I know its launch is still over one year away, but does anyone know if NASA plans to name Node-3 themselves or open the naming processing up to school children again as they did with Node-2?
Before Columbia, 3 member Expedition crews were rotated by Shuttle while Soyuz were replaced by "taxi" flights. how were 6-crew expeditions expected to rotate? Would it have been multiple shuttle flights, or would half of the crew come up on shuttle and the other on Soyuz?
How do they clean the air on the ISS? When someone goes the bathroom, that bad air has to go somewhere, right?
With the new Regen-ECLSS components (Water Processor Assembly (WPA) & Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) specifically) being flown on STS-126, how does it handle the possible pharmaceuticals & human hormone content in the reclaimed water?
My own interest/questions are about ISS ground operations at MCC-H (and no, I'm not on L2):I understand each flight director has his/her own flight control team (each called a "flight") that basically staffs a single MCC-H shift, either - Orbit 1 (on a 'normal' day: from just prior to crew wake to lunch time), - Orbit 2 (crew afternoon & early evening) - Planning/Orbit 3 (crew pre-sleep and most of sleep)Per PAO descriptions, I believe each shift is 9 hours long (8 + an hour handover with prior orbit). It seems that each Expedition has specific flights assigned. Plus it appears that during (and maybe just prior to) joint operations with a visiting shuttle mission, that there are separate mission specific flight directors & teams that staff MCC during these times. Per Bill Hardwood's pages there are at least 4 ISS flight control teams assigned for ULF2: 3 Orbits and a "Team 4" (on-call, if needed). Questions:0. Is the above description accurate?1. How many flights are in the normal rotation? (normally for other 24x7x365 operations I know of, I could assume an answer of at least 5, but more likely 6) But maybe there's a "team 4" also during stage ops...2. What is the "normal" duty cycle for each active flight? For example: for 6 teams, each flight works their assigned orbit for 9 hours for 3 day in row, then 3 days off duty, and repeat...3. Are flight teams disbanded at the end of an expedition and new teams reformed by each flight director when assigned to a new mission? Or is there some continuity (e.g. alternating expeditions)?4. How many people are normally assigned to each flight? And of these, how many are actual flight controllers (sit on console)?5. Are all positions in MCC-H staffed for all orbits? For example, it would seem to me that Robo, Visiting Spacecraft officer, flight surgeon, EVA, etc would only be needed during specific time periods, rather than always.Thanks in advance indulging my curiosity!
I think that answers all the questions.
Quote from: robertross on 11/01/2008 01:52 amWith the new Regen-ECLSS components (Water Processor Assembly (WPA) & Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) specifically) being flown on STS-126, how does it handle the possible pharmaceuticals & human hormone content in the reclaimed water? I don't know if this helps clarify or just adds more confusion, but near the end of 126 crew news conference, Don Petit gave a reasonably clear description of the processes used by the WPA & UPA. Specifically it is a distillation process, which I believe they can control by temperature/pressure to only/mostly recover just H2O. He said that it also uses a carbon filter and some additional absorption beds to clean out any remaining "backwash", then it gets tested for organics. If the quality test fails, the process is repeated. Additionally for water to be consumed via the galley water, it adds some salts and minerals to make the water more palatable for human taste (& biology).You may wish to listen to his answer for yourself, rather than depending on my memory. Link for recording of STS-126 Crew News Conference ishttp://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4408
Is there a link to documentation that shows the current location of the installed racks and the final configuration? I am searching the site, but so far no luck.Thanks in advance,Roger
In this article:http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2008/11/sts-126-eva-1-major-effort-repair-sarj/it says that:"This mission also includes the transfer, installation, and activation of several systems to support six person crew, such as ... a food refrigerator..."But that refrigerator is elsewhere described as a "lab refrigerator". Is the ISS really getting a food refrigerator?
Quote from: mjcrsmith on 11/19/2008 02:29 pmIs there a link to documentation that shows the current location of the installed racks and the final configuration? I am searching the site, but so far no luck.Thanks in advance,RogerL2
Does anyone know when and who is going to install the sixth sleeping quarters on the ISS. There are two sleeping spaces in Zvezda. There is one Temporary Sleep Station (TeSS) in Destiny. There are now two sleep stations in Harmony. For a six person crew there will need to be one more sleep station. I saw somewhere that Japan is going to install a sleep station in the Kibo module but have not been able to confirm this. Does anyone have any more info about sleep quarters for the sixth ISS astronaut? Will sleeping quarters be moved to Node3 when that arrives?