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18 Mar 2003

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

ISS On-Orbit Status 3/17/03

Part 1 of 2

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted
previously or below. The pre-St. Patrick's Sunday yesterday did not
go quite as happily uneventful for the crew as their planned schedule
intended. 

Early Sunday morning, an unexpected pump failure on one of the two
loops of the Lab ITCS (internal thermal control system) required the
crew to attempt repair and troubleshooting, keeping them up well past
their bedtime last night. Today's schedule for CDR Ken Bowersox and
FE-2/SO Don Pettit was largely cleared of other tasks and dedicated
to an extensive maintenance job to recover from the pump failure.
More previously unplanned work remains for tomorrow. [Leading up to
the shutdown of the ITCS MTL PPA (moderate temperature loop pump
package assembly), at 1:46am EST MTL loop parameters began showing
fluctuations in pump speed (down from ~16000 rpm), pressure and
current, at first glance indicative of a problem with the MTL PPA gas
trap. At 7:17am, the crew swapped the gas trap with a spare, which
didn't help. Later, at 9:20am, the pump shut down and the ITCS
reverted to single-channel mode on the LTL (low temperature loop).
Today, Bowersox and Pettit began to replace the PPA with a spare
unit, installing it temporarily in the LAB-1 rack for pressurization
of its accumulator with N2 (nitrogen). To clarify an uncertainty
regarding the bellows' reaction to the pressurization, the subsequent
priming of the pump with water was deferred to tomorrow. Tomorrow's
schedule was cleared to accommodate another three hours for the PPA
filling, followed by connecting the gas trap from the failed PPA to
it, then installing the assembly in the MTL in LAB-1, wrapped up by
functional testing. The FSS (fluid system servicer), to be used for
the water filling from the PWR (payload water reservoir), will
finally be drained, purged and restowed.]

The crew was provided with a contingency plan in the event of a
failure of the ITCS/LTL single-loop mode which would leave the U.S.
segment without internal cooling. [The plan involves extensive load
shedding to reduce heat production, i.e. powering down a larger
number of RPCMs (remote power controller modules) in order to prolong
the upstream DDCU's (dc-to-dc current converter's) "thermal
survivability" time (after which the power-providing DDCU would
trip).] 

FE-1 Nikolai Budarin performed his daily status check on the Russian
BIO-5 Rasteniya-2/Lada-2 ("Plants-2") plant growth experiment in the
SM. 

Budarin also installed two new cables of the SUBA onboard equipment
control system in the SM, brought up by 10P/Progress-247, to
reconfigure control of both SKV-1 (turned off) and SKV-2 (off) air
conditioners. [This had been deferred from an earlier date, 3/3].

Afterwards, Budarin supported the transition of the Russian KTsP1
central post computer #1 and Laptop 1 to the new 7.01 software
version, Later today, the SM Terminal (TVM) and Central (TsVM)
computers are to be restarted by the ground, to reinitialize their
three lanes (subsets). The restart will be on the old Vers. 5.04
software, with transition to the new code scheduled for later. The
upgrading will continue this week. [To prepare for the TVM restart
(4:20pm), Elektron and SKV-1 will be shut down to prevent C&W
(caution & warning) annunciations with no software in control.
Similarly, for TsVM restart (9:33pm), Moscow/TsUP will deactivate
subsystems such as the DC-1 docking module's fire suppression system
(APS) and thermal control system, and US-21 matching unit transfers.]

Budarin completed another periodic change-out of the urine receptacle
(M-P) and filter insert (F-V) of the ASU toilet system in the Service
Module. 

Budarin also conducted the daily routine maintenance of the SM's SOZh
life support system, including ASU toilet facilities, while Bowersox
did the regular checkup of the autonomous PCG-STES010 Lab payload.

Later in the day, it was time again for Nikolai to work his way
through the MO-5 MedOps protocol of cardiovascular evaluation during
graded exercises on the VELO cycle ergometer, assisted by FE-2/SO Don
Pettit as CMO (crew medical officer). [Using the Gamma-1 ECG
equipment with biomed harness, skin electrodes, and a blood pressure
and rheoplethysmograph cuff wired to the cycle ergometer's
instrumentation panels, the cosmonaut worked the pedals after a
prescribed program at load settings of 125, 150, and 175 watts for
three minutes each. All measurements were recorded and telemetered to
MCC-M, from where the workout was controlled by a specialist.]

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

The Vozdukh CO2 removal unit is back up and running. CDRA (CO2
removal assembly) is off.

ISS flight attitude is back in XPOP (x-axis perpendicular to orbit
plane). 

Over the weekend, Bowersox and Pettit, working off the "job jar" task
list, completed an inspection of the outer surface of the Node nadir
hatch window's EVA Hyzod cover for optical obscurations induced by
environmental exposure to atomic oxygen and vacuum ultra-violet. [The
task consisted of photo and video documenting of any flaws, marks,
particulate contamination, deposited film, large pits, coating
de-lamination, or hazing. The inspection helps to determine possible
future actions required to maintain a clear CBCS (centerline berthing
camera system) view from this hatch, the primary berthing cue for
MPLM installation during Mission ULF-1.] 

Today's targets for the CEO (crew earth observations) program (not
using the Lab window due to Flight Rule restriction of no exposure to
direct sunlight) were Melbourne, Australia (City at Night: At dusk
looking right of track for city view), Detroit, Michigan (City at
Night: Looking right of track for the home of the Detroit Motor City
Dragway), Rangoon, Myanmar (City at Night: looking right of track
toward the Irrawaddy River Delta to document lights), Beijing, China
(City at Night; looking left of track for densely populated area),
Bombay, India (City at Night), and Patagonian Glaciers (shooting
context and detailed views of glaciers before upcoming major winter
snow storms). 

CEO images can be viewed at the websites
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov and
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov

 - Continued -

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