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ISS On-Orbit Status 2/15/03

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted 
previously or below. Day 84 in space for Expedition 6, and, after a 
very busy week, another Saturday crew rest day except for regular 
routine tasks, daily maintenance and optional "job jar" items.

After wake-up (1:00am EST), morning inspection, hygiene and breakfast, 
it was time again for the regular weekly 3-hr. housekeeping, designed 
to keep the crew's orbital outpost spic and span.

FE-2/SO Don Pettit was scheduled to take the daily ppCO2 (carbon 
dioxide partial pressure) readings in Lab and SM with the CDMK (CO2 
monitoring kit), once after breakfast and once again before dinner 
(3:00 pm).

Pettit also prepared the IMS inventory database update file for auto
export/import.

FE-1 Nikolai Budarin completed the daily routine maintenance of the 
SOSh life support systems, incl. ASU toilet facility.

As part of today's and Monday's (2/17) SOSh maintenance, Budarin has 
been requested to remove and replace two components of the IK0501 gas 
analyzer in the SM, viz., the O2 data converter (GL5187) and the H2O 
data converter (ZP1003), using spare units delivered by Progress 
M1-253 (2P) and M-244 (3P) in 2001.

All crewmembers performed their daily physical exercise program on 
TVIS (treadmill with vibration isolation and stabilization), RED 
(resistive exercise device), CEVIS (cycle ergometer with vibration 
isolation), and VELO (Russian cycle ergometer) with load trainer.

At about 7:10am, on Daily Orbit 4 (DO4), MCC-Moscow/TsUP ran a test of 
the LKT4B2 local signal switch device (commutator) in the SM which is 
associated with the newly installed US-21 matching unit in the 
Progress vehicle. [To conduct the test, the ground first had to 
inhibit onboard systems such as the SKV-1 air conditioner, BMP 
microfiltration unit, Elektron O2 generator, BITS telemetry system and 
VD-SU control system, as well as the Vozdukh and DC-1 SOTR (thermal 
system) control algorithms. All inhibited systems were subsequently 
reactivated via pre-set time-tagged commands, again over RGS (Russian 
ground sites). These RGS opportunities also need to be reconciled with 
the TsUP's limited channel availability on the Russian Molniya comm 
satellite, which Rosaviakosmos is sharing with the Russian Military 
Forces ..]

The Russian onboard program also commanded the regular daily DC-1 
smoke detector test.

Among other routine file uploads, which include email synchronization 
two to three times a day, MCC-Houston uplinked the regular weekly NAV 
virus definition file to the ISS OpsLAN (operations local area 
network).

Files scheduled for regular downlink last night included MEC (medical
equipment computer) files for the MCC-H Flight Surgeon, covering such 
recent crew activities as audio dosimetry and SLM (sound level meter) 
surveys, CEVIS, RED and TVIS workouts, and IFEP (in-flight examination 
program) records with PHS (periodic health status) evaluation and 
blood analyses results.

At 10:35am, MCC-H also performed the regular weekly one-hour data dump 
from the GPS (global positioning system), in support of hardware 
checks with data not available in the standard telemetry. [The 
low-priority procedure, which does not preempt higher-priority data 
dumps, obtains information on GPS oscillator drift and antenna 
signal-to-noise ratio for long-term trend analyses.]

Crew Earth Observations (CEO): Now that light is returning to the 
Northern Hemisphere, the extent and rapid seasonal change of winter's 
snow and ice patterns will offer good targets for Earth photography by 
the ISS crew.  Today's CEO targets were Angolan Biomass Burning (using 
this pass to take advantage of the fair weather over northern Angola 
for views of fire burn scars from previous burning seasons. As the 
crew approached the coast from the SW, they were to look right of 
track), White Nile Marshes in Glint (as ISS tracked into southwestern 
Sudan, crew was to begin looking right of track for views of the White 
Nile River and its major wetlands the Sudd Swamp and the Machar 
Marshes all in sun glint. Conditions in these wetlands are indicative 
of variable flow rate of the Nile River system), Western Mediterranean 
Dust (with a strong cold front approaching the Iberian Peninsula there 
was good potential for gusty southerly winds over northern Algeria. 
Looking for clouds of dust in advance of this weather system), Eastern 
Mediterranean Smog (high pressure persists over both central Europe 
and the adjacent Mediterranean waters allowing heavy winter aerosol 
buildup in the atmosphere there. While crossing central Italy, crew 
was to look left of track toward northern Italy, the Alps and 
especially the Po River valley to document smog palls), and Nova 
Scotia Ice (opportunity to document the extent and condition of pack 
ice located along the northern coasts of New Brunswick, Prince Edward 
Island, and Nova Scotia. Tracking over the Gaspé Peninsula, target was 
right of track).

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

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 3:38am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude -- 392.3 km
Apogee -- 400.7 km
Perigee -- 383.9 km
Period -- 92.40 min.
Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.63 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0012381
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.58
Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours -- 140 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. '98) -- 24199

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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