*File image* Photo: NASA
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Soyuz TMA-08M & three new ISS Residents dock to Station in Record Time
March 29, 2013The three International Space Station Expedition 35/36 crew members have arrived at the orbiting outpost aboard their Soyuz TMA-08M Spacecraft - reaching the Space Station after the first-of-its-kind four-orbit rendezvous for a manned ISS flight. Soyuz TMA-08M executed a flawless rendezvous profile following its launch at 20:43 UTC on Thursday. The fully automated Rendezvous culminated in the docking of the vehicle at 2:28 UTC on Friday morning, setting a new record for the fastest manned docking for the Space Station Program.
>>>Full Story |
ISS Operations, March 27, 2013
Experiments:
Maintenance/Servicing:
Other Activities:
- Reaction Self Test (Hadfield, Marshburn) [RST is performed twice a day, in the morning and after the day's operations are complete, consisting of a short 5-minute simulation using a laptop computer to assess the effect fatigue has on crew members undergoing long-duration space flight.]
- ENERGY Experiment – Pulmonary Function System Checkouts, Water Intake, Oxygen Uptake Measurements, Standard Breakfast, Urine Sampling, Diet Logging (Marshburn) [=Astronaut's Energy Requirements for Long-Term Space Flight. ENERGY measures changes in energy balance during long term space flight, adaptations in the components of the Total Energy Expenditure and it will derive an equation for the energy requirements of astronauts. For the crew members, ENERGY includes a special diet, urine sampling, oxygen uptake measurements and diet logging.]
- BTKh-26 – KASKAD – Bioreactor Thermostat Setup (Romanenko)
- ISERV Ops [The SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System (ISERV) was designed to assess an automated data acquisition process. ISERV will further improve Earth Observation techniques in support of environmental management, humanitarian assistance and disaster assessment. The project is managed by NASA and USAID. It operates from the Window Observation Facility in the Destiny Laboratory.]
- URAGAN - Pre-pack Photo Spectral System (ФСС) Hardware for return and disposal (Romanenko)
- WinSCAT (Hadfield) [MedOps WINSCAT (Spaceflight Cognitive Assessment Tool for Windows) is a computer based psychological evaluation that investigates concentration, verbal working memory, attention, short-term memory, spatial processing, and math skill of humans exposed to microgravity for extended periods of time.]
Maintenance/Servicing:
- Nominal Inspections/Servicing Tasks (Morning Inspection, Caution & Warning Panel Check, Sozh System Maintenance) (Romanenko)
- Ice Brick Insertion into MELFI (Hadfield)
- Service Module CO Measurements (Romanenko)
- Inspection & Inventory of Emergency Equipment – Fire Extinguishers, Breathing Apparatuses (Hadfield)
- Installation of data cable jumpers (Hadfield)
- Water Transfers (Romanenko)
- Express Laptop Troubleshooting (Hadfield)
- IP Airflow Sensor Verification (Romanenko)
- Standard ARED Maintenance (Hadfield)
Other Activities:
- Nominal Exercise
- Psychological Conferences
- Medical Conferences
- Progress M-18M Transfer Operations (Romanenko)
- Crew Conference with Canadian Space Agency (Hadfield)
- Russian PAO Ops (Romanenko)
ISS Operations, March 26, 2013
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Dragon SpX-2 Operations.
Experiments:
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Photo: SpaceX
Photo: NASA
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Maintenance/Servicing:
Other Activities:
- Russian Laptop Software Upgrades - RS1, RS2 & RS3 Laptops (Romanenko)
- Nominal Inspections/Servicing Tasks (Morning Inspection, Caution & Warning Panel Check, Sozh System Maintenance) (Romanenko)
- 800A Unit Replacement in Zarya (Romanenko)
- Clean-Up of Zarya Interior Panels 116, 316, 241 & 431 (Romanenko)
- ГЖТ - removal screens 1, 2, 3 in FGB - cleaning (Romanenko)
- Closing Cupola Window Shutter for overnight heater turnoff test (Hadfield)
Other Activities:
- HAM Radio Session (Hadfield)
- PAO Event (Hadfield)
- Nominal Exercise
Photo: NASA
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Dragon makes safe Splashdown Landing & returns precious ISS Cargo
March 26, 2013The SpaceX Dragon has departed the International Space Station on Tuesday after a 23-day docked mission to start its trip back to Earth later on Tuesday, carrying precious ISS experiment hardware and science samples back to Earth for post-flight analysis.
Dragon has made a successful return to Earth on Tuesday following its second operational mission to the International Space Station. After being released from ISS earlier on Tuesday, Dragon performed a short free flight, setting up for its deorbit burn followed by re-entry and a splashdown landing in the Pacific Ocean at 16:34 UTC. Following its landing, Dragon was reported to be in good condition. >>>Mission Updates |
ISS Operations & SpX-2 Status - March 25, 2013
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Dragon SpX-2 Operations: (all Hadfield & Marshburn)
Experiments: Reaction Self Test (Hadfield, Marshburn) [RST is performed twice a day, in the morning and after the day's operations are complete, consisting of a short 5-minute simulation using a laptop computer to assess the effect fatigue has on crew members undergoing long-duration space flight.] |
Photo: NASA
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Maintenance/Servicing:
Other Activities:
- Nominal Inspections/Servicing Tasks (Morning Inspection, Caution & Warning Panel Check, Sozh System Maintenance) (Romanenko)
- Air Conditioning Unit Replacement (Romanenko)
- Russian Laptop Prep for Software Update (Romanenko)
- MRM2 B3 Fan cleaning (Romanenko)
Other Activities:
- Progress M-18M Transfer Ops (Romanenko)
- HAM Radio Session (Marshburn)
- Nominal Exercise
ISS Operations, March 22, 2013
Photo: NASA
Photo: NASA
Photo: CSA/Chris Hadfield
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>>>New SpX-2 Update - Landing delayed to NET March 26
Experiments:
Maintenance/Servicing:
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Other Activities:
- Weekly Tagup with Russian Mission Control
- Weekly Conference with lead Flight Director
- Dragon Cargo Transfers
- Dragon Cargo Tagup
- Crew Medical Officer Proficiency Training (Hadfield) [CMO skills are reviewed and trained at various points in the mission to keep up proficiency and ensure proper responses in critical health situations on board.]
- CUCU Power-Up and Checkout for Dragon Return
- Emergency Drill for all Crew Members to maintain crew proficiency in contingencies & tagup with ground specialists
- Preparation of Reports for the Roscosmos Site (Romanenko)
ISS Operations, March 21, 2013
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ISS Reboost:
On Thursday, March 21, 2013, Progress M-17M was used to perform an ISS Reboost Maneuver. The DPO engines were fired at 00:25 UTC for 673 seconds to provide a change in velocity of 1.5m/s in order to raise the Station's mean altitude by 2.6 Kilometers. This reboost was done to set up phasing for the fast-rendezvous of Soyuz TMA-08M next week. Dragon Ops:
Experiments:
Maintenance/Service:
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Palm Islands & The World, Dubai
Berlin, Germany
Cologne, Germany
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- European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS) Degas Module Replacement (Marshburn)
- Preventive Maintenance: Service Module Ventilation System Clean-Up, Group A (Romanenko)
- Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Data Recording (Hadfield)
Other Activities:
- TV Session (Romanenko)
- HAM Radio Session (Marshburn)
- Nominal Exercise
- Preparation of Reports for the Roscosmos Site (Romanenko)
ISS Operations, March 20, 2013
Photo: NASA
Photo: CSA/ChrisHadfield
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Experiments:
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- CSLM-2 Sample Collection (Hadfield) [Coarsening in Solid Liquid Mixtures-2 is a material science investigation that builds on the original CSLM study. It examines the rates of coarsening solid particles that are embedded in a liquid matrix. During the coarsening process, smaller particles shrink by losing atoms to larger particles which coarsen (grow). The study examines the mechanism of this process and the rates of coarsening which will help understand processes that are present on Earth, e.g. in turbine blades, dental amalgam fillings, aluminum alloys.]
- Uragan & Seiner Earth Observations (Romanenko)
Maintenance/Servicing:
- Nominal Inspections/Servicing Tasks (Morning Inspection, Caution & Warning Panel Check, Sozh System Maintenance) (Romanenko)
- BMP Harmful Impurities Removal System F2 Absorption Cartridge Regeneration (Bake Out) (Romanenko)
- Service Module CO Measurements (Romanenko)
- Search and gathering equipment for R&R of manual (РЗК) КВ2 Shutoff Valve КВ2 on RODNIK panel (Romanenko)
- Marangoni Inside Hardware Servicing: Cassette Installation into the Core, Core Installation, Closeouts (Marshburn) [Continuing in a multi-day task of servicing the MI experiment hardware for upcoming ops.]
Other Activities:
- HAM Radio Sessions
- Progress M-18M Cargo Operations & IMS Ops (Romanenko)
- Medical Conferences
- Nominal Exercise
- Preparation of Reports for the Roscosmos Site (Romanenko)
ISS Operations, March 19, 2013
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Experiments:
Maintenance/Servicing:
Other Activities:
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Photo: CSA/Chris Hadfield
St. Patrick's Day aboard ISS
Photo: CSA/Chris Hadfield
Photo: CSA/Chris Hadfield
A Look inside Soyuz TMA-07M
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- ISS Repressurization with Oxygen from Progress M-1M Tanks (Romanenko) [The Russian Elektron Oxygen Generator is deactivated and the US OGA is in standby]
- Preparation of Reports for the Roscosmos Site (Romanenko)
- Medical Conferences
- Physical Exercise
ISS Operations, March 18, 2013
Experiments:
Servicing/Maintenance:
Other Activities:
- SPRUT-2 Hardware Setup and Body Mass Measurement & Experiment Ops (Romanenko) [SPRUT-2 (Squid-2) is an experiment that looks at the distribution of body fluids in zero-gravity and measures a crew member’s body mass.]
- Reaction Self Test (Hadfield, Marshburn) [RST is performed twice a day, in the morning and after the day's operations are complete, consisting of a short 5-minute simulation using a laptop computer to assess the effect fatigue has on crew members undergoing long-duration space flight.]
- Periodic Health Checks (Hadfield, Marshburn) [This test is a routine heath status check crewmembers conduct while on orbit.]
- Experiment Procedures Review (Marshburn)
- CSLM-2 Processing Unit Changeout [Coarsening in Solid Liquid Mixtures-2 is a material science investigation that builds on the original CSLM study. It examines the rates of coarsening solid particles that are embedded in a liquid matrix. During the coarsening process, smaller particles shrink by losing atoms to larger particles which coarsen (grow). The study examines the mechanism of this process and the rates of coarsening which will help understand processes that are present on Earth, e.g. in turbine blades, dental amalgam fillings, aluminum alloys.]
- BCAT-C1 - Image Transfer and Camera Setup, Sample Acquisition & Sample 5 Initiation (Hadfield) [BCAT-C1 = Binary Colloidal Alloy Test C1; “BCAT-C1 will probe three-phase separation kinetics and the competition between phase separation and crystallization in colloid polymer mixtures. This regime remains virtually uncharacterized in any type of material including molecular fluids or complex mixtures. BCAT-C1 takes advantage of a substantial opportunity to fill a gap in the knowledge of these fundamental processes. By examining the kinetics in seven samples of different composition, we intend to show that significant quantitative differences in kinetics occur even though the resulting phases are similar,” the official experiment description notes.]
- Journal Entries (Marshburn) [Electronic Journals are kept by USOS Crew Members as part of an ongoing NASA Psychological Investigation on psychological aspects of long-duration space flight.]
- Medaka Osteoclast Kit Transfer (Marshburn)
Servicing/Maintenance:
- Nominal Inspections/Servicing Tasks (Morning Inspection, Caution & Warning Panel Check, Sozh System Maintenance) (Romanenko)
- BMP Harmful Impurities Removal System F1 Absorption Cartridge Regeneration (Bake Out) (Romanenko)
- MSRR-1 Rack PC Replacement & Software Load (Hadfield)
- Marangoni Inside Hardware Ops (Marshburn) [The Maintenance Work Area was transferred to Kibo to allow Marshburn to assemble the MI body, core, and cassette hardware in preparation for upcoming MI Experiment Ops]
- ATV Control Panel Removal inside Zvezda (Romanenko)
- Laptop Anti Virus Update (Romanenko)
Other Activities:
- TV Session (Romanenko)
- Progress M-18M Cargo Operations (Romanenko)
- PAO Event (Marshburn)
- Nominal Exercise
- Expedition 35 crew conference
ISS Expedition 35 begins with successful Undocking & Landing of Soyuz TMA-06M and its Crew of Three
March 16, 2013
*File Image* - Photo: NASA
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Soyuz TMA-06M and the three crew members of ISS Expedition 33/34 have successfully completed their mission, returning to Earth on Saturday morning (UTC) with a safe landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan in fairly unpleasant weather conditions.
Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitsky and Soyuz Flight Engineers Evgeny Tarelkinand Kevin Ford undocked from the Poisk Module of ISS at 23:43 UTC on Friday and started a short free flight to set the stage for deorbit and re-entry about 2.5 hours later. The Soyuz touched down at about 3:10 UTC on Saturday - marking the completion of a 143-day 16-hour mission for the three crew members. Their stay aboard ISS was extremely busy as the crew members set a new record for the amount of science conducted on ISS. They also supported ISS maintenance operations and visiting vehicle arrivals and departures. >>>Full Story |
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