All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Russian Orthodox Christmas, a holiday also for ISS. Ahead: Week 12 of Increment 16.
S Rodzhestvom Kristovym!
CDR Whitson & FE-2 Tani started out with the daily reading of SLEEP (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight) experiment data accumulated during the night, for logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the SLEEP session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink. [To monitor the crewmembers' sleep/wake patterns and light exposure, Dan and Peggy wear a special Actiwatch device which measures the light levels encountered by him as well as his patterns of sleep and activity throughout the Expedition. The log entries are done within 15 minutes of final awakening for seven consecutive days, as part of the crew's discretionary "job jar" task list.]
At ~5:00am EST, FE-1 Malenchenko received a 10-min VIP call via S-band from Patriarch Alexis II of the Russian Orthodox Church, speaking from TsUP/Moscow and extending best wishes to the crew on the occasion of today's Orthodox Christmas celebration. [The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates its Christmas 13 days after Western Christmas, on January 7, in accordance with the old Julian calendar. It is a day of both solemn ritual and joyous celebration. Christmas was banned throughout Russia after the 1917 Revolution, along with other religious celebrations, and it wasn't until 75 years later, in 1992, that the holiday was again openly observed. Today, it's once again celebrated in grand fashion, with citizens participating in an all-night Mass in incense-filled Cathedrals amidst the company of the painted icons of Saints, along with a traditional family get-together and special meal on Christmas Eve.]
Later, Yuri completed today's routine maintenance of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the Service Module (SM), including ASU toilet facilities systems/replaceables, the weekly collection of the toilet flush (SP) counter and water supply (SVO) readings for calldown to TsUP.
The crewmembers performed their regular 2.5-hr physical workout program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the CEVIS cycle ergometer (FE-2), TVIS treadmill (CDR, FE-1), RED (CDR, FE-2) and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1).
Afterwards, Peggy Whitson copied the exercise data file to the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer) laptop for downlink, including the daily wristband HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) data of the workouts on RED, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium (done six times a week).
With the Russian O2 (oxygen) generator "Elektron" turned off since 12/28/07, the FE-1 had time set aside for another 1-hour O2 repress of the cabin atmosphere from Progress M-62/27P storage tankage, if required. Yesterday's repress added about 8 mmHg of O2 into the ISS as per plan. [The Elektron will remain powered down until 1/9/08 to conserve hardware lifetime. During this time, the station will be periodically repressurized with oxygen from Progress 27P.]
A new entry still on discretionary US "job jar" task list for Peggy and Yuri is "ghosting" an updated personal image with their preferred material on a 60GB hard disk in an A31p laptop UltraBay Adapter reserved as their CPSD (Crew Personal Support Disk), a 45-min task for each.
Also on Whitson's voluntary task list, at her convenience, is an audit of rack locations, using the IMS (Inventory Management System). [The audit function, introduced with the implementation of IMS software version 2.0, allows the crewmember to set up audits of bags, kits, containers and stowage locations on the laptop.]
A third new item on the "job jar" task list is for FE-2 Tani to continue his crew departure preparations.
The two flight engineers were scheduled for PFCs (Private Family Conferences) via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on the SSC-9 laptop), Yuri at ~6:20am EST, Dan at ~11:50am.
No CEO photo targets uplinked for today.
CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov (about 700,000 NASA digital photographs of Earth are downloaded by the public each month from this "Gateway" site);
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/AstronautPhotography
ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 8:39am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude -- 334.6 km
Apogee height -- 336.3 km
Perigee height -- 332.9 km
Period -- 91.22 min.
Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.64 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0002503
Solar Beta Angle -- -31.9 deg (magnitude decreasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.78
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours -- 213 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) -- 52302
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Standard, some changes possible. NET = Not Earlier Than):
01/11/08 -- ISS reboost (~7:42pm)
01/24/08(NET) -- STS-122/Atlantis/1E launch -- Columbus Module, ICC-Lite.
01/31/08 -- Explorer-1 50 Years (1st U.S. Satellite on Redstone rocket) [see http://usspace50.com ]
02/06/08 -- Progress M-62/27P undocking & reentry
02/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P launch
02/09/08 -- Progress M-63/28P docking (DC1)
02/22/08(NET) -- ATV-1 "Jules Verne" launch/Ariane V (Kourou, French Guyana)
02/14/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A launch/1J/A, ~11:53am, w/SLP-SPDM, JEM ELM-PS
02/16/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour/1J/A docking
02/27/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour undocking
02/29/08 -- STS-123/Endeavour landing
03/06/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 1
03/12/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 2
03/15/08 -- ATV-1 Demo Day 3 & Docking (SM aft port)
04/07/08 -- Progress M-63/28P undocking (DC1) & reentry
04/08/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S launch
04/10/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S docking (DC1)
04/19/08 -- Soyuz TMA-11/15S undocking (FGB nadir port)
04/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S relocation (from DC1 to FGB nadir port)
04/24/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J launch - JEM PM "Kibo", racks, RMS
04/26/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J docking
05/04/08 -- STS-124/Discovery/1J undocking
05/14/08 -- Progress M-64/29P launch
05/16/08 -- Progress M-64/29P docking (DC1)
08/07/08(NET) -- ATV-1 undocking (from SM aft port)
08/12/08 -- Progress M-65/30P launch
08/14/08 -- Progress M-65/30P docking (SM aft port)
09/09/08 -- Progress M-64/29P undocking (from DC1)
09/10/08 -- Progress M-66/31P launch
09/12/08 -- Progress M-66/31P docking (DC1)
09/18/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 launch - MPLM Leonardo, LMC
09/20/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 docking
10/01/08 -- STS-126/Discovery/ULF2 undocking.
10/01/08 -- NASA 50 Years
10/11/08 -- Progress M-65/30P undocking (from SM aft port)
10/12/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S launch
10/14/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S docking (SM aft port)
10/23/08 -- Soyuz TMA-12/16S undocking (FGB nadir)
11/03/08 -- Soyuz TMA-13/17S relocation (from SM aft to FGB nadir)
11/06/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A launch - S6 truss segment
11/08/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A docking
11/17/08 -- STS-119/Discovery/15A undocking
11/20/08 -- ISS 10 Years
11/26/08 -- Progress M-67/32P launch
11/28/08 -- Progress M-67/32P docking (SM aft port)
04/15/09 -- Constellation's Ares I-X Launch
05/??/09 -- Six-person crew on ISS (following Soyuz 18S-2 docking)
04/??/10 -- STS-132/Discovery/20A - Node-3 + Cupola.
