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>> Greetings from Mission Control, Houston.
And welcome to this Friday's edition
of International Space Station Update.
Joining us here inside of the flight control room
at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
Orbit 2 Team, currently on console,
being led by that man right there walking,
Flight Director Chris Edelen.
And right behind him in the blue shirt, CAPCOM Clay Anderson.
NASA astronaut who will service the communication link
between the controllers down here on the ground.
And the astronauts up in space.
Those astronauts right now, the crew of Expedition 33,
being led by NASA astronaut Suni Williams.
All the way on the left there in the middle,
Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko.
Veteran space flyer on his fifth space flight.
Then all the way on the right, Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide.
On his second flight.
A veteran of one previous shuttle mission.
It's a very busy time for the astronauts
up on orbit this week.
Seeing the arrival of a new cargo vehicle taking
up a good deal of their time throughout the week.
Starting off on Monday though, Expedition 33 Commander,
Suni Williams was involved with some ultrasound scans
for an ongoing experiment known as SPRINT.
These astronauts getting in about two hours
of exercise every day in order to combat some
of the negative effects of weightlessness.
SPRINT is an ongoing study.
To see if shorter exercise periods
but at higher intensities can have a better effect
at combatting some
of the negative effects of weightlessness.
So she was taking some ultrasounds
of her legs being assisted by Aki Hoshide.
And transmitting all that data
down to researchers on the ground.
Suni also took some time to do a ham radio pass using standard
ham radio equipment with the St. George International School
in Luxembourg.
Getting a chance to talk to students.
And answer their questions directly
from the International Space Station.
She's also going to a conference
with controllers down on the ground.
As they continue to prep for the arrival
of the Dragon SpaceX capsule.
Which would arrive the following day.
Also on Monday Aki Hoshide was continuing his extended session
of the ESA ENERGY experiment.
The ENERGY experiment looking
to further understand the direct relationship between nutrition
and the effects of space on the astronauts' energy levels.
Also helping to further determine the
energy requirements.
That are necessary for recommending healthy nutrition
in these astronauts during their extended stay in weightlessness.
Aki also working on the water recovery system onboard
the station.
He's filling up one of the contingency water containers.
And also transferring some of the urine that is stored
over to the urine processing assembly.
Which is then processed and then filtered back
into potable drinking water for this Expedition 33 crew.
Our third crew member onboard, Yuri Malenchenko,
spent Monday doing some routine servicing
of the Environmental Control and Life Support System or ECLSS.
Over on the Russian segment inside
of the Zvezda Service Module.
He's also working with the Russian
identification experiment.
Which looks to study different dynamic loads
on the station structure.
Especially during dynamic events.
And he was downloading some new structural dynamic measurements
to the computer's readers.
Moving on to Tuesday.
Suni Williams relocating a laptop for the upcoming capture
of that Dragon spacecraft.
Which was scheduled to take place on Wednesday.
She was relocating a few items over to the cool flow where her
and Aki Hoshide would be standing
by the robotics controls.
She also got the vestibule ready for fitting the airlock
in the Harmony module.
Where the Dragon would be arriving and docking.
Also going over some cargo review procedures.
Going over some of the lists of high priorities items
that would need to be offloaded first off.
And then any other cargo operations during a tag
up with controllers down here on the ground.
She was also doing some on-orbit training of --
the astronauts have access to a few simulators.
As they walk through the steps that would be necessary
to capture the Dragon spacecraft with that station robotic arm.
Also known as Canadaarm2.
Also going over some computer-based training
on general vehicle operations.
To assist in her knowledge while the vehicle is docked
to the station for about 18 days.
Joining her in all of that on-board training was
Aki Hoshide.
Who was side-by-side working in tandem
with Suni Williams on Wednesday.
So he -- on Tuesday he was going over the final rendezvous
and capture simulations.
And also getting some vehicle operations training.
Again alongside was Suni Williams.
Aside from that, he was inside
of the Japanese experiment module doing a pretty thorough
analysis of the microbiological environment.
He's using a device known as the SWAB ASD.
Or the Surface, Water and Air Biocharacterization
Sampling Device.
Just getting a readout of the general environment
on a microscopic scale inside of that Japanese experiment module.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, Yuri Malenchenko,
our Russian cosmonaut, immediately woke up
and participated in the SPRUT experiment.
A Russian medical research project on the distribution
and behavior of human body fluids in zero gravity.
Since these astronauts are in that extended period
of weightlessness for long periods
of time it doesn't have the same effect.
No gravity pushing the majority of the body's fluids
down towards the legs.
So SPRUT looks to track just how
that affects the astronauts' performance once they're
on orbit.
And also how well they adapt to it --
regular gravity conditions following their arrival back
down here on the surface.
Aside from that, he was involved
in the Russian Kulonovskiy Kristall experiment.
He would be working on this for about three days this week.
A fairly complex physics experiment onboard the station
looking to study the dynamic and structural characteristics
of crystal systems known as Coulomb Crystals.
That are formed when ions are stored inside
of an electromagnetic trap.
Moving on to Wednesday.
Very big day for the astronauts onboard the station.
Seeing the arrival of the Dragon spacecraft.
Suni Williams started her day out moving the command --
the crew command panel
into their position inside of the cupola.
That would be used for the crew --
her and Aki to interact with the Dragon capsule during its
final approach.
As it moved through a series of different stop and hold points.
She would be monitoring the Dragon throughout its
final approach.
And then standing by to capture it
with the space station robotic arm.
This Dragon capsule and the mission dubbed SpaceX CRS-1
or commercial resupply one is the first commercial resupply
mission to the International Space Station.
Capsule launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
in Florida back on Sunday about 7:35 p.m. central time.
During its final fly up, you can see it here parked just
about ten meters from its final home --
the Harmony module on the Earth facing side.
Suni Williams and Aki Hoshide manipulating that robotic arm
to reach out and grapple with the SpaceX Dragon capsule.
That was done successfully about 5:56 a.m. central time.
Following that successful grapple, controllers down here
in mission control maneuvered the Dragon spacecraft
into its final docking attitude.
And then once it was finally lined up, it was then --
the robotic arm was taken back over by Williams and Hoshide.
As they guided it in, berthing it with the Harmony module.
That successful berthing coming at 8:03 a.m. central time.
Following that berthing, the astronauts would go through
and do a system of leak checks.
To make sure everything was latched in correctly
and they had a good mate between the two spacecraft.
Also going through and removing a number
of the different components of the common berthing mechanism.
So they could get into the actual hatch opening.
Again, Williams doing all this on Wednesday.
She was assisted throughout the day.
And handing off control of the robotic arm and some
of the berthing operations with Aki Hoshide.
But this Dragon spacecraft taking
up pretty much their entire day on Wednesday.
They were able to open up that hatch
at about 12:40 p.m. central time.
Again, on Wednesday.
Moving on to Yuri Malenchenko.
Also on Wednesday, was working
on a few more experiments onboard the Russian segment.
He was -- he spent a few hours working
through the Tipologia experiment.
Which is an assessment
of the mental state of these astronauts.
And also their prediction and correction of quality.
Basically, just recording their ability
to perform different tasks or series of exercises.
Looking to track throughout their space flights any
cognitive differences that they may experience.
Which also back at working
with that Kulonovskiy Kristall experiment
for the second day in a row.
And did a pre-pack of a freon leak analyzer.
Which is scheduled to be returned
down on the Dragon spacecraft.
Which will be bringing back down about 1,600 pounds
of supplies once it departs the International Space Station a
little bit later in November.
Or a little bit later this month.
Moving on to Thursday.
Suni Williams working with the environmental health system
onboard the International Space Station.
Removing a buffer container
from the total organic carbon analyzer.
Which is one of the items in that environmental health system
that looks to track any potential contaminants
in an astronaut's drinking water.
She's also taking a few samples
from the water process for assembly.
Aside from that, she was unloading some cargo throughout
the day from the SpaceX capsule.
Removing the double cold bag
and also activating the newly arrived
in nano racks experiment.
And transferring a few of the cold storage items
from the Dragon's GLACIER freezer.
Over to the one of the MERLIN lockers onboard the
International Space Station.
She also took some time out from her activities to speak
with reporters from ABC news and CNN.
Giving them a look at life inside
of the International Space Station.
Meanwhile Aki Hoshide spent much of his day
on Thursday transferring cargo out from
that newly arrived Dragon spacecraft.
He was also swapping out one of the hard drives
in crystal liquids in crystallization experiment.
But again, much of his day spent on Thursday inside
of that Dragon capsule.
Removing some of the 800-some pounds of cargo
that arrived onboard the station.
And then also prepping it for the installation
of any items will be sent back down to the ground.
Also on Thursday Yuri Malenchenko continued his third
day of that Kulonovskiy Kristall experiment.
And also cleaned up a few ventilation screens
and dust collectors over in the Russian segment.
Ensuring that the breathing atmosphere inside the
International Space Station is receiving the proper scrubbing
of different potentially harmful particles.
Just some of the routine maintenance that goes on.
Part of these astronauts' day to ensure
that their living environment
and the orbiting laboratory is kept safe and healthy.
All that brings us to today on Friday.
Suni Williams earlier in the morning doing an audit on one
of the contingency water containers inside
of the environmental health system onboard the International
Space Station.
She'll also be spending much of today transferring some
of the cargo from the station into the Dragon spacecraft.
As mentioned, it will be bringing down a total
of 1,637 pounds of supplies once it returns back
down to the Earth for a splash down a few hundred --
few miles off the coast of California.
Among these -- this 1,600 pounds of supplies,
over 800 will be scientific research specific.
Returning down a number of samples through --
from many biological experiments being conducted onboard station.
That have been stored in freezers.
Since the retirement of the Shuttle,
no large down mass capability's been available
to the crews onboard the International Space Station.
So on this SpaceX capsule providing an invaluable link
in the chain of continuing research and utilization
of many of the biological.
Not only human, but also different plant
and animal cell biology experiments going
on onboard the International Space Station.
That require these samples to be returned
down to researchers here on the ground.
So Suni transferring a bunch of cargo
over into the Dragon spacecraft today.
She also got a chance to speak with some reporters
in her native Massachusetts from WBZ TV.
Again, giving them a look inside
of life onboard the International Space Station.
And all the activities she's been up to during her increment
as Expedition 33 Commander.
Meanwhile, Aki Hoshide back inside
of the Japanese experiment module.
Using a microbe air sampling device.
Collecting a few microbes.
And continuing some of the activities
that he started earlier this week.
Checking the environment inside of the module.
This is a fairly routine practice for these astronauts
as they continually track to see the environment
of the entire station structure.
Even down to a microscopic level.
Aside from doing that work inside the JEM halls,
he'll be pressurizing the experiment module's airlock.
Which leads directly out into the exposed facility.
And it's used to transfer -- hunt different experiments back
and forth between the pressurized portion
of the International Space Station
and the unpressurized vacuum setting
of that Japanese exposed facility.
He'll also be doing some of his own ultrasounds.
Which Suni Williams was doing a little bit earlier this week.
All part of the SPRINT research project onboard the
International Space Station.
And our final crew member,
Yuri Malenchenko doing some routine replacements today.
Working on the Russian toilet system.
And also changing out a few dust filters throughout the air
revitalization system over on the Russian segment.
Also working today with the Matryoshka study.
It's a radiation study named after the nested Russian dolls.
He'll be removing a few of the dosimeters.
And downlinking any of the data retrieved from those
to researchers down on the ground.
Again, it's one of the radiation studies onboard the
International Space Station.
It's a mannequin-sized object that has a number
of readers spaced throughout it.
And looks to track any
of the radiation levels during space flight
that these astronauts are being exposed to.
Aside from all the astronaut work,
troubleshooting was occurring yesterday.
To reapply a few of the electrical loads
on various components of the three A-power channel.
And all that troubleshooting was completed.
Engineers are going to monitor the power channel
over the next seven days
to observe the performance of the system.
An apparent short was noticed several weeks ago
that took down the channel.
But this reapplication of loads yesterday could mean
that no space walk would be required to fix any
of the issue outside the station.
And then, as of right now, the batteries
on that 3A power channel are charged
but aren't delivering any power to the systems at the moment.
Until this seven day monitoring period is over.
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