ISS Daily Summary Report – 5/19/2021

Payloads

Celestial Immunity: The crew thawed cell cultures, exchanged media after centrifuge ops, and inoculated a 24-Well Plate. The samples were then inoculated and placed into cold stowage. Dissecting the Influence of Gravity on Human Immune Function in Adults and the Elderly (Celestial Immunity) builds on earlier studies to evaluate how gravity affects functional immune response, from innate mechanisms of defense to adaptive responses. It uses peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from both elderly and younger adult donors to facilitate the study of possible age-associated effects. The investigation could uncover novel immune pathways useful for the development of new vaccines and drugs to prevent and treat existing and emerging human diseases.

Dreams: A crewmember concluded a data collection run by doffing the DREAMS headband and performed a data transfer. Sleep plays a major role in human health and well-being. Insufficient sleep, or sleep disorders can increase the risk of developing medical conditions, such as cardiovascular diseases, and can impair task performance. The Sleep Monitoring in Space with Dry-EEG Headband (Dreams) is a technology demonstration investigation that utilizes the Dry-EEG Headband: an effective, affordable, and comfortable solution to monitor astronaut sleep quality during long-duration spaceflight aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

ISS HAM: A crewmember initiated an ISS HAM contact with Monaro High School, Cooma, NSW, Australia.  ISS Ham Radio provides opportunities to engage and educate students, teachers, parents and other members of the community in science, technology, engineering and math by providing a means to communicate between astronauts and the ground HAM radio units.

SUBSA (Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules): The crew removed the SUBSA Ampoule from the SUBSA Thermal Chamber and installed a new Science Ampoule. The Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules (SUBSA) facility objective is to advance understanding of the processes involved in semiconductor crystal growth. SUBSA offers a gradient freeze furnace for materials science investigations that can reach 850°C. Samples are contained in transparent quartz or ceramic ampoules with high definition video imaging available in real time, along with remote commanding of thermal control parameters.

Time Perception in Microgravity: Crewmembers performed TIME PERCEPTION experiment sessions. The accurate perception of objects in the environment is a prerequisite for spatial orientation and reliable performance of motor tasks. Time perception in microgravity is also fundamental to motion perception, sound localization, speech, and fine motor coordination. The Time Perception in Microgravity experiment quantifies the subjective changes in time perception in humans during and after long-duration exposure to microgravity.

Vascular Aging: A crewmember collected finger blood samples and took glucose measurements using the Glucometer. The Bio-Monitor Garment and Headband was doffed, and the spare Garment and Headband was donned. Emerging data point towards linkages among cardiovascular health risk, carotid artery aging, bone metabolism and blood biomarkers, insulin resistance, and radiation. Data indicate that aging-like changes are accelerated in many ISS crewmembers, particularly with respect to their arteries. As part of the Space Environment Causes Acceleration of Vascular Aging: Roles of Hypogravity, Nutrition, and Radiation (Vascular Aging) investigation, ultrasounds of the arteries, blood samples, oral glucose tolerance, and wearable sensors from ISS crew members are analyzed.

Systems

In Flight Maintenance Water Processing Assembly (WPA) Recovery from Suspected Gas Separator Leakage: Today, Crew continued work on restoring the WPA to full operational use. Today’s R&R included the Install the of Gas Separator, Ion Exchange, Water Delivery, and AAA ORUs from the NOD3D5 WRS-1 Rack. The Air Avionics Assembly was installed first, followed by the Water Delivery ORU, followed by the Ion Exchange ORU, and lastly the Gas Separator. Checkouts have been confirmed on the AAA Fan as well as the Water Delivery ORUs were operational, the other components will be checked out later. 

In Flight Maintenance – LAB IMV Bypass Duct Installation: As part of the dry out and recovery operations of the WPA, the IMV Bypass Duct was routed by Crew from the LAB Aft and channeled to the intake at LAB Fwd. The LAB IMV Bypass Duct will run through the LAB to send air from Node 3 directly to Node 2 in order to provide better air mixing across the USOS.

Joint Station LAN (JSL) 20 Port Switch Cable Modification (Part 1):  Today Crew modified the 16-Port Ethernet Switch Power Cable by installing a larger ring ground terminal. A spare (un-installed) cable will be modified in preparation for this replacement by swapping out a 16-Port Ethernet Switch with a 20-Port Network Switch.

Crew Dragon Tablet Sync, Charge, and Stow: Today, Crew charged and synced their SpaceX provided iPads. This sync updated emergency deorbit data as well as other data from SpaceX using CrewNet. This also began the charging period of this group of iPads before they subsequently stowed.

Completed Task List Activities:

  • None

Today’s Ground Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

  • Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) Walkoff
  • HRF Rack 2 Rack Power Up Commanding
  • Video Distribution Subsystem (VDS) Robotics Ground Configuration

Look Ahead Plan:

Thursday, May 20 (GMT 140)
Payloads:

  • Vascular Aging Blood Pressure 13hr Init BioMonitor stow (CSA)
  • Confocal microscope setup and checkout (JAXA)
  • COSMIC IPU connect (JAXA)
  • SABL 3 CO2 Control remove, SABL2 sample tray insert (NASA)
  • CGBA-4 activate (NASA)
  • Celestial Immunity Plate sample and Cell thaw (NASA)
  • Standard Measures Saliva and body collect, and Fecal collect (NASA)
  • ISS HAM pass (NASA)
  • MAND print removal, clean and stow (NASA)

Systems:

  • Siemens Switch-Deploy
  • WPA Repairs
  • Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Manual Fill Termination

Friday, May 21 (GMT 141)
Payloads:

  • Vascular Aging Blood Pressure 13hr conclude, (CSA)
  • ILLUSION Recordings (ESA)
  • Probiotic Saliva ops and questionnaire (JAXA)
  • CBEF Fan cable R&R and c/o (JAXA)
  • Food Acceptability (NASA)
  • SUBSA Sample Exchange
  • Food Physiology Diet brief (NASA)
  • Standard Measures Saliva collect and cognition test (NASA)
  • Celestial Immunity Plate sample (NASA)
  • AC Touch (NASA)

Systems:

  • Joint Station Local Area Network Switch Deploy in Lab (Part 1)
  • ZBOOK Hard Disk Drive Update
  • WPA Repairs

Saturday, May 22 (GMT 142)
Payloads:

  • Celestial Immunity Plate sample (NASA)

Systems:

  • Crew Off-Duty Day
  • Weekly Cleaning

Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

  • Antimicrobial Coatings Touch
  • Astrobee Off
  • Astrobee Stowage Clear
  • Bio-Monitor Wearables Change Out
  • Bio-Monitor Wearables Stow
  • Celestial Immunity Thaw and Centrifuge
  • Celestial Immunity Crew Handover
  • Celestial Immunity LSG Staging
  • Celestial Immunity MELFI Sample Insertion
  • Celestial Immunity MELFI Sample Retrieve
  • Celestial Immunity Treatment and Sample
  • CSA Generic HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection Operator
  • CSA Generic HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection Configuration
  • CSA Generic HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection Spin Conclude
  • CSA Generic MELFI Sample Insertion
  • Dreams Questionnaire Filling
  • Dreams Dry-EEG Headband doffing after recording
  • Dreams Dry-EEG Headband Doff and Stow
  • Crew Dragon Tablet Stow
  • HRF Generic HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection Operator
  • HRF Generic HRF Centrifuge Setup and Frozen Blood Collection Subject
  • HRF Generic HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection Conclude and Stow
  • HRF Generic HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection Configuration
  • HRF Generic HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection Spin Conclude
  • HRF Generic MELFI Sample Retrieval and Insertion Operations
  • HRF Generic Saliva Collection 10 Minutes
  • HRF Generic Urine Collection Male
  • HRF Generic Urine Collection Stow
  • In Flight Maintenance Water Processing Assembly (WPA) Recovery from Suspected Gas Separator Leakage
  • In Flight Maintenance – LAB IMV Bypass Duct Installation
  • WRS-1 Recovery Maintenance – NOD3D5
  • In Flight Maintenance Water Processing Assembly (WPA) Recovery from Suspected Gas Separator Leakage
  • ISS HAM Columbus Pass Kenwood
  • Joint Station LAN (JSL) 20 Port Switch Cable Modification
  • Joint Station LAN (JSL) 20 Port Switch Cable Modification Gather
  • LSG Primary Crew Restraint Fold
  • LSG Primary Crew Restraint Unfold
  • MELFI 2 Ice Brick Insert 1
  • Phospho-Aging Generic Sample MELFI Insertion
  • Phospho-Aging Generic MELFI Sample Retrieval and Insertion Operations
  • Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) – Lab
  • Public Affairs Office (PAO) High Definition (HD) Config LAB Setup
  • Public Affairs Office (PAO) Social Media Event
  • Standard Measures Fecal Collection Setup
  • Solidification Using Baffles in Sealed Ampoules Sample Exchange
  • Time experiment science
  • Vascular Aging HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection Subject
  • Vascular Aging FRIDGE Item Removal
  • Vascular Aging Glucometer Reading and Drink Consumption
  • Vascular Aging Glucometer Reading and Data Transfer
  • Vascular Aging Historical Documentation Photography