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2\19 ISS On-Orbit Status 19-02-2002
Part 1 of 2

ISS On-Orbit Status 2/19/03

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted 
previously or below. Day 88 in space for Expedition 6.

Before breakfast and first physical exercise, the crew completed 
another round of the medical assessment MO-9 of the Russian crew 
health-monitoring program. The last session was held on 1/24. [MO-9 is 
biochemical urinalysis, conducted regularly every 30 days (and also 
before and after EVAs), using the sophisticated in-vitro diagnostic 
apparatus "Urolux" developed originally for the Mir program. The 
device is first calibrated with prepared calibration strips (if not 
used for more than seven days) and then receives the measuring strips 
with the subject's urine samples for automatic (photometric) analysis. 
LEDs (light emitting diodes) indicate immediately if the data are 
within or outside (green or red) the physiological norm, and they are 
also printed on a tape for report to MCC-M. If the unit fails, test 
parameters can also be visually evaluated with a color-coded scale. 
MO-9 is one of several Russian medical assessments that have been 
accepted by US MedOps as part of the U.S. "PHS (periodic health 
status) with blood labs" exam, scheduled for tomorrow.]

FE-2/SO Don Pettit set up and installed the equipment for tomorrow's 
PHS exam using the PCBA (portable clinical; blood analyzer), along 
with the periodic Russian MO-10 "Hematokrit" (red blood cell count) 
testing.

R3 Transition: The upload of the new Rev. 3 (R3) Stage 12A software to 
the SSMMUs (solid state mass memory units) of the C&C MDMs (command & 
control computers), INT MDMs (internal systems computers) and PCS 
(portable computer system) laptops yesterday did not go as smoothly as 
expected. Therefore, today's task items related to the R3 transition 
were deferred until tomorrow. Plans are to resume R3 software 
transition tomorrow, to be complete on Saturday (2/22). The onboard 
C&C MDMs will be on the R3 load as of Friday (2/21). [Yesterday, both 
the C&C1 and the INT-1 computers failed to Diagnostics mode during the 
upload. Both MDMs were then brought back in a safe configuration. The 
nominal loading procedure for the PCS also did not work at first, 
requiring crew intervention late in the day to complete loading the 
laptops with sufficient 12A software to allow pressing ahead with the 
PCS transition. The C&C MDM and INT MDM software problems were 
associated with checksum errors, and several workarounds were being 
discussed.]

Detailed instructions were uplinked for recovering the U.S. motion 
control system's (MCS's) primary Guidance, Navigation & Control (GNC) 
MDM in case of failure. [The procedure, which can take from one to 
three hours, would return the primary GNC MDM to a nominal state and 
mode the U.S. MCS to free drift, but would not return the station to 
U.S. attitude control.]

FE-1 Nikolai Budarin worked on the RS (Russian segment) computer 
system, connecting the ISS "Wiener" laptop to a different power outlet 
-- viz., from RBS-335 to one of the outlets on PPS (systems power 
panel) 26 -- in order to free up an onboard outlet in the Service 
Module (SM). [To do this, a new cable was required, which was 
delivered two weeks ago by Progress M-47/10P.]

CDR Ken Bowersox concluded this week's water sampling by visually 
analyzing the MCD (microbial capture device) samples for their T+2 
days reading. His microbiological analysis data were then transferred 
to the MEC (medical equipment computer). [Bowersox also was to take 
digital images of the WMK (water microbiology kit) colony growth 
results if they were above specified limits.]

Nikolai Budarin performed preventive maintenance on the SM air 
ventilation system, changing out the four dust filter inserts (PF1-4). 
[After removing the old replaceable cartridges in the dust collectors, 
he installed a soft cover and decorative frame on the PF1 & 2 (lower) 
filters and a decorative frame on the PF3 & 4 (upper) dust filters, 
followed by installation of the new filter cartridges. Frames and 
cover were delivered two weeks ago by Progress M-47/10P.]

Later, Budarin completed the three-day activity of washing and 
sterilizing SVO-ZV water supply equipment, using disinfectant 
delivered on 10P.

Don Pettit took the daily ppCO2 (carbon dioxide partial pressure) 
readings in Lab and SM with the CDMK (CO2 monitoring kit), after 
breakfast and again before dinner. The readings are regularly reported 
down during the daily planning conferences (DPCs).

MCC-H/EVA specialists tagged up with the crew to discuss the upcoming
Two-Man EVA DTO (development test objective), scheduled for next 
Friday (2/21). DTO objective is to demonstrate the feasibility of 
conducting a contingency EVA in U.S. equipment for the case where ISS 
is crewed by only two persons. [The three procedures that will be 
performed by Bowersox and Pettit during the donning exercise are EMU 
(extravehicular mobility unit) donning, EMU prebreathe, and post-EVA, 
all without IV (intravehicular crewmember) assist. Preliminary 
versions of these procedures were uplinked overnight, but although 
they were verified on the ground last Friday, final signoff is 
awaiting the 2/21 demo in zero-G for possible changes. The procedures 
assume four hours of in-suit prebreathing for simplicity and 
conservation of oxygen (O2). Suits are donned in the Airlock's EDDA 
(EMU don/doff assembly), with special attention to putting on helmets 
and gloves without IV help. The suits need to be pressurized in order 
to verify the ability to don the SAFER (simplified aid for EVA 
rescue). EMU purge will be waived in order to conserve O2. Biomedical 
electrodes are not required, but the Metox (metal oxide) CO2 
filtration canister changeout will be practiced.  The activities will 
be videotaped by Nikolai Budarin for future increment training and for 
procedures improvement.]

Don prepared the daily IMS database update file for export/downlink, 
and Sox did the payload status checkup in the Lab (PCG-STES010).

After the LAB1P5 RPCM replacement by Pettit on 2/17, the RWS VTR1 
(robotics workstation/video tape recorder #1) is operating nominally 
again.

Today's targets for the CEO (crew earth observations program) were 
Eastern Mediterranean Dust (as ISS approached the Egyptian coast from 
the SW, the crew was to look left of track for dust clouds being drawn 
northward over the sea by winds of a storm over the central 
Mediterranean), Nile River Delta (trying for oblique views right of 
track of the Nile River Delta noting land use, and color changes from 
Cairo to the Suez Canal), Tigris-Euphrates, Turkey (taking advantage 
of a break in the weather over this region and using sun glint to 
enhance water features. Looking right of track, southeastward into 
Iraq), Western Mediterranean Dust (a compact storm system over the 
western Med is pushing slowly eastward. As the crew crossed the 
Tunisian coast and headed for Sicily, they were to look right of track 
for dust plumes over the Gulf of Sirte), Presidents Day Snow Cover (a 
massive snowstorm struck the eastern US on Presidents Day [2/17] with 
the heaviest snowfall since at least the mid-90's. Clearing weather 
was expected by the time of this pass, and the crew was to look left 
of track from West Virginia to Maine to document the extent and 
density of snow cover), and Alpine Snow Pack (as ISS tracked 
southeastward over the western Alps, crew was to look left of track to 
document the extent of the winter snow pack).

CEO images can be viewed at the website http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov

(continued)

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