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9 Jun 2003

ISS On-Orbit Status 8 Jun 2003

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted
previously or below.  Day 44 in space for Expedition 7.  Ahead: Week
6 of Increment 7. 

11P/Progress M1-10/ was launched this morning with flawless
perfection, lifting off at Baikonur/Kasakhstan on time at 6:34am
EDT.  Deployments of antennas and solar arrays were nominal.  [The
automated cargo ship inserted itself into orbit at 6:43am and
performed its first two maneuver burns DV1 (34 m/s) and DV2 (25.9
m/s) at 10:09 am and 10:56am.  A small third burn, DV3 (3 m/s), is
scheduled for 6/10 (Tuesday) at 7:45am EDT.  11P is on its way to
rendezvous with the station in the morning of 6/11 (Wednesday).]
 
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. 

Yuri also performed the regular weekly inspection of the BRPK
air/liquid condensate separator system in the SM.

Later, the CDR conducted the daily routine maintenance of the SM's
SOZh life support system (including ASU toilet facilities), while
Flight Engineer/Science Officer Ed LU prepared the daily IMS
inventory "delta" file.

Malenchenko also completed his regular task of caring for 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 had their the weekly PFCs (private family conferences), via
S-band/audio.

Working from the Russian discretionary task list, Malenchenko
conducted another session of the Russian Uragan ("hurricane") earth
imaging program (GFI-8), using the Kodak DCS 760 digital camera with
f/800 focal length lens.  [Suggested targets were detailed imagery of
the River Amur floodplain and forest fires; Sinai Peninsula; Armenia;
City of Baku; dust storms above the Aral Sea; town of Baikonur;
quarries near Dzheskazgan and Temirtau; ecology of the Karaganda
region; city of Semipalatinsk, and panorama of the highest peaks in
the Altai Mountains.] 

Also on the Russian task list on a time-available basis today was a
session with the Diatomeya ocean observation program.  [Today Yuri
used the Nikon D1 digital still camera from SM window #9, to image
the Gulf of Mexico and regions of the Atlantic Ocean.]

Another Russian task list item completed by Malenchenko today were
set-up operations and measurement initiation of the Molniya-SM/LSO
hardware from SM window #3, with the French-provided EGE1 laptop.
[Objective of Molniya-SM, similar to the French LSO experiment, is to
record storm phenomena and other related events in the Earth's
equatorial regions.  The experiment is controlled from the French
EGE-1 laptop, which needs to be loaded with orbital sighting
predictions using an up-to-date NORAD tracking TLE (two-line
element). Objective of LSO was to study rare optical phenomena
occurring in the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere, so-called
"sprites" (i.e., puzzling glow phenomena observed above thunderstorm
clouds).  LSO was originally part of Claudie Haigneré's French
"Andromeda" payload package of taxi mission 3S that could not be
performed as planned during Increment 4 due to an ISS flight attitude
conflict.] 

Today's optional CEO targets, no longer limited in the current LVLH
attitude, were Beijing, China (the crew had a near nadir view of the
Chinese capital on this pass), Tianjin, China (this large, industrial
sister city of Beijing lied just right of track), Congo-Zimbabwe
Biomass Burning (with dry season well underway, this is a good clear
weather pass to look for fires plumes and burn scars to the right of
track), Tel Aviv, Israel (the crew was to look for the Israeli
capital on the coast just left of track),Amman, Jordan (the Jordanian
capital city was near nadir, located about 20 miles northeast of the
Dead Sea), Beijing, China (CITY AT NIGHT during this second pass: ISS
approach was from the NW), Tianjin, China (CITY AT NIGHT during this
second pass: Just SE of Beijing and to the right of track), Brasilia,
Brazil (the Brazilian capital, carved out of the jungle, lied just
right of track), Casablanca, Morocco (this famous Moroccan city on
the coast was just right of track), Rangoon, Myanmar (CITY AT NIGHT:
This city is located on an estuary of the Irrawaddy River and lied
just left of track), Tel Aviv, Israel (CITY AT NIGHT during this
second pass: This should have been the largest of the well-lit cities
on the coast.  As ISS approached from the NW, the crew was to look
left of track), Amman, Jordan (CITY AT NIGHT during this second pass:
The city should have stood out alone in the desert to the left of
track), and Richardson Co, Nebraska (LEWIS & CLARK SITE [see
yesterday's Status Report]: This target is located on the west bank
of the Missouri River about half way between Kansas City and Omaha).
CEO images can be viewed at the websites http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov See also the website "Space Station
Challenge" at  http://voyager.cet.edu/iss/

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