ISS On-Orbit Status Report

Japanese Small Satellite Orbital Deployer 9 (J-SSOD#9): Robotics Controllers in Tsukuba, Japan maneuvered the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS) to the Small Satellite Deploy Position and deployed the Japanese Small Satellite Orbital Demonstration (JSSOD)-9 satellites. These satellites are 1U CubeSats and were developed by Bhutan, the Philippines, and Malaysia. The crew supported the …

HTV-7 Rack Relocation Prep: This week the crew has been executing a series of activities in order to prepare ISS for the installation of new racks arriving on HTV-7. After relocating and consolidating stowage earlier in the week, two crewmembers relocated five racks today within and between various modules in the US Segment. Prior to …

Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Moderate Temperature Loop (MTL) Leak Update: Express Rack (ER)5 was isolated yesterday as part of the on-going search for the JEM MTL leak. While Space Station Integration and Promotion Center (SSIPC) continues to monitor total JEM MTL fluid volume, the slow low leak rate takes approximately 24 hours to manifest in …

Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Moderate Temperature Loop (MTL) Leak Update: The JEM MTL leak continues with the rate of 20 mL/day. On Friday, the crew completed a visual inspection of the Gas Trap Bypass Valve in the JEM Thermal Control System (TCS)2 rack but were unable to find evidence of a leak. They also isolated …

SpaceX-15 Dragon Unberth and Release: Early this morning, the crew removed power connections, utility jumpers and completed closeout of the Dragon vehicle prior to depressurization of the Node 2 (N2) Nadir vestibule. Robotics ground controllers used the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) to unberth Dragon at 9:37 AM CDT and the crew released the …

Chemical Gardens: Today the crew removed the Chemical Gardens 2 ampoule kit from a Cargo Transfer Bag, broke the seal between the ampoules and mixed the contents of both. In the Chemical Gardens experiment, selected metal salts are added to an aqueous solution of sodium silicate (Na2SiO3), resulting in the formation of inorganic structures that …

Fluid Shifts: A 55S crewmember performed their Fluid Shifts Dilution Measurements activities today.  They collected saliva, blood and urine at multiple points during the day and inserted them into a Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI).  Fluid Shifts is a joint NASA-Russian experiment divided into Dilution Measurements, Baseline Imaging, and Baseline Imaging …

Aerosol Samplers: Today the crew deployed Active Aerosol Samplers (AASs) in Nodes 1 and 3.  The battery-powered AASs actively pull in air and collect particles using the principal of thermophoresis. This is accomplished by flowing the sampled air through a large thermal gradient in a narrow channel. During this process, particles are driven to the …

Micro-12: On Sunday, the crew activated all eighteen Micro-12 Group Activation Packs (GAPs) by mixing microbial media and inoculum. Then crew terminated one GAP by adding a microbial fixative to preserve the organism for subsequent ground-based characterization.  Today the crew terminated additional GAPs.  Micro-12 examines the effects of spaceflight on the physiology of an exoelectrogenic …

Micro-11: Today the crew performed the final two sessions for the Micro-11 investigation. They checked out, configured and calibrated the Micro-11 microscope, thawed samples removed from a General Laboratory Active Cryogenic ISS Experiment Refrigerator (GLACIER), fixed those samples and loaded them into the microscope for imaging. Afterwards, they inserted the samples into a Minus Eighty …