This page provides student flight experiment teams a log on the activities conducted with the SSEP payload during SSEP Mission 1 to the International Space Station from the time the students hand over their mini-laboratories before the flight to the point when they’ll receive the devices back after the flight. While the page will feature progress reports on the status of the SSEP payload in general, its main purpose is to provide updates on the handling of the mini-laboratories in orbit to the flight experiment teams as quickly as possible. The teams are advised to bookmark this page and check it for updates during the mission.
The log is divided into the following sections:
1. Nomenclature for the Log
2. Pre-Launch Activities
3. Launch and Docking
4. Flight Experiment Log in Orbit
5. Undocking and Landing
6. Return of Experiments to Student Teams
1. Nomenclature for the Log
The purpose of this log is to provide to the flight experiments teams information on the handling of their experiment in addition to providing updates on the progress of the SSEP payload and Mission 1 to the ISS in general. For this log, the individual experiments are assigned an identifier using a prefix “SSEPM1”, followed by a number assigned to each experiment and a one- or two-word description. The identifiers for SSEP Mission 1 payload are:
| SSEPM1-01: |
Effect of Microgravity on the Antibacterial Resistance of P. aeruginosa |
| SSEPM1-02: | Microgravity Wine |
| SSEPM1-03: | How Does Parathyroid Hormone Affect Changes in Bone Mass in Microgravity? |
| SSEPM1-04: |
Does Hay Bacillus Break Down Human Waste (Represented by Brown Egg) in Microgravity as Well as in Earth Gravity? |
| SSEPM1-05: | Effect of Microgravity on Reproduction of Curli Producing E. coli O157:H7 438950R |
| SSEPM1-06: | Killifish in Space |
| SSEPM1-07: | The Physiological Effects of Microgravity and Increased Levels of Radiation on Wild-Type and Genetically Engineered Caenorhabditis elegans |
| SSEPM1-08: | Effect of Arthrobacter on Polyethylene Decomposition Rate in Microgravity |
| SSEPM1-09: | Escherichia coli in Microgravity |
| SSEPM1-10: | Spider Development and Gravity |
| SSEPM1-11: | Hepatocyte Development in Bioscaffolds infused with TGFB3 in Microgravity |
| SSEPM1-12: | The Effect of Microgravity on the Use of Cactus Mucilage for Water Purification |
| SSEPM1-13: | Will Vitamin C Preserve Bone Density in Microgravity? |
| SSEPM1-14: | Yeast in Space! |
| SSEPM1-15: | The Effect of Microgravity on the Quality and Nutritional Value of the Seed Sprout of a Germinated 92M72 Genetically-Modified Soy Bean |
March 9, 2012, 1:50 p.m. EST
NCESSE notified all student flight experiment teams that all 15 Mission 1 flight experiments have passed formal NASA flight safety review. NASA Toxicology at Johnson Space Center informed NanoRacks there were no safety concerns with the experiments, and so the integration of experiments into Aquarius—the Mission 1 to ISS payload—can proceed. See this SSEP national blog post for more information.
April 6, 2012, 12:00 noon EDT
NCESSE provided Final Experiment Details Confirmation Forms for all 15 Mission 1 flight experiments to NanoRacks. All experiment details are now considered final, except for the experiment timelines aboard the ISS. The timelines need to be re-assessed once the exact date for the arrival of the payload to the ISS, the overall ISS crew schedule, and the exact date for the departure of the payload from the ISS are known.
April 7, 2012, 4:00 pm EDT
NanoRacks informed NCESSE that all mini-laboratories have arrived in Houston. All but one had arrived by the evening of April 6 (see this SSEP national blog post for details), but now all mini-laboratories are ready to be incorporated into the SSEP Mission 1 payload. Payload integration is expected to be completed by Wednesday, April 11.
May 22, 2012, 3:44 am EDT
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon spacecraft was launched at 3:44 a.m. EDT from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, carrying the Aquarius, the SSEP payload, toward the International Space Station. The launch had been delayed a couple of times from the originally planned April 30 date, but since Aquarius was kept safe and secure in its refrigerated cold bag since payload integration, the delay is not expected to have adversely affected the experiments.
May 25, 2012, 12:02 pm EDT
The ISS crew completed the berthing operations for SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, marking the historic milestone of the first commercial spacecraft to have arrived at the International Space Station! Following a series of tests over the past two days, the Dragon spacecraft approached the station this morning, was grappled by NASA astronaut Don Pettit using the station’s robotic arm at 9:56 am EDT, installed to the bottom of the station’s Harmony node at 11:52 am by the European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers, and bolted to Harmony by NASA astronaut Joe Acaba at 12:02 p.m., completing the berthing operations. The Dragon has arrived!
May 26, 2012, 5:53 am EDT
The hatch between the Dragon spacecraft and and the International Space Station was opened at 5:53 EDT on May 26, 2012. This marks the first time a commercial spacecraft has completed docking to the ISS. The astronauts will transfer cargo carried by Dragon, including the SSEP payload, to the International Space Station. The first experiments in the SSEP payload, Aquarius, are expected to be started on Monday, May 28.
4. Flight Experiment Log in Orbit
NOTE: The times for operations aboard the International Space Station will be given in terms of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), which is the time followed by the crew aboard the ISS. The time difference between GMT and Eastern Daylight Saving Time (EDT) in the U.S. is 4 hours. For more information on Greenwich Mean Time, and time zones in general, see the NASA Eclipse Web Site page on Time Zones and Universal Time.
May 28, 2012, 14:30 GMT
The first of the Aquarius experiments were activated by ISS crew member Don Pettit at 14:30 GMT (10:30 am EDT) on Memorial Day, Monday, May 28, 2012. This was the first opportunity for the astronauts to work with the SSEP payload since it arrived at the station. Therefore, this is the S = 0 milestone in the Aquarius operations timeline. The following 11 experiments were activated at this time:
SSEPM1-01 (P. aeruginosa)
SSEPM1-02 (Microgravity Wine)
SSEPM1-03 (Bone Mass)
SSEPM1-04 (Hay Bacillus)
SSEPM1-05 (E. coli)
SSEPM1-06 (Killifish)
SSEPM1-11 (Bioscaffolds)
SSEPM1-12 (Cactus Mucilage)
SSEPM1-13 (Bone Density)
SSEPM1-14 (Yeast)
SSEPM1-15 (Soy Bean)
See this SSEP national blog post for more details.
The following three experiments will remain active through the end of the mission:
SSEPM1-04 (Hay Bacillus)
SSEPM1-06 (Killifish)
SSEPM1-13 (Bone Density)
May 28, 2012, 20:30 GMT
The first experiment in the Aquarius payload was completed and deactivated by ISS crew member Don Pettit at 20:30 GMT (4:30 pm EDT) after six hours of operation:
SSEPM1-14 (Yeast)
Due to a miscommunication between ground control and the ISS, eight other experiments were prematurely terminated at this time. The experiments affected include:
SSEPM1-01 (P. aeruginosa)
SSEPM1-02 (Microgravity Wine)
SSEPM1-03 (Bone Mass)
SSEPM1-05 (E. coli)
SSEPM1-10 (Spiders)
SSEPM1-11 (Bioscaffolds)
SSEPM1-12 (Cactus Mucilage)
SSEPM1-15 (Soy Bean)
The other experiments are not affected by this event. See this SSEP national blog post for more details.
June 13, 2012, 17:16 GMT
At 17:16 GMT (1:16 pm EDT), ISS crew member Don Pettit activated the following experiment:
SSEPM1-07 (C. elegans)
The experiment will remain active through the end of the mission.
June 17, 2012, 12:30 GMT
At 12:30 GMT (8:30 am EDT), ISS crew member Don Pettit activated the following experiment:
SSEPM1-08 (Arthrobacter)
The experiment will remain active through the end of the mission.
June 29, 2012, 21:15 GMT
At 21:15 GMT (5:15 pm EDT), ISS crew members activated the following experiment:
SSEPM1-09 (E. coli)
The experiment will remain active through the end of the mission.
June 29, 2012, 21:15 GMT
After the completion of the last scheduled activity with SSEP experiments for this flight, the crew stowed the SSEP payload in Soyuz 29, which will bring the payload back to Earth on July 1, 2012.
July 1, 2012, 8:14 GMT
Soyuz 29 undocked from the International Space Station at 4:47 GMT (12:47 am EDT), and landed at Kazakhstan at 8:14 GMT (4:14 am EDT). The landing of the spacecraft marked the end of the flight for the SSEP Mission 1 payload, which is now en route to Houston for processing. The landing also marked the end of the ISS Expedition 31 mission, which consisted of Russian Commander Oleg Kononenko, NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers. ISS is now staffed with the Expedition 32 crew, which includes Russian Commander Gennady Padalka, as well as NASA astronaut Joe Acaba and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Revin.
6. Return of Experiments to Student Teams
July 3, 2012
NanoRacks received the payload from NASA. Because of the Fourth of July holiday the following day, NanoRacks will keep the experiment devices in a controlled temperature environment (either refrigeration at about 4ºC; 39ºF, or at room temperature at 21-24ºC; 70-74ºF, depending on the special handling requirements specified by the teams) in their payload processing facility over the holiday and ship the packages containing the experiment devices to the student teams on Thursday, July 5, 2012.
July 5, 2012
NanoRacks shipped packages containing the experiment devices to all teams for whom they had the required FedEx airbills available by the shipping deadline. Those packages for which the airbills were not available by the deadline, or those packages that were not using FedEx, will be shipped as soon as possible, most likely on Friday, July 6. The packages will reach the teams starting on Friday, July 6, depending on the delivery speed chosen by the teams.
Good luck to all student teams with the analysis of their experiment results!
The SSEP on-orbit research opportunity is enabled through NanoRacks LLC, which is working in partnership with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory.