53S Docking: 53 Soyuz launched on Sunday, December 17th, and arrived at the ISS early this morning. The Soyuz brought Anton Shkaplerov, Scott Tingle, and Norishige Kanai, and docked at 2:39 AM CST with hatch opening at 4:55 AM CST. This begins the 54-6 stage, and returns the ISS crew to its nominal complement of 6. Following the docking, the crew conducted an ISS Safety Briefing where they reviewed emergency response for each of the Soyuz crews and then reviewed the emergency equipment locations.

Lighting Effects: Upon wakeup, the 52S subject completed the two-week long sleep shift session that began on GMT 340, by providing daily sleep log entries to track his sleep patterns and wakefulness. The Lighting Effects investigation studies the impact of the change from fluorescent light bulbs to solid-state light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with adjustable intensity and color and aims to determine if the new lights can improve crew circadian rhythms, sleep, and cognitive performance. Results from this investigation also have major implications for people on Earth who use electric lights.

Rodent Research 6 (RR-6): Today the rodent transporters were moved from the SpaceX-13 vehicle to the US Lab to transfer the rodents to the habitats. The crew prepared the habitats by removing the lixit caps and checking the water flow to each side of all four habitats, before installing the rodent huts and food bars. The animals from both transporters were transferred 10 at a time from the transporter to the habitats, after the crew performed health checks on the rodents. The Rodent Research-6 (RR-6) mission uses mice flown aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and maintained on Earth to test drug delivery systems for combatting muscular breakdown in space or during disuse conditions. RR-6 includes several groups of mice selectively treated with a placebo or implanted with a nanochannel drug delivery chip that administers compounds meant to maintain muscle in low gravity/disuse conditions.

Space Technology and Advanced Research Systems (STaARS) BioScience-2 Experiment Container Installation: The crew installed the BioScience-2 experiment containers into the STaARS facility and then powered on the facility in EXPRESS Rack 6. BioScience-2 encompasses two experiments, Experiment Grimm and Experiment Ulrich, which is performed by three investigation teams, all utilizing the same hardware, but processing different biological samples. The principle aim of Experiment Grimm is to investigate how thyroid carcinoma cells react, when they are exposed to real microgravity. The expected information may help to improve in vitro cancer studies such as antitumor drug or trans-endothelial migration tests. Experiment Ulrich will investigate microgravity-associated long-term alterations in primary human macrophages, the most important effector cells of the immune system, which are responsible for attacking and killing bacteria and other foreign and pathogenic intruders in the human body. The aim of the experiment is to analyze surface molecules, which are required for recognition of bacteria and cell-cell-communication, and to investigate the cytoskeletal architecture after several days in microgravity.

Space Headaches: Two 53S crewmembers completed the third day of a week-long ESA Space Headache session which started onboard Soyuz prior to docking. The Space Headaches investigation requests crewmembers to respond to a questionnaire that may help in the development of methods to alleviate associated symptoms and improvement in the well-being and performance of crewmembers in space. Headaches during space flight can negatively affect mental and physical capacities of crewmembers that can influence performance during a space mission.

Today’s Planned Activities

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.



Lighting Effects Sleep Log Entry – Subject

Monitoring closure of shutters on windows 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14.

Soyuz 737 ODF Ops. Start Drying 2 space suits

Gas Analyzer Activation in Soyuz 734

MPEG-2 Downlink Test via Ku-band(Activation/Deactivation of TV Data Monitoring and MPEG2 Multicast hardware)

Preparation for Soyuz 737 Docking

СТТС configuration for Soyuz 737 docking to MRM1. Comm check with Soyuz 737 in RSA-S/G2

Activation of TV Data and MPEG2 Multicast Monitoring Equipment

Monitoring Soyuz 737 Rendezvous with ISS (MRM1)

Environmental Health System (EHS) – Intravehicular Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter (IV-TEPC) Relocate

Rodent Research Node 2 Camcorder Video Setup

Rodent Research Transfer 1

Activation of mpeg2 multicast video recording mode

MRM1-SOYUZ PEV moding to ELECTR CONTR position

Closing Applications and Downlink of MPEG2 Multicast Video via OCA

Comm reconfig after Soyuz 737 docking

Soyuz 737 – MRM1 Interface Leak Check

Equipment Setup and Checkout in SM for Expedition 54 Arrival TV PAO Coverage from SM

Disconnecting КЛ-153М TV Camera from MRM1 TV System

Hardware Setup and Test Checkout in MRM1 for Hatch Opening TV PAO Coverage from MRM1

Soyuz 737-MRM1 Hatch Opening

Handover of the 3rd space suit and gloves for drying in Soyuz 734

Drying of the 3rd spacesuit in Soyuz 734, start

Terminate Drying of Suits 1, 2 (Soyuz 737)

ISS Safety Briefing

Biological Reaction In Container Glacier Sample Removal

ISS HAM Radio and Video Power Up

Connecting TV Camera КЛ-153М to MRM1 TV System

Installing the 1st pair of gloves for drying in Soyuz 737

Soyuz 737 Deactivation (without Gas Analyzer (ГА) deactivation)

Actiwatch Spectrum HRF1 Setup

Biological Research In Canisters Light Emitting Diode Canister Installation

Comm reconfig for nominal ops

Biological Research in Canisters Light Emitting Diode

Transfer 2 Fish Fixation Apparatus from MELFI (+2C) to MELFI (-95C).

Exiting Applications, Deactivation of camcorders and TV monitors

Rodent Research Animal Transfer 2

Finish drying the 1st pair of gloves and start drying the 2nd pair

Soyuz 737 Deactivation (without ГА deactivation)

Terminate third suit drying, start drying the third pair of gloves (Soyuz 734)

Terminate drying the second pair of gloves

Stowage of the 1st and 2nd space suits and gloves after drying

СОЖ maintenance

Terminate drying gloves (Soyuz 734)

Handover of the 3rd space suit and gloves after drying in Soyuz 737

Countermeasures System (CMS) Treadmill 2 (T2) Exercise Session

Stowage of the 3rd suit and gloves in Soyuz 737 after drying

Soyuz 737 Transfers and IMS Ops

Dragon Locker Removal

Rodent Research Locker Preparation

Space Technology and Advanced Research Systems BioScience-2 Experiment Container Installation

Actiwatch Spectrum HRF1 Stow

Space Headaches – Daily Questionnaire

Completed Task List Activities

None

Ground Activities

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.



53S Docking Support

Standard commanding

Three-Day Look Ahead:

Wednesday, 12/20: Arthrospira, SABL2, Synthetic Bone, Zebra, RR, DOSIS 3D, Low Temp PCG, APEX5, Marrow-2

Thursday, 12/21: Marrow-2, EMER Role & Resp Review, Zebra, Synthetic Bone, STP-H5, Dragon Emer OBT, APEX-5, JAXA Area Dosimeter Install

Friday, 12/22: IMV Flow Measurement, FIR maintenance, Emer H/W OBT, CBM N2N Bolt Inspect, Cell Science Validation, JPM gas trap reconfig, JAXA Camera Robot, Blood Collection, APEX-5, STP-H5 ICE Photos, Space Headaches

QUICK ISS Status – Environmental Control Group: