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19 May 2003

ISS On-Orbit Status 18 May 2003

Part 2 of 2

Educational Payload Operations (EPO):  Waiting to begin operations
(Week 4).

Crew Earth Observations (CEO):  The image of erupting Anatahan
Volcano in the Northern Mariana Islands was one of the earliest
images taken of this eruption.  It was acquired while other
government agencies were still gearing up to acquire their more
remote, satellite-based images. The handheld images with a caption
are being prepared for immediate release to NASA's Earth Observatory
website. Today's CEO targets, now no longer restricted by the Lab
science window ruled off-limit due to flight attitude, were Smoke,
Central & South Mexico (Dynamic event.  Looking right for smoke
masses being transported by winds from the south towards northern
Mexico and Texas, across the west side of the Gulf of Mexico),
Argentine floods (Dynamic event.  Waters from the worst floods in
record have inundated the major southern Parana River valley:
sunglint point parallels the river), Patagonian Glaciers (a break for
one day between cloud masses should allow views of the southern
Andean ice sheets.  Detailed views of the dynamic ends of glaciers
around the ice sheets are requested in particular), Anatahan Volcano,
N. Marianas (Dynamic event.  Anatahan Volcano ash has reached Manila,
and poses a danger to commercial aircraft.  A state of emergency was
declared in the Northern Mariana Islands on Wednesday as the eruption
gained strength.  The ISS track, well west of the volcano, should
reveal the ash plume [but probably not the island], especially the
margin of the plume, in oblique views left and right of track),
Perth, Australia(night target; nadir pass), Calcutta, India (night
target; nadir pass), Dhaka, Bangladesh (night target; nadir pass),
Cape Town, South Africa (night target; nadir pass), Johannesburg,
South Africa (night target; nadir pass.  Looking left and right for
the lights of this strung-out metroplex), Karachi, Pakistan (night
target; nadir pass), and Tunis, Tunisia (night target; nadir pass).
CEO images can be viewed at the websites http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov and
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 6:40am EDT [= epoch]):

Mean altitude -- 389.5 km
Apogee -- 393.6 km
Perigee -- 385.5 km
Period -- 92.35 min.
Inclination (to Equator) --  51.63 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0005972
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.59
Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours -- 80 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. '98)  -- 25636
For more on ISS orbit and worldwide naked-eye visibility dates/times,
see http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/station/viewing/issvis.html

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