09/28/08: International Space Station On-Orbit Status Report.

09/28/08: International Space Station On-Orbit Status Report

A second item on the discretionary task list for Oleg was another run of the Russian DZZ-2 "Diatomeya" ocean observations program, using the NIKON-F5 DCS still camera and the HDV (high-definition) video camcorder from SM window 8 for ~20 min to record high production water areas for obtaining data on color field composition in dynamic regions of the ocean and in near-estuary areas of large rivers, plus the current cloud cover above these waters, its rating, and special forms of cloud formation (this was the last day for using film in the NIKON, to be replaced by digital photography in future sessions). [Target zones today in the Atlantic Ocean were the Magellan Strait to the coastal area of Angola as well as the coastal zone of Brazil and Mauritania, in the Pacific Ocean the area west of New Zealand to the upwelling area of Peru.]

Also off the Russian suggestions list, Kononenko performed a session of the Russian GFI-8 "Uragan" (hurricane) earth-imaging program, using the D2X to take telephotos. [Uplinked target zones were the glaciers of the Southern Andes and the Laganaki Plateau, the site of future Olympic Games.]

As generally every day now, today starting at 9:00am and running until 3:00pm, the US CDRA (Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly) is activated intermittently for two half-cycles to control ppCO2 levels. This configuration for the daily ops does not require connecting & disconnecting the ITCS cooling loop. [A forward plan is in work for cycling the CSV (CO2 Selector Valve) to prevent its sticking. CDRA remains 'yellow' on the ISS critical systems list.]

Conjunction Update: Latest tracking data for Object 87055, a piece of debris from the Kosmos-2421 satellite, indicate that its pass tomorrow at ~5:04am EDT will be of no concern (miss ~42.5 km). MCC-H specialists are continuing to monitor.

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- courtesy of NASA Office of Space Operations; image credit: NASA