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3 June 2003

ISS On-Orbit Status 1 June 2003

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted
previously or below.  Day 37 in space for Expedition 7.  Ahead:
Week 5.

As most every Sunday, CDR Yuri Malenchenko collected the weekly data
readings of the Service Module (SM)'s toilet flush and water supply
status counters for calldown to MCC-M, then completed the periodic
inspection of the Elektron oxygen generator's VM gas/liquid system
for possible obstructing air bubbles.

Malenchenko conducted the daily routine maintenance of the SM's SOZh
life support system (including ASU toilet facilities), while Ed Lu
prepared the daily IMS inventory "delta" file.

The CDR also conducted his regular care of the on-board nursery,
i.e., the daily monitoring/servicing of the BIO-5 Rasteniya-2 zero-G
plant growth experiment in the Lada-2 greenhouse.

Both crewmembers completed their daily 2.5-h program of physical
exercise, on TVIS treadmill, RED expander and, for Yuri, on the
Russian VELO cycle ergometer with load trainer.

The crew received thanks for an excellent video survey of the TVIS
harness, downlinked yesterday.  [As a result, ground specialists
advised them to inspect the harness closely before each use andlet
them know if an accelerated failure rate at the weak points can be
noticed.  An earlier design had broken once and "released the
crewmember into a panel". Recommendations for patching up the harness
will be uplinked early this week.  Also, Houston is working to send
up two new TVIS harnesses in Progress 11P, which may have some volume
available for them.]   The crew had their the weekly PFCs (private
family conferences), via S-band/audio. 

Starting tomorrow, the Node forward port IMV (intravehicular
ventilation) fan will be activated for 15 mins. for eight consecutive
days in order to prevent the separation of bearing grease integral to
the ventilator motor. Since the IMV valve outlet to the fan is
closed, the fan may be quite noisy during this time.

The necessary one-hour troubleshooting of the EMU battery discharge
procedure, now scheduled for 6/3 (Tuesday), will require last-minute
deferral of the lesser-priority MSG/InSPACE (Microgravity Science
Glovebox/Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from
Colloidal Emulsions) session on that day, in order to de-conflict the
crew's schedule.  [Additional necessary tasks to be accommodated on
6/3 are water sample collection activities (2h20m), emergency book
pen & ink changes, and IWIS (internal wireless instrumentation
system) data dump operations.] 

Flight attitude continues in solar-oriented XPOP (x-axis
perpendicular to orbit plane), with yaw/pitch/roll
angles = 0.5/-6.8/0 degrees.  Attitude will be changed to LVLH on
6/7 (Saturday) for Progress 11P docking.

Weekly Science Update:   Not available this weekend.

Today's optional CEO targets, limited in the current XPOP attitude by
flight rule constraints on the use of the Lab nadir/science window,
also excluding any night target viewing, were Industrialized SE
Africa (conditions continued fair for further buildup of visible haze
masses.  Looking right of track towards the Witwatersrand
metropolis), Angolan Biomass Burning (as winter high pressure sets
in, this was an ideal pass for documenting the offshore flow of
aerosols into the tropical Atlantic.  Looking right of track towards
the central Namibian coast, which is one of two recently identified
"exits" for aerosols from the subcontinent [the other is over
southeast South Africa].  Oblique views of this "exhaust" phenomenon
are of great interest to atmospheric scientists), Patagonian
Glaciers (looking near nadir for views of the cloudfree north end of
the ice sheets.  Detailed views requested), Western Mediterranean
Aerosol (conditions continued to be favorable for increasing smog
buildup in the western Med.  Looking left with Sardinia/Corsica as
visual cues for our interpretation, crew was asked to shoot haze over
the sea near the Rhone valley mouth [southern France] and in the
Adriatic Sea, which funnels industrial haze from northern Italy
southwards.  Smog from both regions flows hundreds of miles from
source, even as far as Iraq on one known occasion), Sahara Dust, West
Africa (Dynamic event.  Southwesterly outblow into the Atlantic Ocean
over Senegal. Looking left for obliques, especially of the dust
front), Lower Amazon River Basin (crew was asked to look left for
detailed, near-obliques of the estuary coastlines), Western Europe
(Dynamic event.  Large high pressure system in W Europe, with clear
weather from SW France, along the north slopes of the Alps, to sunset
in Belarus), and High Central Andean Glaciers (looking right for
general views of the tropical glaciers of Peru). CEO images can be
viewed at the websites http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov

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