Blogs

New Status:  High Beta Angle:  The ISS is at a high beta angle this week and as a result the team has been managing power and thermal requirements across the systems.  The Ku-band antenna in particular has been parked several times as it neared low temperature limits, with minimal impacts to operations until today.  Today, the Ku-band …

New Status:  Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV)-4 Launch: ATV-4 Albert Einstein launched today at 4:52 p.m. CDT from Kourou, French Guiana. Solar array and antenna deployment occurred at 6:28 p.m. CDT.  The docking of ATV4 to the ISS Service Module Aft is scheduled for next Saturday, June 15 at 8:46 a.m. CDT. Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Mesh Cover-Return Grille …

New Status:  Environmental Health System (EHS) Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) R&R: Flight Engineer (FE)-5 Parmitano and FE-6 Nyberg removed the expired TOCA Protoflight Unit (PFU1) from the Water Recovery System (WRS) 1 rack face and installed a new TOCA PFU2. Nyberg then conducted a WRS sample analysis, recorded the data and transferred it to the …

New Status:  35 Soyuz (35S) Crew Handover: Flight Engineer (FE)-3 Cassidy continued handover with the 35S crewmembers FE-5 Parmitano and FE-6 Nyberg including on-orbit practices and lessons learned related to ISS systems and payloads. They also reviewed topics that are not limited to a particular module or scheduled activity as well as those that are usually …

New Status:  Inter-module Ventilation (IMV) Flow Measurement: FE-5 Parmitano and FE-6 Nyberg completed IMV flow measurements throughout the United States On-orbit Segment (USOS).  Measurements were taken using the velocicalc at the ventilation inlets and outlets and in mid-module to determine the status of the IMV system between the USOS modules as well as between the USOS …

New Status:  Burning and Suppression of Solids (BASS): Flight Engineer (FE)-3 Cassidy executed the eleventh of thirteen sessions planned for this experiment.  BASS examines the burning and extinction characteristics of a wide variety of fuel samples in microgravity and will guide strategies for extinguishing fires in microgravity. BASS results contribute to the combustion computational models used …

New Status:  Multi-Purpose Small Payload Rack (MSPR) Combustion Chamber (CC) Setup: FE-3 Cassidy configured and installed the MSPR CC in preparation for the Combustion Chamber gas leak check scheduled for Thursday, May 30.  Cassidy deployed and installed the chamber onto the MSPR workbench and then installed the chamber in the MSPR work volume.  The leak check …

New Status:  ISS as Testbed for Analog Research (ISTAR) Treadmill 2 (T2) 6-Month Maintenance: Flight Engineer (FE)-3 Cassidy successfully completed a regular maintenance on the T2. He cleaned closeout panels; inspected the treadmill motor carriage bolts, drive belt, treadmill mounting screws, tread belt slats and screws, damaged rack composite, and snubber cup liner; and vacuumed inside …

New Status:  Seedling Growth Experiment: Flight Engineer (FE)-3 Cassidy removed the Experiment Container (EC) and inserted it into the Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) which completed the 4th and final run of this experiment. Seedling Growth studies the effects of microgravity on the growth of plants and is being performed on board the …

New Status:  Russian Treadmill (БД-2) Checkout: Flight Engineer (FE)-2 Misurkin performed checkout of the new Russian treadmill. The crew was able to run on the БД-2 and downlinked photos and a video of the session to ground specialists for evaluation. The crew is scheduled to start nominal exercise sessions on Friday. Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, …