ISS On-Orbit Status 06/30 & 07/01/12

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.

Yest posadka! (We have Landing!) Welcome back home, Oleg, Andr & Don! After 193 days in space (191 days on ISS), Soyuz TMA-03M/29S carrying Exp-31 crewmembers Oleg Kononenko, Andr Kuipers & Don Pettit landed successfully today at 4:14am EDT in central Kazakhstan, almost exactly at the designated landing site. The Descent Capsule remained upright, and the crew, which was in excellent condition, was quickly extracted by SAR (Search & Rescue) personnel. Moscow time at touchdown was 11:14am; local time at landing site 2:14pm. [TMA-03M (#703) undocked from the MRM1 (Mini Research Module 1) Rassvet nadir port this morning at 12:48am EDT, after the crew had closed hatches (ZPL) at 9:42pm and performed leak checks of the vestibule area between MRM1 and the Soyuz spacecraft, of their Sokol suits and of the hatch between the Descent Module (SA) and Orbital Module (BO). Undocking was initiated by crew command to open hooks at 12:45am, and physical separation occurred at 12:48am. About 3 min later, 29S performed the first manual separation burn, 10 seconds for a delta-V of 0.40 m/s with two DPO-B1 thrusters. During the subsequent stationkeeping at ~50m, the crew tested the RODK digital autopilot, activating the spacecraft's BTsVK onboard digital computer complex and VTsVK MCS (Motion Control System) "Chaika" and putting in the latest guidance parameter settings. The actual de-orbit burn of 4 min 15 sec duration came at 3:19am, resulting in 115.2 m/sec deceleration. Tri-module separation occurred smoothly at 3:47am. At ~16 sec after the separation command, software pitched the PAO (Instrumentation/Propulsion Module) in the rear to a specific angle (-78.5 deg from reference axis) which, if PAO would have remained connected to the SA (as has happened twice in Soyuz history), would have resulted in enough heating on the connecting truss to melt it, thus ensuring separation. Atmospheric entry (99 km) followed at 3:51am and nominal parachute deployment at 4:00am. Following initial observation by Russian SAR (Search & Rescue) personnel in their fixed-wing Antonov plane and helicopters plus receipt of radio comm from the crew, the capsule landed at 4:14am, remaining upright. SAR was there within 2 minutes. After the usual stopover in the medical tent, the crew was flown by helo 2 hrs to Karaganda where Don Pettit & Andr Kuipers boarded the waiting NASA-990 Gulfstream-III airplane which today is bringing them back to Houston/Ellington AFB (with 2 refueling stops),- the 9th direct return for USOS crewmembers. Oleg Kononenko meanwhile was flown on the GCTC Tu-134 back to Chkalovsky airfield of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center at Zvezdniy Gorodok (Star City).]

After a light-duty day yesterday, the remaining ISS crew of CDR Padalka, FE-2 Revin & FE-3 Acaba today has a free day, with sleep/rest from 5:00am this morning to 2:00am tomorrow.

Recap of yesterday, Saturday (6/30), before & after Soyuz TMA-03M departure:

At wakeup (1:00pm EDT), Joe Acaba, Andr Kuipers & Don Pettit completed their weekly post-sleep session of the Reaction Self-Test (Psychomotor Vigilance Self-Test on the ISS) protocol, the 14th for Joe, the 51st for Don & Andr. [RST is done twice daily (after wakeup & before bedtime) for 3 days prior to the sleep shift, the day(s) of the sleep shift and 5 days following a sleep shift. The experiment consists of a 5-minute reaction time task that allows crewmembers to monitor the daily effects of fatigue on performance while on ISS. The experiment provides objective feedback on neurobehavioral changes in attention, psychomotor speed, state stability, and impulsivity while on ISS missions, particularly as they relate to changes in circadian rhythms, sleep restrictions, and extended work shifts.]

After wakeup, Gennady Padalka performed the routine inspection of the SM (Service Module) PSS Caution & Warning panel as part of regular Daily Morning Inspection.

FE-2 Revin took care of the routine daily servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM. [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists, among else, of checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers, replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers and filling EDV-SV, KOV (for Elektron), EDV-ZV & EDV on RP flow regulator.]

FE-4 Kononenko had another 3 hrs to wrap up cargo packing & stowing on the Soyuz spacecraft.

Afterwards, at ~6:20pm, Oleg downlinked the standard "Loading Complete" report, then took documentary photo/video of the SA hatch cover and downlinked the files for ground inspection.

Read more from the original source:

NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 01 July 2012