink by losing atoms to larger particles, causing the larger particles to grow (coarsen) within a liquid lead/tin matrix.  This study defined the mechanisms and rates of coarsening that govern the manufacture with metals from turbine blades to dental amalgam fillings.]

Working briefly on the EXPRESS Rack 1 (ER1) laptop computer, Whitson modify its "crash recovery" parameter, changing the location of the memory dump analysis file to make downlinking more efficient.

Malenchenko performed the routine servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM.    [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists among else of replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers.]

The crewmembers performed their regular 2.5-hr physical workout program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the TVIS treadmill (CDR, FE-2), TVIS treadmill (FE-1),  RED resistive exercise device (CDR, FE-2) and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1).

Afterwards, the FE-2 will transfer the exercise data file to the MEC laptop for downlink, including the daily wristband HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) data of the workouts on RED, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium (done six times a week).

At ~3:20am EST, Yuri Malenchenko, born today 46 years ago in the Ukraine, participated in a Telebridge radio hook-up with friends and family at an event in the Ukrainian city of Kiev via RGS (Russian Groundsites).

The FE-1 and FE-2 each were scheduled for a PFC (Private Family Conference) via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on the SSC-9 laptop), Yuri at ~5:305am, Dan at ~3:05pm.

From his voluntary task list, Yuri conducted another session of the Russian "Uragan" (hurricane) earth-imaging program, using the Nikon D2X digital camera with 800 mm focal length lenses to take pictures of catastrophic events for subsequent downlink via BSR-TM.    [Uplinked target zones for today were slopes and ravine terrain to the south of Voronezh, the Alps, the Allaline and other glaciers near arc-shaped water reservoir dams, Poland's Vistula river showing 20-km long contamination spreading on 12/17 towards the Baltic Sea, and the Huascaran volcano in Peru.]

Electron Activation Update:   Yesterday, when Yuri assisted the ground in activation the Elektron oxygen generator in the standard 32 amp mode, the system came on in 11 amps mode.  A recently (11/27) installed electronic interference filter (to prevent RFI with the ATV/Automated Transfer Vehicle) felt hot to Yuri's touch, who, on ground advice, turned off the Elektron, removed the filter and reconnected the cables.  The electrolysis machine was then successfully reactivated in 32 amp mode and is now operating nominally at 24 amps.

Progress Launch Preps:  At Baikonur, Kazakhstan, final preparations continue for the launch of the Progress M-62/27P cargo vehicle tomorrow morning at 2:12am EST.

Weekly Science Update (Expedition Sixteen -- Week 9)

ALTCRISS (Alteino Long Term monitoring of Cosmic Rays on the ISS):   In progress.

ANITA:   Completed.

BCAT (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test):    There will be a reboost on 12/29 ands thruster firings on 12/30, both of which could significantly impact the quality of BCAT science.  The ground team feels that it's not likely that they will get two runs before the Shuttle docking, so they are going to remix sample 3 on 12/31 after the thruster firings and run sample 3 for ~14 days.

CARDIOCOG-2:   Completed.

CCISS (Cardiovascular & Cerebrovascular Control on Return from ISS):    Reserve.

CFE (Capillary Flow Experiment):    Reserve.

CSI-2/CGBA (CGBA Science Insert #2/Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus):    In progress.

CGBA-2 (Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus 2):  Complete.

CSLM-2 (Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures 2):    CSLM-2 SPU-11 has completed vacuum vent cycles 1 through 4.  SPU-11 (10 hr heat soak) started processing on 12/21 at ~11:00am EST.

EarthKAM (Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students):    Complete.

EPO (Educational Payload Operations):    Reserve.

ETD (Eye Tracking Device):   In progress.

Integrated Immune:   In progress.

KUBIK-FM1/ KUBIK-FM2 Centrifuge/Incubators:  FE-1 Malenchenko has retrieved the telemetry data of the two KUBIK devices. The data is related to the 16S/15S Soyuz mission Biology Program and has been downlinked to ground.

LOCAD-PTS (Lab-on-a-Chip Application Development-Portable Test System):   Complete.

MISSE (Materials ISS Experiment):  Ongoing.

MTR-2 (Russian radiation measurements):   Passive dosimeters measurements in DC1 "Pirs".

MULTIGEN-1:    MULTIGEN-1 samples will be downloaded on STS-122 (1E).

MSG-SAME (Microgravity Science Glovebox):    Complete.

NOA-2 (Nitric Oxide Analyzer):    Planned.

NUTRITION/REPOSITORY:     In progress..

PMDIS (Perceptual Motor Deficits in Space):    Complete.

SAMS/MAMS (Space & Microgravity Acceleration Measurement Systems):   Ongoing.

SLEEP (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight):    Peggy and Dan's next Sleep Actiwatch Download/Initialization session will be placed on the task list from 12/26/07-1/2/08.  The Actiwatches will stop taking data on 1/3/08.

SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellite):    In progress.  To be conducted tomorrow (12/2).

Swab (Characterization of Microorganisms & Allergens in Spacecraft):   In progress.

TRAC (Test of Reaction & Adaptation Capabilities):   Planned.

CEO (Crew Earth Observation):  On-going.

CEO photo targets uplinked for today were Polar Mesospheric Clouds over Antarctica (PMC — also known as noctilucent clouds).  Southern spring is the season for relatively uncommon polar mesospheric clouds to form very high over Antarctica.  PMC are being studied as part of the International Polar Year [IPY] investigation of climate change in high latitudes. PMC form in the stratosphere and higher, i.e. well above the lowest layer of the atmosphere [troposphere, or weather layer, characterized by clouds, and an orange tinge produced by brushfire smoke, smog, etc.].  The AIM satellite (Aeronomy of Ice in the Atmosphere) has just been launched to investigate how PMC form and why they are apparently becoming thicker and brighter.  ISS/CEO imagery will complement images from AIM and from the ground.  The collaborating IPY scientist is excited to receive any images ISS may acquire.  Collaborating Swedish scientists have arrived at a base in Antarctica (73S 13 W) for PMC observation.)

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov  (about 700,000 NASA digital photographs of Earth are downloaded by the public each month from this "Gateway" site);
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/AstronautPhotography

[row]
[col color=#303430:f43573cf74]
ISS Orbit  (as of this morning, 8:13am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude -- 336.3 km
Apogee height -- 337.0 km
Perigee height -- 335.5 km
Period -- 91.26 min.
Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.64 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0001097
Solar Beta Angle -- -57.5 deg (magnitude increasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.78
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours -- 66 m  
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) -- 52049

[row]
[col color=#303034:f43573cf74]
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Standard, some changes possible. NET = Not Earlier Than):
12/23/07 -- Progress M-62/27P launch; ~2:12am
12/26/07 -- Progress M-62/27P docking (DC1); ~3:25am
12/30/07 -- ISS Reboost (phasing)
01/10/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E launch -- Columbus Module, ICC-Lite.
01/12/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E docking
01/21/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E undocking
01/31/08 -- Explorer-1 50 Years (1st U.S. Satellite on Redstone rocket)  [Check it out at http://usspace50.com ]
02/06/08 -- Progress M-62/27P undocking & reentry
02/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P launch
02/09/08 -- Progress M-63/28P docking (DC1)
02/22/08 -- ATV-1 "Jules Verne" launch/Ariane V (Kourou, French Guyana)
02/14/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A launch/1J/A, ~11:53am, w/SLP-SPDM, JEM ELM-PS
02/16/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A docking
02/27/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour undocking
02/29/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour landing
03/06/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 1
03/12/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 2
03/15/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 3 & Docking (SM aft port)
04/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P undocking (DC1) & reentry
04/08/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S launch
04/10/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S docking (DC1)
04/19/08 -- Soyuz TMA-11/15S undocking (FGB nadir port)
04/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S relocation (from DC1 to FGB nadir port)
04/24/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J launch – JEM PM "Kibo", racks, RMS
04/26/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J docking
05/04/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J undocking
05/14/08 -- Progress M-64/29P launch
05/16/08 -- Progress M-64/29P docking (DC1)
08/07/08 -- NET: ATV-1 undocking (from SM aft port)
08/12/08 -- Progress M-65/30P launch
08/14/08 -- Progress M-65/30P docking (SM aft port)
09/09/08 -- Progress M-64/29P undocking (from DC1)
09/10/08 -- Progress M-66/31P launch
09/12/08 -- Progress M-66/31P docking (DC1)
09/18/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 launch – MPLM Leonardo, LMC
09/20/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 docking
10/01/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 undocking.
10/01/08 -- NASA 50 Years
10/11/08 -- Progress M-65/30P undocking (from SM aft port)
10/12/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S launch
10/14/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S docking (SM aft port)
10/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S undocking (FGB nadir)
11/03/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S relocation (from SM aft to FGB nadir)
11/06/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A launch – S6 truss segment
11/08/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A docking
11/17/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A undocking
11/20/08 -- ISS 10 Years
11/26/08 -- Progress M-67/32P launch
11/28/08 -- Progress M-67/32P docking (SM aft port)
04/15/09 -- Constellation's Ares I-X Launch
05/??/09 -- Six-person crew on ISS  (following Soyuz 18S-2 docking)
04/??/10 -- STS-132/Discovery/20A – Node-3 + Cupola.
[/table]

[Liss]

[row]
[col color=darkblue:454b890b24]
ISS On-Orbit Status 12/23/07
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.   Sunday – off-duty day for CDR Whitson, FE-1 Malenchenko and FE-2 Tani.   Ahead: Week 10 of Increment 16.

[row]
[col color=#303030:454b890b24]
With the usual dependability, Progress M-62/27P launched nominally this morning at Baikonur at 2:12am EST.   Orbit insertion and 3rd stage separation were nominal at ~2:21:30am.  Critical antennae and solar array deployments took place without issue.   Docking is scheduled on Wednesday, 12/26 (~3:25am EST).  Congrats, Baikonur!

Before breakfast, FE-2 Dan Tani and CDR Peggy Whitson completed their daily access of the SLEEP experiment (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight) software for data logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the experiment's laptop session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink.    [To monitor the crewmembers' sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Dan and Peggy wear a special Actiwatch device which measures the light levels encountered by him as well as his patterns of sleep and activity throughout the Expedition.  The log entries are done within 15 minutes of final awakening for seven consecutive days, as part of the crew's discretionary "job jar" task list.]

Upon wakeup, Dr. Whitson also performed the last sampling of her 3rd session with the NASA/JSC experiment NUTRITION w/Repository, collecting a final urine sample for storage in the MELFI (Minus-Eighty Laboratory Freezer for ISS).  The sampling kit was then stowed away.  Peggy's next NUTRITION w/Repository activity will be her FD120 (Flight Day 120) session.    [The current NUTRITION project is the most comprehensive in-flight study done by NASA to date of human physiologic changes during long-duration space flight.  It includes measures of bone metabolism, oxidative damage, nutritional assessments, and hormonal changes, expanding the previous Clinical Nutritional Assessment profile (MR016L) testing in three ways: Addition of in-flight blood & urine collection (made possible by MELFI), normative markers of nutritional assessment, and a return session plus 30-day (R+30) session to allow evaluation of post-flight nutrition and implications for rehabilitation.]

Today Dan Tani was the subject for the Braslet experiment (SDTO/Station Development Test Objective), holding still for his second ultrasound scanning session by Peggy as operator (for which Dan had to abstain from caffeine 12 hrs prior to the scan session, heavy meals 4 hrs before and any food at all 2 hrs prior to the scan, plus no exercise 2 hours before and no liquids 30 mins before).    [The SDTO-17011 "Validation of On-Orbit Methodology for the Assessment of Cardiac Function and Changes in the Circulating Volume Using Ultrasound and Braslet-M Occlusion Cuffs (Braslet)" is a collaborative effort between NASA and the Russian FSA (Federal Space Agency), with the goal to establish a valid ultrasound methodology for assessing a number of aspects of central and peripheral hemodynamics and cardiovascular function, specifically in rapid changes in intravascular circulating volume.  Braslet uses Braslet-M occlusion cuffs, i.e., the Russian-made operational countermeasure already pre-calibrated and available onboard for each ISS crewmember.  Braslet employs multiple modes of ultrasound imaging and measurements, in combination with short-term application of Braslet-M occlusive cuffs and cardiopulmonary maneuvers (Valsalva, Mueller) to demonstrate and to evaluate the degree of changes in the circulating volume on orbit.  This will be accomplished by performing echocardiographic examinations in multiple modes (including Tissue Doppler mode), ultrasound measurements of lower extremity venous and arterial vascular responses to Braslet-M device under nominal conditions and also during cardiopulmonary Mueller and Valsalva maneuvers.  Identical measurements will be repeated without Braslet-M, with Braslet-M applied, and immediately after releasing the occlusion device.]

The FE-2 performed his daily status check on the BCAT-3 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3) science payload, running by itself in Node-2 since 12/13 (briefly interrupted for EVA-13 photo support).  The status check, conducted on the last image taken by the DCS 760 digital still camera which is controlled by EarthKAM software on an A31p laptop, is to verify proper image focus and camera alignment.    [The SSC (Station Support Computer) is taking photography of the phase separation occurring in the BCAT Sample 3, with the photo flash going off every half hour.]

FE-1 Malenchenko conducted regular service on the Vozdukh CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) removal system, first switching it via on-board computer system to automatic control mode and later back to manual mode 5.

Afterwards, Yuri Malenchenko completed the daily routine maintenance of the Service Module (SM)'s SOZh environment control & life support system, with the regular replacements in its toilet system (ASU), plus the periodic checkout/verification of IP-1 airflow sensors in the various Russian Segment hatchways, including the SM-to-DC1 (22P) tunnel, and the FGB-to-Node and FGB-to-Soyuz passageways.    [Regular daily SOZh maintenance includes checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers.  Weekly SOZh reports (on Sundays) to TsUP/Moscow deal with number & dates of water and urine containers, counter readings of water consumption & urine collection, and total operating time of the POTOK air filtration system.]

The crewmembers performed their regular 2.5-hr physical workout program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the CEVIS cycle ergometer (CDR, FE-2), TVIS treadmill with vibration isolation (FE-1), RED resistive exercise device (CDR, FE-2) and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1).

The FE-2, who is mourning the loss of his mother, was scheduled for two PFCs (Private Family Conferences) via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on the SSC-9 laptop), one at ~10:45am EST and the other at ~5:30pm.

Working off his "time permitting" discretionary task list, Yuri conducted his fourth run of the Russian DZZ-2 "Diatomeya" ocean observations program, using the NIKON-F5 still camera with 80-200 mm Nikkor zoom lens to record high production zones and associated oceanic phenomena (cloud pattern, hydrodynamics) in the target areas of Pacific and Atlantic Ocean.    [Uplinked target zones were the coastal area of Brazil, Gibraltar and the northern waters of Mediterranean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, and coral islands and atolls of Oceania and the California Bay in the Pacific Ocean.]

A second job item on the FE-1's discretionary list for today was another KPT-3 session to make observations and take aerial KPT-3 photography of environmental conditions for Russia's Environmental Safety Agency (ECON) using the Nikon D1X digital camera with SIGMA 300-800mm telephoto lens.   [Targets today were contamination areas in the Vistula River in Poland and in the Pacific Ocean.  KPT-3 photography has been a frequent earth observing experiment for ECON.]

CEO photo targets uplinked for today were Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMC — also known as noctilucent clouds) over selected ground sites (12 minutes for each).  (Southern spring is the season for relatively uncommon polar mesospheric clouds to form very high over Antarctica.  PMC are being studied as part of the International Polar Year [IPY] investigation of climate change in high latitudes. PMC form in the stratosphere and higher, i.e. well above the lowest layer of the atmosphere [troposphere, or weather layer, characterized by clouds, and an orange tinge produced by brushfire smoke, smog, etc.].  The AIM satellite (Aeronomy of Ice in the Atmosphere) has just been launched to investigate how PMC form and why they are apparently becoming thicker and brighter.  ISS/CEO imagery will complement images from AIM and from the ground.  The collaborating IPY scientist is excited to receive any images ISS may acquire.  Collaborating Swedish scientists have arrived at a base in Antarctica (73S 13 W) for PMC observation.)

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov  (about 700,000 NASA digital photographs of Earth are downloaded by the public each month from this "Gateway" site);
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/AstronautPhotography

[row]
[col color=#303430:454b890b24]
ISS Orbit  (as of this morning, 8:27am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude -- 336.1 km
Apogee height -- 337.0 km
Perigee height -- 335.3 km
Period -- 91.26 min.
Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.64 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0001214
Solar Beta Angle -- -62.0 deg (magnitude increasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.78
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours -- 128 m  
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) -- 52065

[row]
[col color=#303034:454b890b24]
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Standard, some changes possible. NET = Not Earlier Than):
12/26/07 -- Progress M-62/27P docking (DC1); ~3:25am
12/30/07 -- ISS Reboost (phasing)
01/10/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E launch -- Columbus Module, ICC-Lite.
01/12/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E docking
01/21/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E undocking
01/31/08 -- Explorer-1 50 Years (1st U.S. Satellite on Redstone rocket)  [Check it out at http://usspace50.com ]
02/06/08 -- Progress M-62/27P undocking & reentry
02/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P launch
02/09/08 -- Progress M-63/28P docking (DC1)
02/22/08 -- ATV-1 "Jules Verne" launch/Ariane V (Kourou, French Guyana)
02/14/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A launch/1J/A, ~11:53am, w/SLP-SPDM, JEM ELM-PS
02/16/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A docking
02/27/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour undocking
02/29/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour landing
03/06/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 1
03/12/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 2
03/15/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 3 & Docking (SM aft port)
04/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P undocking (DC1) & reentry
04/08/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S launch
04/10/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S docking (DC1)
04/19/08 -- Soyuz TMA-11/15S undocking (FGB nadir port)
04/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S relocation (from DC1 to FGB nadir port)
04/24/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J launch – JEM PM "Kibo", racks, RMS
04/26/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J docking
05/04/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J undocking
05/14/08 -- Progress M-64/29P launch
05/16/08 -- Progress M-64/29P docking (DC1)
08/07/08 -- NET: ATV-1 undocking (from SM aft port)
08/12/08 -- Progress M-65/30P launch
08/14/08 -- Progress M-65/30P docking (SM aft port)
09/09/08 -- Progress M-64/29P undocking (from DC1)
09/10/08 -- Progress M-66/31P launch
09/12/08 -- Progress M-66/31P docking (DC1)
09/18/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 launch – MPLM Leonardo, LMC
09/20/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 docking
10/01/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 undocking.
10/01/08 -- NASA 50 Years
10/11/08 -- Progress M-65/30P undocking (from SM aft port)
10/12/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S launch
10/14/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S docking (SM aft port)
10/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S undocking (FGB nadir)
11/03/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S relocation (from SM aft to FGB nadir)
11/06/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A launch – S6 truss segment
11/08/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A docking
11/17/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A undocking
11/20/08 -- ISS 10 Years
11/26/08 -- Progress M-67/32P launch
11/28/08 -- Progress M-67/32P docking (SM aft port)
04/15/09 -- Constellation's Ares I-X Launch
05/??/09 -- Six-person crew on ISS  (following Soyuz 18S-2 docking)
04/??/10 -- STS-132/Discovery/20A – Node-3 + Cupola.
[/table]

[Liss]

План работ с 24 по 30 декабря 2007 года
ОСНОВНЫЕ СЛУЖЕБНЫЕ ПОЛЕТНЫЕ ОПЕРАЦИИ

[row color=darkblue:e51e5301cc]
[col]Дата
[col]Наименование и проводимые работы
[col]Исполнитель и время
[col]Примечание

[row color=darkblue:e51e5301cc]
[col]Материально-техническое обеспечение
[col]
[col]
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]24.12 пн
[col] Консультация со специалистами по особенностям выполнения стыковки с ТКГ «Прогресс М-62»
[col] КЭ, БИ1 – 1 час
[col]-

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]24.12 пн
[col] Тест передачи ТВ через Ku-band с передачей в ЦУП-М
[col] КЭ, БИ1 – 30 мин
[col]-

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]25.12 вт
[col] Тест (6-витковый) аппаратуры спутниковой навигации АСН-М во время стыковки
[col] ЦУП
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]26.12 ср
[col] Подготовка к стыковке ТКГ «Прогресс М-62» с МКС
[col] КЭ, БИ1 – 30 мин
[col]-

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]26.12 ср
[col] Стыковка ТКГ «Прогресс М-62» с МКС в 6 час 57 мин
[col]
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]-
[col]Работы по интеграции ТКГ «Прогресс М-62» с МКС
[col]
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]26.12 ср
[col] Реконфигурация средств связи после стыковки
[col] БИ1–10 мин
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]
[col] Контроль герметичности стыка ТКГ «Прогресс М-62» - СО1
[col] КЭ, БИ1 – 1 час 15мин
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]
[col]Открытие переходных люков СО1-СУ и СУ-ТКГ
[col] КЭ, БИ1 – 20 мин
[col]
 
[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]
[col] Установка быстросъемных винтовых зажимов; забор проб воздуха пробозаборником АК-1М в ТКГ «Прогресс М-62»; консервация ТКГ и прокладка воздуховода
[col] КЭ – 20 мин; БИ1 – 1 час 20 мин
[col]
 
[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]
[col] Демонтаж стыковочного механизма ТКГ «Прогресс М-62»
[col] КЭ, БИ2 – 1 час
[col]
 

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]26-29.12
[col] Разгрузка и инвентаризация грузов
[col] Суммарно: КЭ ~ 6 час; БИ1, БИ2 ~ 4час 10мин
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]27.12 чт
[col] Монтаж и включение локального коммутатора температур и программно-запоминающего устройства в ТКГ «Прогресс М-62»
[col] БИ1 – 1 час
[col]-

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]
[col] Установка контейнера с устройством сопряжения УС-21 на ТКГ и *контроль подключения УС-21 (электрический тест)
[col] БИ1 – 1 час; *ЦУП
[col]-

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]27-30.12
[col] Подзаряд буферной и резервной батарей ТКГ «Прогресс М-62» от СМ
[col] ЦУП
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]28.12 пт
[col] Контроль герметичности заправочных устройств магистралей горючего и окислителя
[col] ЦУП
[col]
 
[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]
[col] Динамический тест для проверки работы двигателей причаливания и ориентации «Прогресс М-62» в составе МКС
[col] ЦУП
[col]
 
[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]
[col] Замена бортовой документации ТКГ «Прогресс М-62»
[col] КЭ – 1 час 30 мин
[col]
 
[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]29.12 сб
[col] Обжатие баков для воды системы «Родник» ТКГ «Прогресс М-62»
[col] БИ1 – 1 час 40 мин
[col]
 
[row color=darkblue:e51e5301cc]
[col]Мероприятия по поддержанию здоровья экипажа
[col]
[col]
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]24.12 пн
[col] Приватная медицинская конференции через АС из ЦУП-Х
[col] БИ1 – 15 мин
[col]
 
[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]27.12 чт
[col] Биохимический анализ мочи
[col] 3 чел – 15 мин
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]28.12 пт
[col] Исследование состояния сердечно-сосудистой системы членов экипажа при
 дозированной физической нагрузке
[col] БИ1, КЭ – 50 мин (КЭ-помощь)
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]30.12 вс
[col] Приватная беседа с семьей
[col] БИ1 – 20 мин
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]30.12 вс
[col] Приватная психологическая конференция
[col] БИ1 – 15 мин
[col]
 
[row color=darkblue:e51e5301cc]
[col]Дооснащение РС МКС
[col]
[col]
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]24.12 пн
[col] Дооснащение системы управления бортовой аппаратурой: модернизация каналов бортовой сети CAN интерфейса, обеспечивающей связь БВС с вычислительными средствами ИУС
[col] БИ1 – 1 час
[col]
 
[row color=darkblue:e51e5301cc]
[col]Ремонтно-восстановительные работы
[col]
[col]
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]28,29.12
[col]Работы с системой обеспечения теплового режима СМ:прокладка и подключение кабель-вставки между матричными коммутаторами и пультом управления воздушными нагревателями (ПУВН); включение насосов наружного контура охлаждения с блока ПУВН
[col] Суммарно: БИ1 – 3 час 40 мин
[col]
 
[row color=darkblue:e51e5301cc]
[col]Техническое обслуживание систем
[col]
[col]
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]Ежедн.
[col]Техническое обслуживание системы обеспечения жизнедеятельности : замена по рекомендации с Земли одного из блоков СОЖ,  переработка конденсата АС; 27.12– контроль положения  ИП-1; 30.12– сброс информации со счетчиков систем водообеспечения и санитарно-гигиенического обеспечения и устройства обеззараживания воздуха «Поток»
[col] БИ1 – 40 мин
[col]
 

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]24, 25 и 27.12
[col]Техническое обслуживание системы обеспечения газового состава
[col]
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]
[col]24.12- проверка технологического срабатывания аварийных вакуумных клапанов системы очистки атмосферы «Воздух»
[col] БИ1 – 40 мин; КЭ – 20 мин (помощь)
[col]
 
[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]
[col]24, 25.12- регенерация поглотительных патронов блока очистки атмосферы от микропримесей
[col] Суммарно: БИ1 – 1 час
[col] Длительность регенерации 11-12 час

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]24, 28.12
[col]Техническое обслуживание системы вентиляции
[col]
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]
[col]24.12 -чистка сетки на газожидкостном теплообменнике, вентиляционных решеток на панелях интерьера и защитных сеток вентилятора в ФГБ
[col] БИ2 – 3 час 15 мин
[col]
 
[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]
[col]28.12 -профилактика средств вентиляции СМ (группа А); замена фильтров пылесборников в СО1
[col] БИ2 – 1 час 20 мин
[col]
 
[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]24, 28.12
[col]Техническое обслуживание системы водообеспечения:
[col]
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]
[col]24.12 - замена фильтра газожидкостной смеси системы регенерации воды из конденсата СРВ-К2М
[col] БИ1 – 1 час
[col]
 
[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]
[col]28.12– заправка контейнера очищенной воды для системы «Электрон»
[col] БИ1 – 40 мин
[col]
 

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]29.12 сб
[col] Замена емкости и шланга Е-К системы АСУ
[col] КЭ – 1 час 30 мин
[col]
 
[row color=darkblue:e51e5301cc]
[col]Прочие работы
[col]
[col]
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]Ежедн.
[col] Сброс файлов c научной и служебной информацией через бортовую информационно-телеметрическую систему и блок сопряжения с системой «Регул»
[col] ЦУП
[col] На всех видимых витках

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]24, 27-29.12
[col]Работы по инвентаризации:
[col]
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]
[col]24, 27-29.12 - редактирование данных системы инвентаризации
[col] БИ1 – 40 мин
[col]
 
[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]
[col]28.12– телефонные переговоры по инвентаризации
[col] БИ1 – 15 мин
[col]
 
[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]27.12 чт
[col] Предновогодняя пресс-конференция с журналистами
[col] 3 чел – 10 мин
[col] Через АС

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]30.12 вс
[col] Новогоднее поздравление от ТВ-канала « Russia today »
[col] 3 чел – 10 мин
[col]
 
[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]28.12 пт
[col] Еженедельная конференция экипажа с руководством ГОГУ
[col] 3 чел – 15 мин
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]30.12 вс
[col] Еженедельная влажная уборка станции
[col] 3 чел – 3 час
[col]
 
[row color=darkblue:e51e5301cc]
[col]Совместные работы по программе Американского Сегмента
[col]
[col]
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]24.12 пн
[col] Отработка навыков ответственного за медицинские операции
[col] КЭ, БИ1 – 30 мин
[col]
 

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]27.12 чт
[col] Конференция экипажа с руководством офиса астронавтов
[col] 3 чел – 20 мин
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]27.12 чт
[col] Подготовка и проведение пресс-конференции с журналистами WMAQ - TV и WHO - TV
[col] 3 чел – 30 мин
[col]
 
[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]28.12 пт
[col] Оценка уровня слуха, снятие аудиограммы с использованием ПМО EARQ  
[col] БИ1 – 20 мин
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]28.12 пт
[col] Конференция экипажа с руководителем полета
[col] 3 чел – 20 мин
[col]

[row color=#303030:e51e5301cc]
[col]29.12 сб
[col] Еженедельная конференция по планированию
[col] 3 чел – 30 мин
[col]
[/table]

[krypton]

03.01 чт  Перекачка урины в бак для воды системы «Родник» ТКГ «Прогресс М-62»  БИ1 – 3 час
 
После этой строки стал легче воспринимать грядущий поход 3-го на работу, с неизбежной уборкой застольного свинарничка. Не одному мне придётся ...

[Liss]

[row]
[col color=darkblue:2611386eec]
ISS On-Orbit Status 12/24/07

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.   Underway: Week 10 of Increment 16.  Merry Christmas and Great Holidays to everyone!

[row]
[col color=#303030:2611386eec]
Progress M-62/27P is continuing its 3-day flight to the ISS for docking Wednesday morning (12/26) at ~3:25am EST at the DC1 nadir port.   All onboard tests (TV, KURS, TORU), performed today during RGS (Russian ground site) passes, were without issues.

Before breakfast, FE-2 Dan Tani and CDR Peggy Whitson completed their daily access of the SLEEP experiment (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight) software for data logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the experiment's laptop session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink.    [To monitor the crewmembers' sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Dan and Peggy wear a special Actiwatch device which measures the light levels encountered by him as well as his patterns of sleep and activity throughout the Expedition.  The log entries are done within 15 minutes of final awakening for seven consecutive days, as part of the crew's discretionary "job jar" task list.]

FE-1 performed troubleshooting on one (A1) of the two redundant BSV-M (Frequency & Time Synchronization System, i.e., Master Clock) units in the Service Module (SM).    [After a software update on the Russian BSPN payload server on 11/8, ground analysis of the BSPN log file on 11/12 discovered a failure of channel 2 of the BSPN CAN interface.  Since BSV-M A1 is needed for nominal operation with the payload server, Malenchenko today switched connections of CAN channel 1 to BSV-M A2 before a new BSV-MA1 unit is delivered next February on Progress 28P.]

Later, Malenchenko performed the periodic communication check and time synchronization between the BSPN payload server and the ISS "Wiener" power laptop, using the RSC-E "PingMaster" program, used for network checkouts.

Yuri also serviced the Russian BMP (Harmful Impurities Removal System), starting the "bake-out" cycle to vacuum on absorbent bed #1 of the regenerable dual-channel filtration system.  The regen process will be terminated before sleeptime, at ~4:15pm EST.  Regeneration of bed #2 follows tomorrow.    [Regeneration of each of the two cartridges takes about 12 hours and is conducted only during crew awake periods.]

CDR Whitson conducted the third and final session of the LOCAD-PTS (Lab-on-a-Chip Application Development-Portable Test System)/Phase 2 operations, sampling four of the sites that were identified in the CHeCS SSK (Crew Health Care Systems/Surface Sampler Kit) procedure also scheduled for today.    [The goal is to compare LOCAD results with the SSK colony growth results.  LOCAD uses small, thumb-sized "microfluidic" cartridges that are read by the experiment reader.  The cartridges contain dried extract of horseshoe crab blood cells and colorless dye. In the presence of the bacteria, the dried extract reacts strongly to turn the dye a green color. Therefore, the more green dye, the more microorganisms there are in the original sample.  The handheld device tests this new analysis technology by sampling for the presence of gram negative bacteria in the sample in about 15 minutes, showing the results on a display screen.   Background:  Lab-on-a-Chip technology has an ever-expanding range of applications in the biotech industry.  Chips are available (or in development) which can also detect yeast, mold, and gram positive bacteria, identify environmental contaminants, and perform quick health diagnostics in medical clinics.  The technology has been used to swab the MERs (Mars Exploration Rovers) for planetary protection.  With expanded testing on ISS, began by Sunita Williams in March/April this year, this compact technology has broad potential applications in space exploration--from monitoring environmental conditions to monitoring crew health. The current study should prepare for long-duration exploration by demonstrating a system that enables the crew to perform biochemical analysis in space without having to return samples to Earth.]

During Peggy's LOCAD activities, FE-2 Tani collected SSK microbiological surface samples at specific locations near air diffusers and later also sampled the cabin atmosphere by collecting air samples with the MAS (Microbial Air Sampler) kit at mid-module.    [Bacterial and fungal air samples are usually taken at two locations in the module being checked.  The colony growth on the MAS sampling slides is analyzed after five days of incubation in four Petri dishes.  For onboard visual analysis of media slides from SSK (Surface Sampling Kit), the crew has a procedure for visual inspection of samples for bacterial and fungal colony growths after appropriate incubation periods.]

Whitson and Malenchenko each performed the CHeCS CMO (Crew Medical Officer) on-board training drill, a (generally) monthly 30-min. video & audio refresher course, taken individually, to hone the CMO's acuity in emergency medical operations.    [The proficiency drill focuses on re-familiarization with skills and techniques required in procedures related to medical issues arising on board and concludes with a self-assessment questionnaire.  The HMS (Health Maintenance Systems) hardware, which includes ACLS (Advanced Cardio Life Support) equipment, may be used in contingency situations where crew life is at risk.  To maintain proficiency, crewmembers spend one hour per month reviewing HMS and ACLS equipment and procedures via the HMS CBT (computer-based training) and the ACLS CBT.]

Yuri and Peggy also conducted a one-hour refresher teleconference on the upcoming Progress 27P docking using the TORU manual backup control system in the event of a failure of the automated KURS system.

Dan Tani performed his daily status check on the BCAT-3 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3) science payload, running by itself in Node-2 since 12/13 (briefly interrupted for EVA-13 photo support).  The status check, conducted on the last image taken by the DCS 760 digital still camera which is controlled by EarthKAM software on an A31p laptop, is to verify proper image focus and camera alignment.    [The SSC (Station Support Computer) is taking photography of the phase separation occurring in the BCAT Sample 3, with the photo flash going off every half hour.]

Working on the SM's SOZh (Environment Control & Life Support System) plumbing system, the FE-1 removed & replaced the life-expired gas-liquid mixture filter (FGS) in the powered-down condensate water processor (SRVK-2M), discarding the old unit.

Starting a new round of periodic preventive maintenance of RS (Russian Segment) ventilation systems, the FE-2 worked in the FGB (Funktsionalnyi-Grusovoi Blok) to clean the vent screens of specific interior closeout panels (116, 231, 316 & 431), then moved on to do the detachable VT7 fan screens 1, 2 & 3 of the three SOTR (Thermal Control System) gas-liquid heat exchangers (GZhT4) and finished by cleaning the TsV1 fan grille.

FE-1 Malenchenko unstowed and set up the electric equipment for the upcoming operation of the new Russian/Japanese (JAXA) experiment 3DPC-J (3D Photon Crystals), with its main unit to be delivered on 27P.  The experiment is scheduled for 12/26. [3DPC hardware was removed by Valery Tokarev on 3/23/06 as part of closing out JAXA's 3D-PCGF Growth Facility and was inadvertently returned to Earth.  3DPC studies the production of 3D photonic crystals, from UV LEDs, through self-organization and ordering of colloid nanoparticles in an electrolyte solution with subsequent fixation in an elastic gel matrix.]

Yuri also configured the onboard Russian TV system with its conversion to Ku-band in support of an extended (10:00am-1:00pm) ground-controlled multicast downlink operation in digital packets to MCC-H and then on to TsUP-Moscow via the COL-CC (Columbus Control Center) in Oberpfaffenhofen, as a test for the Progress 27P docking on 12/26 morning.

The CDR relocated the TEPC (Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter), the primary radiation measurement tool in the ISS, to Node-2.    [Peggy also swapped out the power/data cable and wrapped the new cable with a layer of Kapton tape, to prevent the creation of debris if the cable's mesh sheathing starts to degrade, as seen on the current cable.]

With the Vozdukh CO2 removal system running in automated mode, the FE-1 performed the periodic (monthly) functional closure test of its spare emergency vacuum valves (AVK), in the spare parts kit.  Afterwards, Malenchenko switched the Vozdukh back to manual mode 5 via the on-board computer system.    [The AVKs are critical because they close the Vozdukh's vacuum access lines in the event of a malfunction in the regular vacuum valves (BVK) or a depressurization in the Vozdukh valve panel (BOA).  Access to vacuum is required to vent CO2 during the regeneration of the absorbent cartridges (PP).  During nominal operation, the AVK valves remain open.]

CDR Whitson ran the periodic check of active U.S. payloads, i.e., cleaning the ANITA (Analyzing Interferometer for Ambient Air) inlet plus inspecting and filter cleaning of the CGBA-5 (Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus 5) incubator payload.    [The CGBA incubator is controlled from the ground, with automatic video downlinked to Earth.  ANITA continues to collect data every six seconds and downlinks the data daily to the ground team.  ANITA monitors low levels of potential gaseous contaminants in the ISS cabin atmosphere with a capability of simultaneously monitoring 32 gaseous contaminants. The experiment is testing the accuracy and reliability of this technology as a potential next-generation atmosphere trace-gas monitoring system for ISS and future spacecraft. This is a cooperative investigation with ESA.]

Peggy conducted a maintenance inspection on the CEVIS (Cycle Ergometer with Vibration Isolation) and took video imagery of damaged isolators for ground inspection.

The FE-2 configured the video equipment in the SM for filming Peggy's and his own subsequent workout on the RED resistive exerciser, for biomechanical assessment of the hardware status by ground engineers.   [The footage from the two sessions was then to be transferred from camcorder to VTR (Video Tape Recorder) for subsequent downlink to the ground when Ku-band is available.]

The crewmembers performed their regular 2.5-hr physical workout program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the CEVIS cycle ergometer (CDR), TVIS treadmill with vibration isolation (FE-1, FE-2), RED resistive exercise device (CDR, FE-2) and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1).

Afterwards, Dan Tani copied the exercise data file to the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer) laptop for downlink, including the daily wristband HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) data of the workouts on RED, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium (done six times a week).

Peggy performed the routine servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM.   [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists, among else, of checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers.]

Working from his "time permitting" discretionary task list, the FE-1 later handled the daily IMS maintenance, updating/editing its standard "delta file" including stowage locations, for the regular weekly automated export/import to its three databases on the ground (Houston, Moscow, Baikonur).

At ~3:50pm EST, Dan Tani is scheduled for a PFC (Private Family Conference) via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on the SSC-9 laptop).

CEO photo targets uplinked for today again were Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMC — also known as noctilucent clouds) over selected ground sites (12 minutes for each).  (Southern spring is the season for relatively uncommon polar mesospheric clouds to form very high over Antarctica.  PMC are being studied as part of the International Polar Year [IPY] investigation of climate change in high latitudes. PMC form in the stratosphere and higher, i.e. well above the lowest layer of the atmosphere [troposphere, or weather layer, characterized by clouds, and an orange tinge produced by brushfire smoke, smog, etc.].  The AIM satellite (Aeronomy of Ice in the Atmosphere) has just been launched to investigate how PMC form and why they are apparently becoming thicker and brighter.  ISS/CEO imagery will complement images from AIM and from the ground.  The collaborating IPY scientist is excited to receive any images ISS may acquire.  Collaborating Swedish scientists have arrived at a base in Antarctica (73S 13 W) for PMC observation.)

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov  (about 700,000 NASA digital photographs of Earth are downloaded by the public each month from this "Gateway" site);
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/AstronautPhotography

[row]
[col color=#303430:2611386eec]
ISS Orbit  (as of this morning, 7:14am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude -- 336.1 km
Apogee height -- 336.9 km
Perigee height -- 335.2 km
Period -- 91.25 min.
Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.64 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0001208
Solar Beta Angle -- -66.4 deg (magnitude increasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.78
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours -- 95 m  
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) -- 52080

[row]
[col color=#303034:2611386eec]
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Standard, some changes possible. NET = Not Earlier Than):
12/26/07 -- Progress M-62/27P docking (DC1); ~3:25am
12/30/07 -- ISS Reboost (phasing)
01/10/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E launch -- Columbus Module, ICC-Lite.
01/12/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E docking
01/21/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E undocking
01/31/08 -- Explorer-1 50 Years (1st U.S. Satellite on Redstone rocket)  [Check it out at http://usspace50.com ]
02/06/08 -- Progress M-62/27P undocking & reentry
02/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P launch
02/09/08 -- Progress M-63/28P docking (DC1)
02/22/08 -- ATV-1 "Jules Verne" launch/Ariane V (Kourou, French Guyana)
02/14/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A launch/1J/A, ~11:53am, w/SLP-SPDM, JEM ELM-PS
02/16/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A docking
02/27/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour undocking
02/29/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour landing
03/06/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 1
03/12/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 2
03/15/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 3 & Docking (SM aft port)
04/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P undocking (DC1) & reentry
04/08/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S launch
04/10/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S docking (DC1)
04/19/08 -- Soyuz TMA-11/15S undocking (FGB nadir port)
04/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S relocation (from DC1 to FGB nadir port)
04/24/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J launch – JEM PM "Kibo", racks, RMS
04/26/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J docking
05/04/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J undocking
05/14/08 -- Progress M-64/29P launch
05/16/08 -- Progress M-64/29P docking (DC1)
08/07/08 -- NET: ATV-1 undocking (from SM aft port)
08/12/08 -- Progress M-65/30P launch
08/14/08 -- Progress M-65/30P docking (SM aft port)
09/09/08 -- Progress M-64/29P undocking (from DC1)
09/10/08 -- Progress M-66/31P launch
09/12/08 -- Progress M-66/31P docking (DC1)
09/18/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 launch – MPLM Leonardo, LMC
09/20/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 docking
10/01/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 undocking.
10/01/08 -- NASA 50 Years
10/11/08 -- Progress M-65/30P undocking (from SM aft port)
10/12/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S launch
10/14/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S docking (SM aft port)
10/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S undocking (FGB nadir)
11/03/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S relocation (from SM aft to FGB nadir)
11/06/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A launch – S6 truss segment
11/08/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A docking
11/17/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A undocking
11/20/08 -- ISS 10 Years
11/26/08 -- Progress M-67/32P launch
11/28/08 -- Progress M-67/32P docking (SM aft port)
04/15/09 -- Constellation's Ares I-X Launch
05/??/09 -- Six-person crew on ISS  (following Soyuz 18S-2 docking)
04/??/10 -- STS-132/Discovery/20A – Node-3 + Cupola.
[/table]

[Liss]

[row]
[col color=darkblue:79495571d0]
ISS On-Orbit Status 12/25/07

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.   Off-duty day for the crew.

Merry Christmas!

[row]
[col color=#303030:79495571d0]
Progress M-62/27P is continuing its 3-day flight to the ISS for docking tomorrow morning (12/26) at ~3:25am EST at the DC1 nadir port.   All onboard tests (TV, KURS, TORU) and the DV3 burn on Orbit 33, during RGS (Russian ground site) passes were nominal.   (See Timeline, below).

Before breakfast, FE-2 Dan Tani and CDR Peggy Whitson completed their daily access of the SLEEP experiment (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight) software for data logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the experiment's laptop session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink.    [To monitor the crewmembers' sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Dan and Peggy wear a special Actiwatch device which measures the light levels encountered by him as well as his patterns of sleep and activity throughout the Expedition.  The log entries are done within 15 minutes of final awakening for seven consecutive days, as part of the crew's discretionary "job jar" task list.]

FE-1 Malenchenko serviced the Russian BMP (Harmful Impurities Removal System), starting the "bake-out" cycle to vacuum on absorbent bed #2 of the regenerable dual-channel filtration system.  The regen process will be terminated at ~2:45pm EST.   [Regeneration of each of the two cartridges takes about 12 hours and is conducted only during crew awake periods.  Filter bed 1 was regenerated yesterday.]

Yuri also performed the routine servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM.   [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists, among else, of checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers.]

The crewmembers completed their regular 2.5-hr physical workout program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the CEVIS cycle ergometer (FE-2), TVIS treadmill with vibration isolation (CDR, FE-1), RED resistive exercise device (CDR, FE-2) and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1).

Afterwards, Peggy copied the exercise data file to the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer) laptop for downlink, including the daily wristband HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) data of the workouts on RED, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium (done six times a week).

At ~1:00pm, Dan Tani had a PFC (Private Family Conference) via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on the SSC-10 laptop).

At ~11:30am, CDT Whitson conducted a teleconference with the Houston Flight Control Team (FCT).

ASN-M Testing:   TsUP-Moscow began with tests of the ASN-M Satellite Navigation System over six orbits, without crew involvement.   [ASN-M is required for ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) "Jules Verne" prox ops next year.]

Timeline for 27P Approach & Docking (all times EST):

ISS mnvr to dock attitude:  12:50am – 1:40am (-XVV –YLV)
Start of automated rendezvous:   12:56am
Progress Kurs-A activation:   1:42:30am
SM Kurs-P activation:   1:44:30am
Good Kurs-P data at 80 km:   2:09:36am
Range = 9km – VHF-2 activation (TORU cmd link):   2:36am
Range = 8km – Progress TV activation:  2:37am
Flyaround mode start:   2:54am
Stationkeeping start:   3:03am
RGS AOS:   3:15am
Final Approach start:   3:17am
27P Docking at DC1 nadir port:   3:25am
RGS LOS:   3:37am
Progress hooks closed:   3:46am
CEO photo targets uplinked for today again were Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMC — also known as noctilucent clouds) over selected ground sites (12 minutes for each).  Also suggested for Dan Tani were a series of night photographs of city lights.  (Use of the footprint of city lights as a proxy for population size and density [in different cultures/economies] is proving out as a workable method of observing population change through time).

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov  (about 700,000 NASA digital photographs of Earth are downloaded by the public each month from this "Gateway" site);
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/AstronautPhotography

[row]
[col color=#303430:79495571d0]
ISS Orbit  (as of this morning, 9:13am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude -- 336.0 km
Apogee height -- 336.7 km
Perigee height -- 335.4 km
Period -- 91.25 min.
Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.64 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0000965
Solar Beta Angle -- -70.2 deg (magnitude increasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.78
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours -- 16 m  
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) -- 52097

[row]
[col color=#303034:79495571d0]
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Standard, some changes possible. NET = Not Earlier Than):
12/26/07 -- Progress M-62/27P docking (DC1); ~3:25am
12/30/07 -- ISS Reboost (phasing)
01/10/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E launch -- Columbus Module, ICC-Lite.
01/12/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E docking
01/21/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E undocking
01/31/08 -- Explorer-1 50 Years (1st U.S. Satellite on Redstone rocket)  [Check it out at http://usspace50.com ]
02/06/08 -- Progress M-62/27P undocking & reentry
02/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P launch
02/09/08 -- Progress M-63/28P docking (DC1)
02/22/08 -- ATV-1 "Jules Verne" launch/Ariane V (Kourou, French Guyana)
02/14/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A launch/1J/A, ~11:53am, w/SLP-SPDM, JEM ELM-PS
02/16/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A docking
02/27/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour undocking
02/29/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour landing
03/06/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 1
03/12/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 2
03/15/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 3 & Docking (SM aft port)
04/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P undocking (DC1) & reentry
04/08/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S launch
04/10/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S docking (DC1)
04/19/08 -- Soyuz TMA-11/15S undocking (FGB nadir port)
04/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S relocation (from DC1 to FGB nadir port)
04/24/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J launch – JEM PM "Kibo", racks, RMS
04/26/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J docking
05/04/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J undocking
05/14/08 -- Progress M-64/29P launch
05/16/08 -- Progress M-64/29P docking (DC1)
08/07/08 -- NET: ATV-1 undocking (from SM aft port)
08/12/08 -- Progress M-65/30P launch
08/14/08 -- Progress M-65/30P docking (SM aft port)
09/09/08 -- Progress M-64/29P undocking (from DC1)
09/10/08 -- Progress M-66/31P launch
09/12/08 -- Progress M-66/31P docking (DC1)
09/18/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 launch – MPLM Leonardo, LMC
09/20/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 docking
10/01/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 undocking.
10/01/08 -- NASA 50 Years
10/11/08 -- Progress M-65/30P undocking (from SM aft port)
10/12/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S launch
10/14/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S docking (SM aft port)
10/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S undocking (FGB nadir)
11/03/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S relocation (from SM aft to FGB nadir)
11/06/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A launch – S6 truss segment
11/08/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A docking
11/17/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A undocking
11/20/08 -- ISS 10 Years
11/26/08 -- Progress M-67/32P launch
11/28/08 -- Progress M-67/32P docking (SM aft port)
04/15/09 -- Constellation's Ares I-X Launch
05/??/09 -- Six-person crew on ISS  (following Soyuz 18S-2 docking)
04/??/10 -- STS-132/Discovery/20A – Node-3 + Cupola
[/table]

[Liss]

[row]
[col color=darkblue:741239d9df]
ISS On-Orbit Status 12/26/07

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.

[row]
[col color=#303030:741239d9df]
Yest kasaniye!   Progress M-62 (27P), approaching from below the station, docked nominally at the DC1 Docking Compartment nadir port at 3:14am EST, with automatic AO-VKA orientation antenna retraction, followed by docking probe retraction and hook closure ("sborka") at 3:23am after motion damp-out, while the ISS was in free drift.    [Launched 12/23 (2:12am EST), the 27P resupply drone delivered about 2.5 tons of cargo for the ISS crews, including propellants for the Russian thrusters, fresh water, oxygen, food, spare parts, repair gear, life support and science experiment hardware.  For the docking, ISS attitude control authority was handed over to Russian MCS (Motion Control System) thrusters at 11:48pm and returned to US Momentum Management at 5:06am.  Starting with TV camera activation at ~2:37am (range ~8 km), the KURS TV camera display data overlay failed to show through docking despite attempts by the crew to activate the numerical display.  The docking took place nominally, without violation of any joint flight rules, since Malenchenko and Whitson had all numerical data on a laptop before them.  Telemetry was also available in TsUP-Moscow.]

In preparation for the docking, FE-2 Dan Tani set up the IWIS (Internal Wireless Instrumentation System) equipment for measuring structural dynamics disturbances (accelerations/vibrations) during docking.    [RSUs (Remote Sensing Units) were connected to power outlets in Lab, Node-1, SM (Service Module) and FGB, with data transmitted to the Lab NCU (Network Control Unit) from the RS via cable, not wireless (due to previous experience with lack of RF signal strength).  Later, the IWIS was powered down and the RS units removed and stowed.]

Earlier today, FE-1 Malenchenko and CDR Whitson had completed final preparations for Progress arrival, including turning off amateur (ham) radio equipment in the ISS to prevent any interference with Progress/KURS radio traffic, and activation of the SSC6 (Station Support Computer 6) A31p laptop in the FGB for handling the video transmission from the Russian segment (RS) via the Ku-band assets in the USOS.    [The A31p used for the routing from the SM is located in the FGB since available cables are not long enough to extend to the Node.  The video signal is fed from there via coaxial cable to the SSC Operations LAN (local area network) and from there into the Ku-band system for subsequent conversion from the Russian SECAM format to the American NTSC format on the ground.  The newly set up VSW (Video Streaming Workstation) failed to convert and/or downlink analog video of the docking to MCC-Houston and thence to TsUP-Moscow.  A second video stream, a digital MPEG (Moving Pictures Expert Group 2) transmission originating in the RS by the Russian/ESA encoder, passed without problem via the ISS JSL (Joint Station LAN) through Ku-band to both MCCs. ]

Malenchenko and Whitson then monitored the docking process from the TORU (teleoperated approach & docking system) station in the SM, in "hot standby" mode, and took photography of the Progress approach and linkup.

After the docking, the FE-1 shut off TORU and began reconfiguring the STTS telephone/telegraph subsystem to normal ops.   [The "Voskhod-M" STTS enables telephone communications between the SM, FGB, DC1 and U.S. segment (USOS), and also with users on the ground over VHF channels selected by an operator at an SM comm panel, via STTS antennas on the SM's outside.  There are six comm panels in the SM with pushbuttons for accessing any of three audio channels, plus an intercom channel.  Other modes of the STTS include telegraphy (teletype), EVA voice, emergency alarms, Packet/Email, and TORU docking support.]

The crew then conducted the standard one-hour leak checks of the docking vestibule and fuel/oxidizer transfer line interface between Progress and DC1.  During leak checking and initial clamp installation, Russian thrusters were inhibited (as they were during docking).

After opening the two hatches, Yuri and Peggy first installed the QD (quick disconnect) screw clamps (BZV) of the docking & internal transfer mechanism (SSVP) to rigidize the coupling, and the FE-1 removed the PkhO/DC1 (SU) hatch cover, reinstalled the IP-1 airflow sensor and assembled the ventilation/heating air duct.

Next, Malenchenko performed the standard air sampling inside the Progress with the Russian AK-1M air sampler, then deactivated the cargo ship.  At the same time, the CDR also collected samples with a GSC (Grab Sample Container) at the center of 27P.

Peggy and Yuri then began Progress unloading and cargo transfer to the ISS, accompanied by IMS (Inventory Management System) logging.   Malenchenko's first priority for the transfer was the new Japanese (JAXA) 3DPC-J (3D Photon Crystals) experiment, which Yuri set up in the SM.    [3DPC hardware had been removed by Valery Tokarev on 3/23/06 as part of closing out JAXA's 3D-PCGF Growth Facility and was inadvertently returned to Earth.  3DPC studies the production of 3D photonic crystals, from UV LEDs, through self-organization and ordering of colloid nanoparticles in an electrolyte solution with subsequent fixation in an elastic gel matrix.]

CDR Whitson and FE-2 Tani had started the day with their daily reading of the SLEEP experiment (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight) data accumulated during the night, for logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the experiment's laptop session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink.    [To monitor the crewmembers' sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Dan and Peggy wear a special Actiwatch device which measures the light levels encountered by him as well as his patterns of sleep and activity throughout the Expedition.  The log entries are done within 15 minutes of final awakening for seven consecutive days, as part of the crew's discretionary "job jar" task list.]

The FE-2 conducted his daily status check on the BCAT-3 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3) science payload, running by itself in Node-2 since 12/13 (briefly interrupted for EVA-13 photo support).  The status check, conducted on the last image taken by the DCS 760 digital still camera which is controlled by EarthKAM software on an A31p laptop, is to verify proper image focus and camera alignment.    [The SSC (Station Support Computer) is taking photography of the phase separation occurring in the BCAT Sample 3, with the photo flash going off every half hour.]

Dan Tani performed the periodic offloading of the Lab CCAA (Common Cabin Air Assembly) dehumidifier's condensate tank, filling CWC (Contingency Water Container) #1062 with the collected water slated for processing, and putting aside two water samples in bags (1 sample bag, 1 purge bag) for return to Earth.   [Estimated offload time before termination (leaving ~6 kg in the tank): ~40 min.  Dan   There is currently continued attention on water sampling after the discovery of some contaminated CWCs.  The identified contaminant, a common soil bacterium (unicellular organism) called Wautersia after Belgian microbiologist Georges Wauters, is no more critical than what is found often in faucet water on the ground or in farm soil.  Wautersia lives off hydrogen & carbon dioxide, oxidizing H2 and producing gaseous oxyhydrogen as energy for itself.  Since it can turn sugar into a synthetic biodegradable fuel, it was seen for a short while as a promising long-term solution to the petroleum dependency, until it became clear that this "solution" would require gigantic amounts of expensive sugar.]

Dan Tani worked on the RED (Resistive Exercise Device), replacing two canister pulley cables (done after every 53,515 cycles, based on life cycle testing results & safety controls), afterwards concluding with the standard Flexpac canister load calibration as required after cable replacements. (Last time done: 11/1).   [In  addition to the cords, the FE-2 also replaced the aft (right canister's) spiral pulley and a few of the bottom cover fasteners.  Cables are replaced periodically after ground analysis shows cable life has expired.  Dan's on-orbit calibration of the Schwinn RED cans re-established the relationship of specific load settings with a specific number of pulls per setting, followed by recording of the load values measured with a calibration tool and steel handles from the on-orbit calibration kit.]

The crewmembers completed their regular 2.5-hr physical workout program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the CEVIS cycle ergometer (FE-2), TVIS treadmill with vibration isolation (CDR, FE-1), and RED (CDR, FE-2).

Afterwards, Tani copied the exercise data file to the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer) laptop for downlink, including the daily wristband HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) data of the workouts on RED, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium (done six times a week).

Yuri took care of the routine servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM.   [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists, among else, of checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers.]

Peggy Whitson readied the PZE MO-9 equipment for another Russian "Urolux" biochemical urine testing, scheduled tomorrow for all three crewmembers.    [MO-9 is conducted regularly every 30 days (and also before and after EVAs) and is one of five nominal Russian medical tests adopted by NASA for US crewmembers for IMG (Integrated Medical Group) PHS evaluation as part of the "PFE w/o Blood Labs" exam.  The analysis uses the sophisticated in-vitro diagnostic apparatus Urolux developed originally for the Mir program.  The data are then entered in the Medical Equipment Computer (MEC)'s special IFEP (In-Flight Examination Program) software.]

Later today, before sleep time, Dan Tani will ready the equipment for the periodic acoustic measurement protocol by deploying crew-worn acoustic dosimeters to the station residents, to be carried overnight with a microphone on the shirt collar.  (Last time done: 9/11).    [Tomorrow, after about 15 hours of measurements, dosimeter data will be downloaded and the hardware power-cycled for another data take.  At that point, the crew will deploy the dosimeters statically in the station for the duration of the day, record measurements tomorrow noon and stow the instruments.  Acoustic data must be taken twice per Increment, each time for the duration of the 16-hour crew workday.]

The FE-2 has two PFCs (Private Family Conference) scheduled, via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on the SSC-10 laptop), one with Clay Anderson at ~1:20pm , the other with his family at ~2:55pm.

Weekend Voluntary Science:    For the voluntary "Saturday Science" program on 12/29, Dan was offered, for his acceptance, a session with the SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites) experiment, flying two & three satellites and testing various deployment conditions aimed at operations improvement.

CEO photo targets uplinked for today again were Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMC — also known as noctilucent clouds) over selected ground sites (12 minutes for each).  Also suggested for Dan Tani were a series of night photographs of city lights.  (Use of the footprint of city lights as a proxy for population size and density [in different cultures/economies] is proving out as a workable method of observing population change through time).

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov  (about 700,000 NASA digital photographs of Earth are downloaded by the public each month from this "Gateway" site);
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/AstronautPhotography

[row]
[col color=#303430:741239d9df]
ISS Orbit  (as of this morning, 7:57am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude -- 336.0 km
Apogee height -- 336.8 km
Perigee height -- 335.1 km
Period -- 91.25 min.
Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.64 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0001257
Solar Beta Angle -- -73.1 deg (magnitude increasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.78
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours -- 82 m  
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) -- 52112

[row]
[col color=#303034:741239d9df]
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Standard, some changes possible. NET = Not Earlier Than):
12/30/07 -- ISS Reboost (phasing)
01/10/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E launch -- Columbus Module, ICC-Lite.
01/12/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E docking
01/21/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E undocking
01/31/08 -- Explorer-1 50 Years (1st U.S. Satellite on Redstone rocket)  [Check it out at http://usspace50.com ]
02/06/08 -- Progress M-62/27P undocking & reentry
02/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P launch
02/09/08 -- Progress M-63/28P docking (DC1)
02/22/08 -- ATV-1 "Jules Verne" launch/Ariane V (Kourou, French Guyana)
02/14/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A launch/1J/A, ~11:53am, w/SLP-SPDM, JEM ELM-PS
02/16/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A docking
02/27/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour undocking
02/29/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour landing
03/06/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 1
03/12/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 2
03/15/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 3 & Docking (SM aft port)
04/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P undocking (DC1) & reentry
04/08/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S launch
04/10/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S docking (DC1)
04/19/08 -- Soyuz TMA-11/15S undocking (FGB nadir port)
04/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S relocation (from DC1 to FGB nadir port)
04/24/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J launch – JEM PM "Kibo", racks, RMS
04/26/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J docking
05/04/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J undocking
05/14/08 -- Progress M-64/29P launch
05/16/08 -- Progress M-64/29P docking (DC1)
08/07/08 -- NET: ATV-1 undocking (from SM aft port)
08/12/08 -- Progress M-65/30P launch
08/14/08 -- Progress M-65/30P docking (SM aft port)
09/09/08 -- Progress M-64/29P undocking (from DC1)
09/10/08 -- Progress M-66/31P launch
09/12/08 -- Progress M-66/31P docking (DC1)
09/18/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 launch – MPLM Leonardo, LMC
09/20/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 docking
10/01/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 undocking.
10/01/08 -- NASA 50 Years
10/11/08 -- Progress M-65/30P undocking (from SM aft port)
10/12/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S launch
10/14/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S docking (SM aft port)
10/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S undocking (FGB nadir)
11/03/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S relocation (from SM aft to FGB nadir)
11/06/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A launch – S6 truss segment
11/08/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A docking
11/17/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A undocking
11/20/08 -- ISS 10 Years
11/26/08 -- Progress M-67/32P launch
11/28/08 -- Progress M-67/32P docking (SM aft port)
04/15/09 -- Constellation's Ares I-X Launch
05/??/09 -- Six-person crew on ISS  (following Soyuz 18S-2 docking)
04/??/10 -- STS-132/Discovery/20A – Node-3 + Cupola.
[/table]

[Liss]

[row]
[col color=darkblue:3c97cb3394]
ISS On-Orbit Status 12/27/07

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.

[row]
[col color=#303030:3c97cb3394]
CDR Whitson and FE-2 Tani started the day with their daily reading of SLEEP experiment (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight) data accumulated during the night, for logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the experiment's laptop session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink.    [To monitor the crewmembers' sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Dan and Peggy wear a special Actiwatch device which measures the light levels encountered by him as well as his patterns of sleep and activity throughout the Expedition.  The log entries are done within 15 minutes of final awakening for seven consecutive days, as part of the crew's discretionary "job jar" task list.]

Also upon wake-up, FE-2 Tani started Part 3 (of 5) of the periodic acoustic measurement protocol by recording post-sleep data of the crew-worn acoustic dosimeters, later deploying the dosimeters statically in the Service Module (SM) (Panel 404 near SM air conditioner, SM Central Post, & Vozdukh) for the duration of the day, then recording measurements this afternoon (~4:10pm EST) and stowing the instruments (Parts 4 & 5).   [Acoustic data must be taken twice per Increment, each time for the duration of the 16-hour crew workday.]

Before breakfast & first exercise, Whitson, Malenchenko and Tani completed a full session with the Russian crew health monitoring program's medical assessment MO-9/Biochemical Urinalysis.  Afterwards, the FE-1 closed out and stowed the Urolux hardware.   [MO-9 is conducted every 30 days (and also before and after EVAs) and is one of five nominal Russian medical tests adopted by NASA for U.S. crewmembers for IMG PHS (Integrated Medical Group/Periodic Health Status) evaluation as part of the "PHS/Without Blood Labs" exam.  The analysis uses the sophisticated in-vitro diagnostic apparatus Urolux developed originally for the Mir program.  Afterwards, the data are entered in the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer)'s special IFEP software (In-Flight Examination Program).]

At ~5:30am, the FE-2 again activated the VDS MPC (Video Distribution System/Multi-Purpose Converter) with its four downlinks to allow the ground to conduct HDTV (high-definition TV) playback and downlink operations.  Later (~12:30pm), the MPC was powered off again.

In the Lab, after inspecting, activating and configuring the MSG (Microgravity Science Glovebox) facility, Dr. Whitson initiated another series of vacuum draws on the sample chamber containing SPU-10 (Sample Processing Unit #10), by opening the vent and vacuum valves, for subsequent CSLM-2 (Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures 2) experiment ops tomorrow and the exchange with SPU-13 on 12/29.    [CSLM-2 examines the kinetics of competitive particle growth within a liquid matrix.  During this process, small particles shrink by losing atoms to larger particles, causing the larger particles to grow (coarsen) within a liquid lead/tin matrix.  This study defined the mechanisms and rates of coarsening that govern the manufacture with metals from turbine blades to dental amalgam fillings.]

Later, the CDR broke out and set up the PFE-OUM (PFE-Oxygen Uptake Measurement) equipment on the HRF-2 (Human Research Facility 2) rack, including the HRF PFM/PAM (Pulmonary Function Module/Photoacoustic Analyzer Module), Mixing Bag System and GDS (Gas Delivery System).  Data collection on herself and Dan, taking turns, is scheduled tomorrow.   [The Periodic Fitness Evaluation with Oxygen Uptake Measurement experiment, using the CEVIS ergometer for workout, demonstrates the capability of crewmembers to perform periodic fitness evaluations with continuous oxygen consumption measurements within 14 days after arrival on ISS, and once monthly during routine PFEs. Once the capability of the pulmonary function system (PFS) to perform PFEs is verified, crewmembers will be able to integrate their monthly PFE with oxygen consumption measurements to fulfill the requirement for cardiovascular fitness evaluations during long-duration space flight.]

Working in the newly arrived 27P cargo ship (TKG), the FE-1 installed the LKT local temperature sensor commutator (TA251MB) of the BITS2-12 onboard telemetry measurement system, along with its ROM unit (read-only memory, TA765B), a 1-hr. job.  The LKT was subsequently switched on by the ground to complete the basic configuration.  

Yuri completed the electronic integration of 27P into the ISS by installing the standard US-21 matching unit, another 1-hr. task.  A dynamic thruster test of the installation is scheduled tomorrow evening (7:05pm-8:41pm EST).   [The US-21 matching unit connects the SM with the Progress motion control and DPO thrusters systems, so that they can be commanded by the SM computer system (BVS).  After bolting the box down, Yuri hooked up its the telemetry (TM) connector to the BITS2-12 onboard TM system on Go from TsUP, after Moscow had inhibited data output to the VD-SU control system mode, powered off the BITS and deactivated the Elektron and the SKV-1 air conditioner.  These systems were subsequently turned back on. ]

The CDR and FE-2 had almost two hours scheduled between them to unload the 27P resupply ship, transfer its cargo to the ISS and update the IMS accordingly.

Using the SKDS CMS (Pressure Control & Atmosphere Monitoring System/Countermeasure System), the FE-1 took the periodic readings of potentially harmful contaminants in the SM.  The hardware was then returned to initial stowage.   [The CMS uses preprogrammed microchips to measure Formaldehyde (H2CO, methanal), Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Ammonia (NH3), taking one measurement per microchip.]

The CDR conducted the daily status check on the BCAT-3 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3) science payload, running by itself in Node-2 since 12/13 (briefly interrupted for EVA-13 photo support).  The status check, conducted on the last image taken by the DCS 760 digital still camera which is controlled by EarthKAM software on an A31p laptop, is to verify proper image focus and camera alignment.    [The SSC (Station Support Computer) is taking photography of the phase separation occurring in the BCAT Sample 3, with the photo flash going off every half hour.]

Peggy also removed the equipment used yesterday for downlinking TV imagery of the Progress docking via Ku-band and disconnected the UOP DCP (Utility Outlet Panel/Display & Control Panel) bypass power cable at the Lab RWS (Robotics Work Station) which was required for video coverage of the docking from the SSRMS (Space Station Remote Manipulator System) cameras.

Dan Tani booted up the ER2 RIC (EXPRESS Rack 2/Rack Interface Controller) laptop, then installed a new software load (Release 5) on it in two parts.

Performing the periodic (generally monthly) service of the ESA/RSC-Energia experiment ALTCRISS (Alteino Long Term monitoring of Cosmic Rays on the ISS), the FE-1 removed the PCMCIA memory card #940 from the AST spectrometer's slot and copied the accumulated data, also from a previous card, #937, to the RSK1 laptop for subsequent downlinking via OCA.  PCMCIA card 941 was then inserted to continue AST ops.

Peggy conducted the periodic (monthly) CSA-CP (Compound Specific Analyzer-Combustion Products) maintenance/checkout, today on all four units, then picked a new prime instrument and returned the backup units & sampling pump to their original locations.   [The CSA-CP is a passive cabin atmosphere monitor that provides quick response capability during a combustion event (fire).  Its collected data are stored on a logger.  Peggy changed out the batteries on the units, then zero-calibrated the instruments (to eliminate drift in the combustion sensors).  Following zero calibration, the backup units was stowed in the Node (next to the sampling pump), while the prime unit's datalogger function was turned on to collect data at the SM Central Post as a spot check.  After one hour, the datalogger was deactivated, with the prime CSA-CP remaining on for continuous passive sampling.]

The CDR also took air samples for the periodic (weekly) atmospheric status check for ppO2 (Partial Pressure Oxygen) and ppCO2 (pp Carbon Dioxide), using the hand-held CSA-CP (Compound Specific Analyzer-Combustion Products), CSA-O2 (CSA -Oxygen sensor) and CDMK (CO2 Monitoring Kit).  Batteries were to be replaced if necessary.     [Purpose of the 15-min activity is to trend with MCA (Major Constituents Analyzer), i.e., to correlate the hand-held readings with MCA measurements.]

Peggy Whitson conducted the weekly 10-min. CWC audit as part of on-going WDS (Water Delivery System) assessment of onboard water supplies.   [Updated "cue cards" based on the crew's water calldowns are sent up every other week.  The current cue card (16-0018K), to be updated with today's data, lists 26 CWCs; ~983 liters total) for the four types of water identified on board: technical water (735.4 l, for Elektron, flushing, hygiene), potable water (221.3 l), condensate water (0 l), waste/EMU dump and other (26.6 l).  Two CWCs (#1004 & #1081, ~89 l) with potable water are off limits due to the Wautersia bacteria found in sample analysis, the source of which is still not understood.  Impact of losing this potable CWC is negligible since there are sufficient drinking water supplies onboard.  Also currently not to be used are nine CWCs with technical water (~389 l).]

In the SM, Dan set up the video equipment for filming the subsequent workouts of all three crewmembers on the TVIS (Treadmill with Vibration Isolation & Stabilization), for biomechanical evaluation and assessment of the hardware status by ground engineers.   Afterwards, he transferred the footage to VTR (Video Tape Recorder) for subsequent downlink to the ground, then dismantled and stowed the video equipment.   [Preparations included the removal of the treadmill's "skirt" to show TVIS motion within the floor "pit" in the SM along with the crewmember's feet striking the belt.]

The crew performed their regular 2.5-hr. physical exercise program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the TVIS treadmill (CDR, FE-1, FE-2), RED (CDR, FE-2), and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1).

Afterwards, Whitson copied the exercise data file to the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer) laptop for downlink, including the daily wristband HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) data of the workouts on RED, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium (done six times a week).

Yuri took care of the routine servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM.   [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists, among else, of checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers.]

Later, Malenchenko also completed the daily 20-min. IMS (Inventory Management System) maintenance, updating/editing its standard "delta file" including stowage locations, for the regular weekly automated export/import to its three databases on the ground (Houston, Moscow, Baikonur).

At ~5:02am, the FE-1 powered up the SM's amateur radio equipment (Kenwood VHF transceiver with manual frequency selection, headset, and power supply), to conduct, at 5:07am, a ham radio exchange with students at High School No. 15 in the city of Korolev near Moscow (home of RSC-Energia, TsNIIMASh, and TsUP).  Questions to the crew were uplinked beforehand.    ["What contaminations, and where, do you see in the ocean, on land and in the atmosphere?"; "What do US astronauts do onboard ISS as part of the school educational program?"; "How did you celebrate Christmas and how are you going to celebrate the New Year?"; "What presents did you get for the holidays with the arrival of the cargo vehicle?"; "We wish you a happy flight, interesting experiments, effective educational programs, and, of course, a soft landing. Happy New Year to all of you!"]

At ~10:15am, the crew conducted a press conference with Moscow's TV Channel Russia Today, speaking from the SM decked out with New Year decorations and wearing "Father Frost" caps.    [Russia Today is the first English-language news channel to present the Russian point of view on events happening in Russia and around the globe, on the air 24/7 with a potential of millions of viewers via 10 satellites and also 24 hours a day on the Internet.   "How many times can you celebrate the New Year on orbit? How many times will your clock strike 12? What is this related to? How many times are you going to celebrate?"; "Is this going to be your first New Year in space? What are your feelings and thoughts in connection with that? Do you feel excited, committed?"; "Do cosmonauts have their own traditions when they celebrate?"; "How did you prepare for the New Year?  "Who takes care of that? How was all of this delivered there?"; "How about the New Year traditions? How do you drink champagne? And, generally speaking, how do you do orbital celebrations?"; "On the New Year, do you feel some special nostalgia? What earthly fun will you be missing on this New Year night?"; "Are weekends any different from work days in space? What do you do? What kind of entertainment do you have?"; "Do you have a New Year wish? If wished on orbit is it going to come true sooner?"; "What kind of present would you like to get this New Year?"; "When you get back to Earth are you going to celebrate the New Year all over again with your families?"]

At ~1:05pm, the crew conducted their standard weekly teleconference with the JSC Astronaut Office (Kent Rominger), via Private S-band S/G-2 (space-to-ground).

At ~2:00pm, Dan Tani has a PFC (Private Family Conference) scheduled, via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on the SSC-10 laptop).

CEO photo targets uplinked for today again were Urumqi, China (looking right at the foot of the Tien Shan range for China's western oil boom city), Eastern Tien Shan Range (ISS passed over one of central Asia's ice capped ranges.  Shooting white ice caps and glacier tongues at nadir and left.  Ice caps are being drilled for cores that reveal information on climate change, and particularly because of the information they store on past environments--often tens of thousands of years of data on snow fall amount, blowing dust deposition as an indication of dryness, and atmospheric composition from air bubbles in the ice.  This kind of data is being lost in many cases due to rapid melting.  Continental ice caps in interior Asia have received far less attention than other low-latitude ice caps), Florida Coastal Everglades (50% cloud cover predicted, so there is a chance the crew may see some or all of the target: looking right to obtain a mapping swath), and Tunis, Tunisia (looking nadir and a touch right at the head of the big bay.  Only scattered cloud predicted).

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov  (about 700,000 NASA digital photographs of Earth are downloaded by the public each month from this "Gateway" site);
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/AstronautPhotography

[row]
[col color=#303430:3c97cb3394]
ISS Orbit  (as of this morning, 8:20am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude -- 335.8 km
Apogee height -- 336.9 km
Perigee height -- 334.6 km
Period -- 91.25 min.
Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.64 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0001738
Solar Beta Angle -- -74.8 deg (magnitude peaking)
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.78
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours -- 185 m  
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) -- 52128

[row]
[col color=#303034:3c97cb3394]
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Standard, some changes possible. NET = Not Earlier Than):
12/29/07 – Thruster Test Firing  (tomorrow's reboost was cancelled)
01/10/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E launch -- Columbus Module, ICC-Lite.
01/12/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E docking
01/21/08 -- NET: STS-122/Atlantis/1E undocking
01/31/08 -- Explorer-1 50 Years (1st U.S. Satellite on Redstone rocket)  [Check it out at http://usspace50.com ]
02/06/08 -- Progress M-62/27P undocking & reentry
02/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P launch
02/09/08 -- Progress M-63/28P docking (DC1)
02/22/08 – NET:  ATV-1 "Jules Verne" launch/Ariane V (Kourou, French Guyana)
02/14/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A launch/1J/A, ~11:53am, w/SLP-SPDM, JEM ELM-PS
02/16/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A docking
02/27/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour undocking
02/29/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour landing
03/06/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 1
03/12/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 2
03/15/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 3 & Docking (SM aft port)
04/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P undocking (DC1) & reentry
04/08/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S launch
04/10/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S docking (DC1)
04/19/08 -- Soyuz TMA-11/15S undocking (FGB nadir port)
04/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S relocation (from DC1 to FGB nadir port)
04/24/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J launch – JEM PM "Kibo", racks, RMS
04/26/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J docking
05/04/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J undocking
05/14/08 -- Progress M-64/29P launch
05/16/08 -- Progress M-64/29P docking (DC1)
08/07/08 -- NET: ATV-1 undocking (from SM aft port)
08/12/08 -- Progress M-65/30P launch
08/14/08 -- Progress M-65/30P docking (SM aft port)
09/09/08 -- Progress M-64/29P undocking (from DC1)
09/10/08 -- Progress M-66/31P launch
09/12/08 -- Progress M-66/31P docking (DC1)
09/18/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 launch – MPLM Leonardo, LMC
09/20/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 docking
10/01/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 undocking.
10/01/08 -- NASA 50 Years
10/11/08 -- Progress M-65/30P undocking (from SM aft port)
10/12/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S launch
10/14/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S docking (SM aft port)
10/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S undocking (FGB nadir)
11/03/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S relocation (from SM aft to FGB nadir)
11/06/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A launch – S6 truss segment
11/08/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A docking
11/17/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A undocking
11/20/08 -- ISS 10 Years
11/26/08 -- Progress M-67/32P launch
11/28/08 -- Progress M-67/32P docking (SM aft port)
04/15/09 -- Constellation's Ares I-X Launch
05/??/09 -- Six-person crew on ISS  (following Soyuz 18S-2 docking)
04/??/10 -- STS-132/Discovery/20A – Node-3 + Cupola.
[/table]

[Liss]

[row]
[col color=darkblue:c5ea849d72]
ISS On-Orbit Status 12/28/07

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.

[row]
[col color=#303030:c5ea849d72]
CDR Whitson and FE-2 Tani began the day with the daily reading of SLEEP (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight) experiment data accumulated during the night, for logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the experiment's session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink.    [To monitor the crewmembers' sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Dan and Peggy wear a special Actiwatch device which measures the light levels encountered by him as well as his patterns of sleep and activity throughout the Expedition.  The log entries are done within 15 minutes of final awakening for seven consecutive days, as part of the crew's discretionary "job jar" task list.]

Upon wakeup, FE-1 Yuri Malenchenko terminated his fifth MBI-12 SONOKARD experiment session, started last night, by taking the recording device from his SONOKARD sports shirt pocket and later copying the measurements to the RSE-MED laptop for subsequent downlink to the ground.    [SONOKARD objectives are stated to (1) study the feasibility of obtaining the maximum of data through computer processing of records obtained overnight, (2) systematically record the crewmember's physiological functions during sleep, (3) study the feasibility of obtaining real-time crew health data.  Investigators believe that contactless acquisition of cardiorespiratory data over the night period could serve as a basis for developing efficient criteria for evaluating and predicting adaptive capability of human body in long-duration space flight.]

As part of his standard fitness evaluation, Malenchenko also undertook the Russian MO-5 MedOps protocol of Cardiovascular Evaluation during Graded Exercises on the VELO cycle ergometer, with CDR Whitson assisting as CMO (Crew Medical Officer).     [The 50-min assessment, supported by ground specialist tagup via VHF (~3:55am EST) and telemetry monitoring, uses the Gamma-1 ECG equipment with biomed harness, skin electrodes and a blood pressure and rheoplethysmograph cuff wired to the cycle ergometer's instrumentation panels.  For the graded exercise, the subject works the pedals after a prescribed program at load settings of 125, 150, and 175 watts for three minutes each.  Data output involves a kinetocardiogram, rheoplethysmogram, rheoencephalogram and a temporal pulsogram.]

After Peggy Whitson prepared the auditory test equipment, she, Malenchenko & FE-2 Tani took the periodic (monthly) O-OHA (On-Orbit Hearing Assessment) test, a 30-min. NASA environmental health systems examination to assess the efficacy of acoustic countermeasures, using a special MEC (Medical Equipment Computer) laptop application.  It was the second session for the three crewmembers.    [The O-OHA audiography test involves minimum audibility measurements for each ear over a wide range of frequencies (0.25-10 kHz) and sound pressure levels, with the crewmembers using individual-specific Prophonics earphones, Bose ANC headsets and the SLM (sound level meter).  To conduct the testing, the experimenter is supported by special EarQ software on the MEC, featuring an up/down-arrow-operated slider for each test frequency that the crewmember moves to the lowest sound pressure level at which the tone can still be heard.  The baseline test is required not later than about Flight Day 14 for each new Expedition and is then generally performed once per month.  Note: There have been temporary hearing deficits documented on some U.S. and Russian crewmembers, all of which recovered to pre-mission levels.]

Whitson and Tani set up and activated the OUM-PFE (Oxygen Uptake Measurement - Periodic Fitness Evaluation) equipment at the HRF-2 (Human Research Facility 2) rack for another session, requiring a CEVIS cycle ergometer workout.  Both crewmembers then completed the evaluation protocol, wearing HRMs (Heart Rate Monitors), with each one in turn acting as subject and operator, obtaining measurements on each other during the workout.     [The equipment includes the HRF PFM/PAM (Pulmonary Function Module/Photoacoustic Analyzer Module), Mixing Bag System and GDS (Gas Delivery System).  In a change to previous procedures, the calibration of the DPFM (Differential Pressure Flowmeter) was done manually for the first time.  Later, Peggy and Dan updated the evaluation protocol, deactivated & stowed the gear, and powered down the OUM-PFE laptop.  Purpose of OUM-PFE is to measure aerobic capacity during exercise within 14 days after arrival on ISS, and once monthly during routine PFEs.  The data allows exercise physiologists & flight doctors to assess the crew's health & fitness and to provide data for modifying & updating crew-specific exercise regimes.  PFE-OUM is a collaborative effort between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency).]

Yuri Malenchenko worked on the Russian SOTR Thermal Control System, rerouting and connecting jumpers between the KMTK Triple Channel Matrix Commutator switch and the PUVN Cabin Air Heater Control Panel, to ensure continued thermal control loop operation in case of loss of communication between the Terminal & Central Computers.

Later, the FE-1 performed the periodic communication check and time synchronization between the BSPN payload server and the ISS "Wiener" power laptop, using the RSC-E "PingMaster" program, used for network checkouts.

In the Lab, Dr. Whitson serviced the CSLM-2 (Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures 2) experiment in the MSG (Microgravity Science Glovebox) by terminating the overnight vacuum draw on the SPU10 (Sample Processing Unit 11), opening the vent and vacuum valves for a six-hour vacuum draw on the work chamber, and setting up final operations tomorrow by installing SPU13 and initiating a last vacuum draw on it.    [CSLM-2 examines the kinetics of competitive particle growth within a liquid matrix.  During this process, small particles shrink by losing atoms to larger particles, causing the larger particles to grow (coarsen) within a liquid lead/tin matrix.  This study defined the mechanisms and rates of coarsening that govern the manufacture with metals from turbine blades to dental amalgam fillings.]

Continuing the current round of periodic preventive maintenance of ventilation systems in the RS (Russian Segment), Dan Tani spent half an hour in the DC1 (Docking Compartment) to replace the PF1 &PF2 air filter cartridges with fresh units.

The FE-2 also filled out the regular FFQ (Food Frequency Questionnaire), his 8th, on the MEC.    [By means of these FFQs, U.S. astronauts keep a personalized log of their nutritional intake over time on special MEC software.  Recorded are the amounts consumed during the past week of such food items as beverages, cereals, grains, eggs, breads, snacks, sweets, fruit, beans, soup, vegetables, dairy, fish, meat, chicken, sauces & spreads, and vitamins.  At TsUP/Moscow, food specialists are currently preparing the Russian food "menu" for delivery by Progress M-63/28P next February.  28P will carry "bonus food" for Peggy and Yuri, plus about 15 kg of fresh food items (apples, grapefruit, oranges, lemons, garlic) in two containers.]

Peggy connected the regular ITCS LTL (Internal Thermal Control System/Low Temperature Loop) coolant jumper to the LAB1D6 rack, to support the ground-commanded activation of the U.S. CDRA (Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly) at ~12:30pm in support of tomorrow's SPHERES experiment by Dan.   [The experiment's floating "satellite" spheres use CO2 gas as propellant.]

The CDR also replaced procedures pages in Russian ODF (Operation Data File) books with new updates delivered on Progress 27P.   [Changes involve the books on SOZh Life Support, Medical Ops 1, 2 & 3, Technical Experiments, Medical Experiments 1 & 2, and Progress M-62/27P Transfer Ops.]

Peggy and Dan had almost four hours set aside between them to finish unloading the 27P resupply ship, transferring its cargo to the ISS and updating the IMS (Inventory Management System) accordingly.

Yuri completed of the routine servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM (Service Module).   [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists, among else, of checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers.]

Later, Malenchenko also conducted the daily 20-min. IMS maintenance, updating/editing its standard "delta file" including stowage locations, for the regular weekly automated export/import to its three databases on the ground (Houston, Moscow, Baikonur).

The CDR performed the daily status check on the BCAT-3 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3) science payload, running by itself in Node-2 since 12/13 (briefly interrupted for EVA-13 photo support).  The status check, conducted on the last image taken by the DCS 760 digital still camera which is controlled by EarthKAM software on an A31p laptop, is to verify proper image focus and camera alignment.    [The SSC (Station Support Computer) is taking photography of the phase separation occurring in the BCAT Sample 3, with the photo flash going off every half hour.]

The crew worked out in their regular 2.5-hr. physical exercise program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the CEVIS cycle ergometer (CDR/OUM, FE-2/OUM), TVIS treadmill (FE-1), RED (CDR, FE-2), and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1/MO-5).

Afterwards, Tani copied the exercise data file to the MEC laptop for downlink, including the daily wristband HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) data of the workouts on RED, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium (done six times a week).

For the thruster test firing later tonight, the CDR verified proper closure of the protective shutters on the Lab science window, to remain closed until two orbits after returning to US Momentum Management control.

At ~3:25am EST, the crew held the regular (nominally weekly) tagup with the Russian Flight Control Team (GOGU), including Shift Flight Director (SRP), at TsUP via S-band/audio, phone-patched from Houston and Moscow.

At ~4:30am, Yuri linked up with TsUP stowage specialists via S-band to conduct the weekly IMS tagup, discussing stowage issues and equipment locations.

At ~2:55pm, the crew is scheduled for their seventh weekly tagup with the Lead Flight Director at JSC/MCC-H via S-band/audio.  [S/G-2 (Space-to-Ground 2) phone patch via SSC-10 (Station Support Computer 10)].

At ~3:40pm, Dan Tani will have a PFC (Private Family Conference), via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on the SSC-10 laptop).

27P Dynamic Thruster Testing:   To verify proper integration of the Progress 27P cargo ship's propulsion system (used for reboosts & debris avoidance maneuvers) into the RS MCS (Motion Control System) Russian ground controllers will conduct the standard firing tests of the Progress DPO (Approach & Attitude Control) thrusters later tonight, at 7:05pm (Manifold 1) with three firings of 10 sec duration each, and at 8:41pm (Manifold 2) for a second set of three 10-sec firings.   ISS attitude control will be handed over to the RS MCS at 6:20pm and returned to USOS (US Segment) CMG Momentum Management at 9:10pm.

GNC MDM Software Patch Update:   An attempt yesterday by ground controllers at MCC-Houston to upload a software patch to the GNC MDMs (Guidance, Navigation & Control Multiplexer/Demultiplexers) was unsuccessful when the backup & prime GNC MDMs could not be synchronized.  This morning, the backup MDM was returned to its nominal (pre-patch) configuration by reloading its original software without the patch.  Engineers are assessing when to reattempt the patch load.  Activation of the software patch, designed to allow for limiting CMG (Control Moment Gyroscope) gimbal rate acceleration to help protect the CMGs, is not planned until after Flight 1E.

Russian SKV Air Conditioner Update:   Yesterday the FE-1 removed the NOK-2 condensate evacuation pump that pulls condensate from the SKV-2 air conditioner.  Finding a "rubbery, jelly-like" substance inside the inlet line, Yuri removed as much of it as he could, and TsUP specialists directed him to clean the remainder of the line in an upcoming maintenance session.  The FE-1 temporarily installed the replacement NOK-2 and will permanently install it once condensate & inlet line cleaning is complete.    [These activities are in support of SKV-2 troubleshooting that began after SKV-2 and the SRVK condensate processing unit in the RS shut down on 12/23 (last Sunday).  SRVK and SKV-2 both remain operational, but are currently deactivated.  SKV-1 has been inoperable for some time.]

CEO photo targets uplinked for today again were Yangtze River Delta (patchy overcast, so the crew may have seen some or all of this very large river delta at nadir and right), Shanghai, China (patchy overcast, so the crew may have been able to see some or all of this city at nadir and right), Polar Mesospheric Clouds — PMC, Antarctica, (looking right), Lahore, Pakistan (Lahore is on the short list of Asian cities for research.  The crew was to shoot city margins on this nadir pass), Delhi, India (looking right for this large city, which can be difficult to detect, on the banks of the large Yamuna River, which is the main visual cue from ISS), Santorini volcanic complex, Mediterranean (scattered cloud forecast.  The crew should have seen some of the islands in this group, well left of track), and South Tibesti Megafans, Chad (looking right for a general view of a wide plain covered with darker lines [immediately at the foot of the dark rocks of the Tibesti Mountains].  The dark lines are river courses of an ancient megafan [inland delta] created when the Sahara was much wetter several thousand years ago.  New research shows that many features of this pattern are replicated by river-like features seen on Mars.  ISS/CEO imagery is far more detailed than anything available of this remote region of the Sahara).

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov  (about 700,000 NASA digital photographs of Earth are downloaded by the public each month from this "Gateway" site);
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/AstronautPhotography

[row]
[col color=#303430:c5ea849d72]
ISS Orbit  (as of this morning, 8:42am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude -- 335.7 km
Apogee height -- 336.9 km
Perigee height -- 334.5 km
Period -- 91.25 min.
Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.63 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0001723
Solar Beta Angle -- -74.6 deg (magnitude decreasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.78
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours -- 66 m  
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) -- 52144

[row]
[col color=#303034:c5ea849d72]
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Standard, some changes possible. NET = Not Earlier Than):
12/28/07 – Thruster Test Firing  (~7:05pm)
TBD -- STS-122/Atlantis/1E launch -- Columbus Module, ICC-Lite.
TBD -- STS-122/Atlantis/1E docking
TBD -- STS-122/Atlantis/1E undocking
01/31/08 -- Explorer-1 50 Years (1st U.S. Satellite on Redstone rocket)  [Check it out at http://usspace50.com ]
02/06/08 -- Progress M-62/27P undocking & reentry
02/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P launch
02/09/08 -- Progress M-63/28P docking (DC1)
02/22/08 – NET:  ATV-1 "Jules Verne" launch/Ariane V (Kourou, French Guyana)
02/14/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A launch/1J/A, ~11:53am, w/SLP-SPDM, JEM ELM-PS
02/16/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A docking
02/27/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour undocking
02/29/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour landing
03/06/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 1
03/12/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 2
03/15/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 3 & Docking (SM aft port)
04/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P undocking (DC1) & reentry
04/08/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S launch
04/10/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S docking (DC1)
04/19/08 -- Soyuz TMA-11/15S undocking (FGB nadir port)
04/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S relocation (from DC1 to FGB nadir port)
04/24/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J launch – JEM PM "Kibo", racks, RMS
04/26/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J docking
05/04/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J undocking
05/14/08 -- Progress M-64/29P launch
05/16/08 -- Progress M-64/29P docking (DC1)
08/07/08 -- NET: ATV-1 undocking (from SM aft port)
08/12/08 -- Progress M-65/30P launch
08/14/08 -- Progress M-65/30P docking (SM aft port)
09/09/08 -- Progress M-64/29P undocking (from DC1)
09/10/08 -- Progress M-66/31P launch
09/12/08 -- Progress M-66/31P docking (DC1)
09/18/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 launch – MPLM Leonardo, LMC
09/20/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 docking
10/01/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 undocking.
10/01/08 -- NASA 50 Years
10/11/08 -- Progress M-65/30P undocking (from SM aft port)
10/12/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S launch
10/14/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S docking (SM aft port)
10/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S undocking (FGB nadir)
11/03/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S relocation (from SM aft to FGB nadir)
11/06/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A launch – S6 truss segment
11/08/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A docking
11/17/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A undocking
11/20/08 -- ISS 10 Years
11/26/08 -- Progress M-67/32P launch
11/28/08 -- Progress M-67/32P docking (SM aft port)
04/15/09 -- Constellation's Ares I-X Launch
05/??/09 -- Six-person crew on ISS  (following Soyuz 18S-2 docking)
04/??/10 -- STS-132/Discovery/20A – Node-3 + Cupola.
[/table]

[Liss]

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ISS On-Orbit Status 12/29/07

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.   Saturday -- off-duty day for CDR Whitson, FE-1 Malenchenko and FE-2 Tani except for housekeeping and voluntary work.

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Whitson and Tani began the day with the daily reading of SLEEP (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight) experiment data accumulated during the night, for logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the experiment's session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink.    [To monitor the crewmembers' sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Dan and Peggy wear a special Actiwatch device which measures the light levels encountered by him as well as his patterns of sleep and activity throughout the Expedition.  The log entries are done within 15 minutes of final awakening for seven consecutive days, as part of the crew's discretionary "job jar" task list.]

Preparatory to potable water transfer from Progress M-62/27P to the Service Module (SM), FE-1 Malenchenko set up pumping equipment and initiated the compression of the Progress Rodnik BV1 tank bladder, monitoring air flow to check for leak tightness (hermeticity).  Later, the FE-1 switched the compressor to the second tank, BV2, for the bladder check.    [Each of the spherical Rodnik tanks BV1 & BV2 consists of a hard shell with a soft membrane (bladder) composed of elastic fluoroplastic.  The bladder is used to expel water from the tank by compressed air pumped into the tank volume surrounding the membrane and is leak-tested before water transfer and the subsequent reception of liquid waste for disposal.]

Yuri Malenchenko later worked on the Russian SOTR Thermal Control System, performing connection tests on the jumper cables installed yesterday between the KMTK Triple Channel Matrix Commutator switch and the PUVN Cabin Air Heater Control Panel, and activating the 1N1 & 2N1 pumps of the two active external thermal control systems (KOKh1, KOKh2) of the SM.

After a brief familiarization review of reference material, FE-2 Dan Tani conducted another session with the payload SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites), which he had selected for today's Voluntary Weekend Science program.  In support of this interesting experiment, the ground yesterday activated CDRA (Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly) and will turn it off later today (~5:00pm EST).     [Today's session concentrated on the ability of a single crewperson to deploy three satellites with the assistance of a "Position Hold" mode.  Due to the different air flows introduced with the addition of Node-2, the former operational environment has changed, making 3-satellite deployments more challenging.  The SPHERES experiment is a test bed for the development and testing of formation flying and other multi-spacecraft control algorithms.  SPHERES, done first by FE-1 Jeff Williams on Expedition 13, serves to mature autonomous satellite formation flight, rendezvous and docking algorithms in a long duration, microgravity environment.  Dan set up the Work Area, dimmed GLAs (General Luminaire Assemblies), programmed & deployed three gas-propelled satellites (orange, red, blue), with five beacons, and used two PD-100 camcorders for video capture.  Per applicable Flight Rule, SPHERES operations have no CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) output constraints if the CDRA (CO2 Removal Assembly) is operating in dual-bed or single-bed mode.  Should CDRA not work properly, ECLSS (Environmental Control & Life Support System) engineers will assess the ppCO2 flight rule requirement.  The experiment run was time-critical since Ku-band is required for real-time video downlink.]

Later, Dan conducted the visual microbial (bacterial & fungal) "T+5 Day" analysis of surface samples which he collected on 12/24 with the SSK (Surface Sampling Kit) at specific locations near air diffusers.     [The sampling analysis is performed once per month for the first three months, and once every three months thereafter.  Bacterial and fungal air samples are taken at two locations in each module.  The colony growth on the sampling slides is analyzed after five days of incubation in four Petri dishes.  For onboard visual analysis of media slides from SSK (Surface Sampling Kit), MCDs (microbial capture devices) from WMK (Water Monitoring Kit), coliform detection bags from MWAK (Microbial Water Analysis Kit), and Petri dishes from the MAS (Microbial Air Sampler) kit, the crew has a procedure for visual inspection of samples for bacterial and fungal colony growths after appropriate incubation periods.]

CDR Whitson continued her support of the CSLM-2 (Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures 2) experiment in the MSG (Microgravity Science Glovebox) by terminating vacuum venting on SPU-13 (Sample Processing Unit 13), powering up the ECU (Electronics Control Unit) and started experiment operations by initiating sample heating.

In Node-2, FE-2 Tani worked on the BCAT-3 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3) science payload (running since 12/13), today mixing Sample 3 again (since the previous run probably was corrupted) and monitoring the start of the next 2-week run.     [Dan also took detailed documentary photos of the setup to show the exact angles and locations of the flash, camera, and sample module for ground scientists to better understand the lighting in the images and also for upcoming crew training sessions and procedures.  An SSC (Station Support Computer) laptop is taking photography of the phase separation occurring in the BCAT Sample 3, with the photo flash going off every half hour.]

With SAMS (Space Acceleration Measurement System), used to monitor last night's 27P thruster firing tests, currently no longer required, Peggy configured the ER1 (EXPRESS Rack 1) by disconnecting its MTL (Moderate Temperature Loop) cooling jumper QDs (quick disconnects) to the nearby LAB1O2 UIP (Utility Interface Panel, "Z-panel").

The FE-1 continued the current round of periodic preventive maintenance of cabin ventilation systems in the RS (Russian Segment), today cleaning "Group A" fan grilles in the SM.

Malenchenko also completed of the routine servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM.   [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists, among else, of checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers.]

Later, Yuri conducted the daily 20-min. IMS (Inventory Management System) maintenance, updating/editing its standard "delta file" including stowage locations, for the regular weekly automated export/import to its three databases on the ground (Houston, Moscow, Baikonur).

Malenchenko also performed an update on the "Sigma" BNO (Ballistic Navigation Program) software on two Russian laptops, RSK1 & EGE-2 (in DOS), essentially updating ballistic service files for the new calendar year 2008 ahead, to prevent slowdown of the application (which computes real-time position of the ISS over the ground).

The crew worked out in their regular 2.5-hr. physical exercise program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the CEVIS cycle ergometer (FE-2), TVIS treadmill (CDR, FE-1), RED (CDR, FE-2), and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1).

Afterwards, Dan Tani copied the exercise data file to the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer) laptop for downlink, including the daily wristband HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) data of the workouts on RED, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium (done six times a week).

Working from his discretionary "time permitting" task list, the FE-1 also performed the periodic collection & deletion of readings on the MOSFET (metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor) radiation sensor reader/display of the RBO-3-2 Matryoshka-R antroph-amorphous (human torso) "phantoms" located inside the station for sophisticated radiation studies, collecting radiation measurements every 15 minutes around the clock.

Led by Yuri Malenchenko, the crew supported two formal live PAO TV exchange sessions with visitors at TsUP-Moscow, viz. --  

At ~11:55pm EST (last night) with top officials of FKA/Roskosmos (Anatoly Perminov), RSC-Energia (Vitaly Lopota), TsNIIMASH (Nikolai Anfimov) GCTC (Vasily Tsibliev), IBMP (Anatoly Grigorievich), Moscow Mayor's Office (Lyudmila Shvetsova), Vologda Region Governor's Office (Nicolai Vinogradov), Interagency State Commission (Valery Grin), and – last not least – Father Frost; and  
At ~2:45am, a Press Conference with mass media representatives (Channel One TV, NTV Channel, Zvezda TV Channel, Russia Today TV Channel, ITAR-TASS Russian Information & Telegraph Agency, INTERFAX Information Agency, RIA Novosti Information-Analytical Agency, Kaliningradskaya Pravda Newspaper, and others).
Elektron Deactivation:   The FE-1 and TsUP specialists yesterday performed a planned deactivation of the Elektron.  As part of the deactivation process the Elektron was purged with N2 (nitrogen).   The FE-1 had to swap the RS Laptop 1 with Laptop 2 to complete the purge successfully.  The Elektron will remain powered down until 1/9/08.  During this time, the station will be periodically repressurized with oxygen from Progress 27P.

Crew Provisions Audit:  CDR Whitson yesterday completed a portion of the Increment 16 Crew Provisions Audit, going by an uplinked work sheet.  The audit was performed to update onboard crew provision quantities for IMS accuracy and resupply planning.  Some of the items audited included miscellaneous workout equipment and crew hygiene and clothing items.

Weekly Science Update (Expedition Sixteen -- Week 10)

ALTCRISS (Alteino Long Term monitoring of Cosmic Rays on the ISS):   In progress.

ANITA:   Completed.

BCAT (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test):    BCAT-3 has had a very successful week.  Dan has successfully set up BCAT-3 on the ceiling seat tracks and handrails in Node-2 after seeing that he did not need to use the MWA surface to mount and run the experiment.  He may have remembered seeing a future setup option during BCAT-4 training, which was designed to not monopolize the often needed MWA surface, while allowing BCAT to be able to be run, uninterrupted, for far longer periods of time.  Researchers are particularly grateful for Dan's continued willingness to tweak the setup, interactively, as they receive images automatically from EarthKAM.  After several rounds of minor tweaks, the photos are now as good as any seen from the MWA-based setups.  "This is great news as we are trying to get the similar alternate setup into the system for the future BCAT-4 runs."

CARDIOCOG-2:   Completed.

CCISS (Cardiovascular & Cerebrovascular Control on Return from ISS):    Reserve.

CFE (Capillary Flow Experiment):    Reserve.

CSI-2/CGBA (CGBA Science Insert #2/Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus):    In progress.

CGBA-2 (Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus 2):  Complete.

CSLM-2 (Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures 2):   "1.)  SPU-11 (10.17 hour soak) - It appears that the quench did not occur as intended.  The data was downloaded and analyzed and the normal quick cool down did not occur.  It is possible that we may be able to get good data from SPU-11 (10.17 hour soak); we won't know until we look at the samples.   2.)  SPU-10 (4 hour soak planned) - The temperature and humidity (99%) indicated a dew point of 18.8

[Liss]

[row]
[col color=darkblue:3d6bdeb8a4]
ISS On-Orbit Status 12/30/07

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.    Sunday -- off-duty day for CDR Whitson, FE-1 Malenchenko and FE-2 Tani.  New Year's Eve's Eve!   Ahead: Week 11 of Increment 16.

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Peggy Whitson and Dan Tani began the day with the daily reading of SLEEP (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight) experiment data accumulated during the night, for logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the experiment's session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink.    [To monitor the crewmembers' sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Dan and Peggy wear a special Actiwatch device which measures the light levels encountered by him as well as his patterns of sleep and activity throughout the Expedition.  The log entries are done within 15 minutes of final awakening for seven consecutive days, as part of the crew's discretionary "job jar" task list.]

The crew performed the regular weekly three-hour task of thorough station cleaning.   ["Uborka", normally done on Saturdays, includes removal of food waste products, cleaning of compartments with vacuum cleaner, damp cleaning of the Service Module (SM) dining table, other frequently touched surfaces and surfaces where trash is collected, as well as the FE's sleep station with a standard cleaning solution; also, fan screens and grilles are cleaned to avoid temperature rises. Special cleaning is also done every 90 days on the HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) bacteria filters in the Lab.]

Continuing his troubleshooting of the Russian SKV-2 air conditioner, FE-1 Malenchenko finished cleaning the condensate line that pulls condensate from the SKV-2 air conditioner by means of the NOK-2 condensate evacuation pump.   [On 12/28, Yuri had found a "rubbery, jelly-like" substance inside the inlet line of which he at that time removed as much as he could.  The remainder of the pipe was cleaned today.  The NOK-2 pump was to be permanently installed once the condensate & inlet line cleaning is complete.  These activities are in support of SKV-2 troubleshooting that began after SKV-2 and the SRVK condensate processing unit in the RS (Russian Segment) shut down on 12/23 (last Sunday).  SRVK and SKV-2 both remain operational, but are currently deactivated.  SKV-1 has been inoperable for some time.]

Afterwards Malenchenko terminated the test compression of the Progress Rodnik BV1 & BV2 water tank bladders, to check for leak tightness, and tore down the pumping equipment for stowage.    [Each of the spherical Rodnik tanks BV1 & BV2 consists of a hard shell with a soft membrane (bladder) composed of elastic fluoroplastic.  The bladder is used to expel water from the tank by compressed air pumped into the tank volume surrounding the membrane and is leak-tested before water transfer and the subsequent reception of liquid waste for disposal.]

With the Elektron oxygen (O2) generator turned off since 12/28, Yuri was scheduled today to perform a 1.5-hour O2 repress of the cabin atmosphere from Progress M-62/27P storage tankage, upon TsUP Go.    [The Elektron will remain powered down until 1/9/08 to conserve hardware lifetime.  During this time, the station will be periodically repressurized with oxygen from Progress 27P.]

FE-2 Tani performed the daily status check on the BCAT-3 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3) science payload, running by itself in Node-2 since 12/13 (briefly interrupted for EVA-13 photo support).  The status check, conducted on the last image taken by the DCS 760 digital still camera which is controlled by EarthKAM software on an A31p laptop, is to verify proper image focus and camera alignment.    [The SSC (Station Support Computer) is taking photography of the phase separation occurring in the BCAT Sample 3, with the photo flash going off every half hour.]

CDR Whitson continued her support of the CSLM-2 (Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures 2) experiment in the MSG (Microgravity Science Glovebox), today transferring the data for SPU-13 (Sample Processing Unit 13) from the ECU (Electronics Control Unit) to the MSG Laptop, then removing SPU-13 from the WV (Work Volume) and reinstalling SPU-10 for double-checking its humidity.  MSG will then be powered down.    [If humidity level checks out correctly at 99%, that will be the end of CSLM-2 operations.]

Malenchenko also completed of the routine servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM.   [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists, among else, of checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers.  Weekly SOZh reports (on Sundays) to TsUP/Moscow deal with number & dates of water and urine containers, counter readings of water consumption & urine collection, and total operating time of the POTOK air filtration system.]

After Houston Flight Controllers deactivated the CDRA (Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly) late yesterday (~5:00pm EST) when Dan Tani's work with the SPHERES experiment was finished, and cooling was no longer required, Peggy Whitson today disconnected the ITCS LTL QD (Internal Thermal Control System/Low Temperature Loop/Quick Disconnect) jumper to the CDRA (LAB1D6) rack.

The crew worked out in their regular 2.5-hr. physical exercise program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the CEVIS cycle ergometer (CDR), TVIS treadmill (FE-1, FE-2), RED resistive exerciser (CDR, FE-2), and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1).

Working from his discretionary "time permitting" task list, the FE-1 also completed another radiation data monitoring & logging session for flow & dose power data with the Matryoshka-R radiation payload and its LULIN-5 electronics box.   [Accumulated readings were recorded on a log sheet for subsequent downlink to TsUP/Moscow via the BSR-TM payload data channel.]

Led by Yuri Malenchenko, at ~5:00am EST the crew donned their flight suits and supported three formal live PAO TV downlinks with greetings and congratulations to special Russian educational events, viz. --  

Moscow Region Scientists on Russia's annual Science Day [Russian Science Day is celebrated annually on February 8. "...the crew of the International Space Station is extending their heartfelt greetings to extraordinary scientists, engineers, and designers of the Moscow Region and wishes them a Happy Russian Science Day."];
Participants of a Scientific Conference dedicated to the 50th Anniversary of the Space Era  ["...these days when humankind enters the second half century of the Space Era having celebrated its 50th anniversary, you are gathered to once again remember and honor the individuals who made it possible for humanity to break into space and open it for further exploration.  By a quirk of history, many of these trailblazers were men and women in uniform.  While not forgetting about defending the Motherland, these people, still hot from the battles of the Great Patriotic War, channeled their thoughts and deeds to purely peaceful objectives. One of such tasks had literally cosmic proportions... Long live the Union of Space Force Veterans!"];  and the
Second Russian Youth Science Readings in honor of Sergey Pavlovich Korolev [scheduled for January 18-19, with the participation of university and grade-school students from Moscow, Moscow Oblast, St. Peterburg, Archangel, Vologda, Irkutsk, Kaluga, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Samara, Republic of Kazakhstan and Ukraine.  Location: the S.P. Korolev Memorial Museum, newly opened a year ago after renovation.  (Main objectives of the Readings: "To stimulate trainees for in-depth study of the achievements of cosmonautics, to scout and provide support for gifted students, to promote innovative aerospace educational programs using Earth images from space, and to provide career guidance to a younger generation.")]
The crewmembers each had a "New Year's Eve's Eve" PFC (Private Family Conference) via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on the SSC-10 laptop), Yuri at ~4:00am, Peggy at ~12:40pm, and Dan at ~2:55pm.

CEO photo targets uplinked for today again were Polar Mesospheric Clouds — (PMC - also known as noctilucent clouds) over selected ground sites (12 minutes for each).  (Southern spring is the season for relatively uncommon polar mesospheric clouds to form very high over Antarctica.  PMC are being studied as part of the International Polar Year [IPY] investigation of climate change in high latitudes. PMC form in the stratosphere and higher, i.e. well above the lowest layer of the atmosphere [troposphere, or weather layer, characterized by clouds, and an orange tinge produced by brushfire smoke, smog, etc.].  The AIM satellite (Aeronomy of Ice in the Atmosphere) has recently been launched to investigate how PMC form and why they are apparently becoming thicker and brighter.  ISS/CEO imagery will complement images from AIM and from the ground.  The collaborating IPY scientist is excited to receive any images ISS may acquire.  Collaborating Swedish scientists are now working at a base in Antarctica (73S 13 W) for PMC observation.)

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov  (about 700,000 NASA digital photographs of Earth are downloaded by the public each month from this "Gateway" site);
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/AstronautPhotography

[row]
[col color=#303430:3d6bdeb8a4]
ISS Orbit  (as of this morning, 9:01am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude -- 335.6 km
Apogee height -- 336.7 km
Perigee height -- 334.4 km
Period -- 91.24 min.
Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.63 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0001721
Solar Beta Angle -- -69.5 deg (magnitude decreasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.78
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours -- 88 m  
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) -- 52176

[row]
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Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Standard, some changes possible. NET = Not Earlier Than):
TBD -- STS-122/Atlantis/1E launch -- Columbus Module, ICC-Lite.
TBD -- STS-122/Atlantis/1E docking
TBD -- STS-122/Atlantis/1E undocking
01/31/08 -- Explorer-1 50 Years (1st U.S. Satellite on Redstone rocket)  [Check it out at http://usspace50.com ]
02/06/08 -- Progress M-62/27P undocking & reentry
02/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P launch
02/09/08 -- Progress M-63/28P docking (DC1)
02/22/08 – NET:  ATV-1 "Jules Verne" launch/Ariane V (Kourou, French Guyana)
02/14/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A launch/1J/A, ~11:53am, w/SLP-SPDM, JEM ELM-PS
02/16/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A docking
02/27/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour undocking
02/29/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour landing
03/06/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 1
03/12/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 2
03/15/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 3 & Docking (SM aft port)
04/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P undocking (DC1) & reentry
04/08/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S launch
04/10/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S docking (DC1)
04/19/08 -- Soyuz TMA-11/15S undocking (FGB nadir port)
04/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S relocation (from DC1 to FGB nadir port)
04/24/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J launch – JEM PM "Kibo", racks, RMS
04/26/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J docking
05/04/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J undocking
05/14/08 -- Progress M-64/29P launch
05/16/08 -- Progress M-64/29P docking (DC1)
08/07/08 -- NET: ATV-1 undocking (from SM aft port)
08/12/08 -- Progress M-65/30P launch
08/14/08 -- Progress M-65/30P docking (SM aft port)
09/09/08 -- Progress M-64/29P undocking (from DC1)
09/10/08 -- Progress M-66/31P launch
09/12/08 -- Progress M-66/31P docking (DC1)
09/18/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 launch – MPLM Leonardo, LMC
09/20/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 docking
10/01/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 undocking.
10/01/08 -- NASA 50 Years
10/11/08 -- Progress M-65/30P undocking (from SM aft port)
10/12/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S launch
10/14/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S docking (SM aft port)
10/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S undocking (FGB nadir)
11/03/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S relocation (from SM aft to FGB nadir)
11/06/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A launch – S6 truss segment
11/08/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A docking
11/17/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A undocking
11/20/08 -- ISS 10 Years
11/26/08 -- Progress M-67/32P launch
11/28/08 -- Progress M-67/32P docking (SM aft port)
04/15/09 -- Constellation's Ares I-X Launch
05/??/09 -- Six-person crew on ISS  (following Soyuz 18S-2 docking)
04/??/10 -- STS-132/Discovery/20A – Node-3 + Cupola.
[/table]

[Liss]

[row]
[col color=darkblue:d63e4ec110]
ISS On-Orbit Status 12/31/07

New Year's Eve... 16 times for the Expedition 16 crew of CDR Peggy Whitson, FE-1 Yuri Malenchenko and FE-2 Dan Tani while counting down to 2008!

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.  Crew off-duty day. Underway: Week 11 of Increment 16.

[row]
[col color=#303030:d63e4ec110]
Peggy and Dan began the day with the daily reading of SLEEP (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight) experiment data accumulated during the night, for logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the experiment's session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink.    [To monitor the crewmembers' sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Dan and Peggy wear a special Actiwatch device which measures the light levels encountered by him as well as his patterns of sleep and activity throughout the Expedition.  The log entries are done within 15 minutes of final awakening for seven consecutive days, as part of the crew's discretionary "job jar" task list.]

The CDR continued her support of the CSLM-2 (Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures 2) experiment in the MSG (Microgravity Science Glovebox) facility.   [Today, Whitson activated the MSG, closed the vacuum vent, checked for acceptable humidity levels, and opened the SPU-10 (Sample Processing Unit #10) water valve to initiate unattended vacuum preparation.  Later, in Step 2, she reset MSG, closed the water valve, again checked for acceptable humidity levels in the sample chamber, then opened the vent & vacuum valves to initiate the required vacuum draw on the sample chamber.  CSLM-2 examines the kinetics of competitive particle growth within a liquid matrix.  During this process, small particles shrink by losing atoms to larger particles, causing the larger particles to grow (coarsen) within a liquid lead/tin matrix.  This study defined the mechanisms and rates of coarsening that govern the manufacture with metals from turbine blades to dental amalgam fillings.]

Peggy also checked the MELFI (Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS) to see whether its current N2 (nitrogen) pressure is in acceptable range.

FE-2 Tani performed the daily status check on the BCAT-3 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3) science payload, running by itself in Node-2 since 12/13 (briefly interrupted for EVA-13 photo support).  The status check, conducted on the last image taken by the DCS 760 digital still camera which is controlled by EarthKAM software on an A31p laptop, is to verify proper image focus and camera alignment.    [The SSC (Station Support Computer) is taking photography of the phase separation occurring in the BCAT Sample 3, with the photo flash going off every half hour.]

Dan also worked on the OpsLAN (Operations Local Area Network), disconnecting the IBM 760XD laptop from the OCA router assembly and stowing it away for use as a future Russian spare.

The CDR ran the periodic check of active U.S. payloads, i.e., cleaning the ANITA (Analyzing Interferometer for Ambient Air) inlet plus inspecting and filter cleaning of the CGBA-5 (Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus 5) incubator payload.    [The CGBA incubator is controlled from the ground, with automatic video downlinked to Earth.  ANITA continues to collect data every six seconds and downlinks the data daily to the ground team.  ANITA monitors low levels of potential gaseous contaminants in the ISS cabin atmosphere with a capability of simultaneously monitoring 32 gaseous contaminants. The experiment is testing the accuracy and reliability of this technology as a potential next-generation atmosphere trace-gas monitoring system for ISS and future spacecraft. This is a cooperative investigation with ESA.]

FE-1 Malenchenko dumped application software log files from the Russian BVS (Onboard Computer System) RS3 laptop to a CD-ROM disk for subsequent downlink to the ground.

Whitson & Tani assembled and configured new equipment from the ACS (Atmosphere Control System) modification kit for installation in the Regenerative ECLSS (Environment Control & Life Support System).    [In support of the activities, the ground temporarily deactivated the LAB1PD1 rack smoke detector.]

Malenchenko completed of the routine servicing of the SOZh system (Russian ECLSS) in the SM (Service Module).   [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists, among else, of checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers.]

With the Elektron oxygen (O2) generator turned off since 12/28, Yuri performed a 1-hour O2 repress of the cabin atmosphere from Progress M-62/27P storage tankage.   [The Elektron will remain powered down until 1/9/08 to conserve hardware lifetime.  During this time, the station will be periodically repressurized with oxygen from Progress 27P.]

The crew worked out in their regular 2.5-hr. physical exercise program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the CEVIS cycle ergometer (CDR, FE-2), TVIS treadmill (FE-1), RED resistive exerciser (CDR, FE-2), and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1).

Afterwards, Dan Tani copied the exercise data file to the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer) laptop for downlink, including the daily wristband HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) data of the workouts on RED, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium (done six times a week).

At ~5:40am EST, Peggy & Dan supported an interactive PAO interview event on ABC-TV's "Good Morning America" (David Muir), via Ku- and S-band.

CEO photo targets uplinked for today again were Polar Mesospheric Clouds — (PMC - also known as noctilucent clouds) over selected ground sites (12 minutes for each).  (Southern spring is the season for relatively uncommon polar mesospheric clouds to form very high over Antarctica.  PMC are being studied as part of the International Polar Year [IPY] investigation of climate change in high latitudes. PMC form in the stratosphere and higher, i.e. well above the lowest layer of the atmosphere [troposphere, or weather layer, characterized by clouds, and an orange tinge produced by brushfire smoke, smog, etc.].  The AIM satellite (Aeronomy of Ice in the Atmosphere) has recently been launched to investigate how PMC form and why they are apparently becoming thicker and brighter.  ISS/CEO imagery will complement images from AIM and from the ground.  The collaborating IPY scientist is excited to receive any images ISS may acquire.  Collaborating Swedish scientists are now working at a base in Antarctica (73S 13 W) for PMC observation.)

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov  (about 700,000 NASA digital photographs of Earth are downloaded by the public each month from this "Gateway" site);
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/AstronautPhotography

[row]
[col color=#303430:d63e4ec110]
ISS Orbit  (as of this morning, 8:09am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude -- 335.5 km
Apogee height -- 336.7 km
Perigee height -- 334.3 km
Period -- 91.24 min.
Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.64 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0001773
Solar Beta Angle -- -65.6 deg (magnitude decreasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.78
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours -- 75 m  
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) -- 52191

[row]
[col color=#303034:d63e4ec110]
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Standard, some changes possible. NET = Not Earlier Than):
TBD -- STS-122/Atlantis/1E launch -- Columbus Module, ICC-Lite.
TBD -- STS-122/Atlantis/1E docking
TBD -- STS-122/Atlantis/1E undocking
01/31/08 -- Explorer-1 50 Years (1st U.S. Satellite on Redstone rocket)  [Check it out at http://usspace50.com ]
02/06/08 -- Progress M-62/27P undocking & reentry
02/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P launch
02/09/08 -- Progress M-63/28P docking (DC1)
02/22/08 – NET:  ATV-1 "Jules Verne" launch/Ariane V (Kourou, French Guyana)
02/14/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A launch/1J/A, ~11:53am, w/SLP-SPDM, JEM ELM-PS
02/16/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A docking
02/27/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour undocking
02/29/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour landing
03/06/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 1
03/12/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 2
03/15/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 3 & Docking (SM aft port)
04/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P undocking (DC1) & reentry
04/08/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S launch
04/10/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S docking (DC1)
04/19/08 -- Soyuz TMA-11/15S undocking (FGB nadir port)
04/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S relocation (from DC1 to FGB nadir port)
04/24/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J launch – JEM PM "Kibo", racks, RMS
04/26/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J docking
05/04/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J undocking
05/14/08 -- Progress M-64/29P launch
05/16/08 -- Progress M-64/29P docking (DC1)
08/07/08 -- NET: ATV-1 undocking (from SM aft port)
08/12/08 -- Progress M-65/30P launch
08/14/08 -- Progress M-65/30P docking (SM aft port)
09/09/08 -- Progress M-64/29P undocking (from DC1)
09/10/08 -- Progress M-66/31P launch
09/12/08 -- Progress M-66/31P docking (DC1)
09/18/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 launch – MPLM Leonardo, LMC
09/20/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 docking
10/01/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 undocking.
10/01/08 -- NASA 50 Years
10/11/08 -- Progress M-65/30P undocking (from SM aft port)
10/12/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S launch
10/14/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S docking (SM aft port)
10/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S undocking (FGB nadir)
11/03/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S relocation (from SM aft to FGB nadir)
11/06/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A launch – S6 truss segment
11/08/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A docking
11/17/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A undocking
11/20/08 -- ISS 10 Years
11/26/08 -- Progress M-67/32P launch
11/28/08 -- Progress M-67/32P docking (SM aft port)
04/15/09 -- Constellation's Ares I-X Launch
05/??/09 -- Six-person crew on ISS  (following Soyuz 18S-2 docking)
04/??/10 -- STS-132/Discovery/20A – Node-3 + Cupola.
[/table]

[ESA Vega]

Ли Со Ён

южнокорейский кандидат на полёт в космос

South Korea (AP)

South Korea said Monday a female engineer would become the country's first person in space by going aboard a Russian spacecraft, after Moscow rejected Seoul's first choice because he violated reading rules during training.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said at a news conference that Yi So-yeon will replace Ko San as the country's choice to fly on a Russian Soyuz capsule to the International Space Station in early April.

South Korea originally named Ko as its candidate in September, but Russia's Federal Space Agency asked for a replacement last month because he violated regulations at a Russian space training center where the two South Koreans have been training, said Lee Sang-mok, a senior ministry official.

Korean Cosmonaut Violated Security
http://www.kommersant.com/p-12179/Russian_space_program/