SSEP Mission 14/15 to ISS: Experiment Log – SpaceX-23

Redlands, CA (M14 re-flight); Hillsborough County, FL (M15); WNY-STEM-Buffalo/Niagara, NY (M14); University of Pittsburgh-
Pittsburgh, PA (M14 re-flight); Bandera, TX (M15); iForward-Grantsburg, WI (M15)

IMPORTANT NOTES: All information added or updated since this page first went up on August 26, 2021 is in GREEN TEXT below.
Information still to be determined (if any) is in RED TEXT below.
Dates and times that are subject to change at NASA’s discretion are in PURPLE TEXT below.
Last update of this page: October 5, 2021 at 10:11 am EDT

1. Introduction and Nomenclature for the Log
2. Pre-Launch Activities
3. Launch and Berthing
4. Flight Experiment Log, On-Orbit Operations: Mission 14-15 Apollo and SkylabPayloads
5. Undocking and Landing
6. Return of Experiments to Student Teams

1. Introduction and Nomenclature for the LogThis page provides student flight experiment teams a log of all activities associated with the 5 flight experiments comprising the SSEP Mission 14/15 Apollo and Skylab payloads flying on SpaceX CRS-23 from the time the mini-laboratories are received in Houston before the flight of SpaceX CRS-23 to the point when the mini-labs are shipped back to the flight teams after return to Earth. While this page will feature general progress reports on the status of the SSEP Mission 14/15 Apollo and Skylab payloads, its main purpose is to provide updates to the student flight experiment teams as quickly as possible regarding the handling of their mini-labs on station, so that they can effectively conduct their ground truth experiments. Teams are advised to bookmark this page and check it for updates throughout the mission.As per the SSEP Mission 14/15 to ISS: Flight Operations – SpaceX-23 page:Updates to Student Teams on the Progress of Their Experiment

The International Space Station (ISS) crew will interact with the SSEP payload at times of the day that fit best in their overall work schedule. Even though crew interactions with the experiments are to take place on pre-specified Crew Interaction Days, the time of the interaction will vary from one Crew Interaction day to the next. After the crew has completed handling of the SSEP payload a report is sent from the ISS to mission control in Houston, the report is then forwarded to NanoRacks, who will forward the report to the SSEP flight operations team at NCESSE. We will then post the details of the report – including the time at which the payload was handled – on this page to make the information available to all student teams as quickly as possible. The report will be posted as soon as it is received, but it may take up to 24 hours for the information from the ISS to make its way to the Log. That means, for example, that the details of an activity conducted by the astronauts on the afternoon of a specified Crew Interaction Day will be posted on the Experiment Log no later than the afternoon of the following day (and likely far sooner than that).

Conducting Your Ground Truth Experiments
Ground truth experiments – the control versions of the experiment conducted on Earth while the microgravity experiment is being conducted in orbit – are an essential part of analyzing the results of the flight experiment. Once the flight experiment returns to Earth, simultaneous harvesting and analysis of both the flight experiment and the ground truth experiment allows the research team to assess the role of gravity in the physical, chemical, or biological system under study. It is hard to imagine how the role of gravity can be determined without ground truth experiments conducted at the same time as the flight experiment.However, given that it may take up to a day to receive a report on exactly what time a specific activity was conducted with an experiment aboard the ISS, student teams are encouraged to shift activities with their ground truth experiments by 1 day (24 hours). That will allow teams to ensure that the timing of activities they carry out on their ground truth experiments accurately reflects the timing of activities with their experiment aboard the station. This is especially important for experiments that are sensitive to exact timing. For example, if a microbiological experiment is likely to produce different results depending on whether it is active for 40 or 50 hours, the teams will want to match the exact timing of the experiment aboard the station with their ground truth experiment.

Nomenclature: The purpose of this log is to provide the student flight experiment teams information on the handling of their experiment, as well as to provide updates on the progress of the Mission. Each SSEP experiment is assigned a serial number before launch. This serial number is used by NCESSE, NanoRacks, and NASA to identify individual SSEP experiments. For this log, the individual experiments are identified using a serial number, e.g., NRP-10009-4, S/N 1234, together with the Community and Experiment names (see Section 4 below).

2. Pre-Launch Activities

Originally Projected Launch Date: NET August 2021
Payload Designation: S/N 1053; SSEP Mission 14 Apollo Payload and Mission 15 Skylab Payload
Ferry Vehicle: SpaceX CRS-23 (SpaceX Falcon rocket with Cargo Dragon 2 spacecraft)
Launch Site: SLC-39A Kennedy Space Center, Florida

Rescheduled to: August 18, 2021
Rescheduled to [Confirmed by Nanoracks 7/27]: August 29, 2021 at 3:14 am EDT
Rescheduled to [Confirmed 8/5]: August 28, 2021 at 3:37 am EDT
Rescheduled to: August 29, 2021 at 3:14 am EDT

3. Launch and Berthing

August 29, 2021 at 3:14 am EDT: After storms with a threat of lightning caused a scrub just minutes before launch on August 28th, 2021, SpaceX-23 launched with an instantaneous launch opportunity.

August 30, 2021 at 10:30 am EDT: Following contact and capture, Cargo Dragon 2 docked with the ISS as the ISS flew over Western Australia.

August 31, 2021 between 3:45 am and 4:10 am EDT: SSEP experiments transferred from Cargo Dragon to ISS halting refrigeration.4. Flight Experiment Log, On-Orbit Operations: Mission 14/15 Apollo and Skylab Payloads.

Interactions Scheduled Prior to Flight (subject to change) CLICK ON TABLE TO ZOOM

Record of Reported On-Orbit Interactions

NRP-10009-1, S/N 1053 Bandera, Texas: The Effects of Microgravity on Lavender Germination
(A=0) Action: Green Clamp Opened/Shaken gently for 10 seconds; When Action Occurred on ISS: 4:10 AM EDT, 8/31/21; Time Nanoracks Notified NCESSE: 10:19 AM EDT, 8/31/21
(U-14) Action: Blue Clamp Opened/Shaken gently for 15 seconds; When Action Occurred on ISS: 8:25 AM EDT, 9/16/21; Time Nanoracks Notified NCESSE: 9:23 AM EDT, 9/16/21

NRP-10009-2, S/N 1053 Hillsborough County, Florida: The Effect of a Microgravity Environment on the Germination Rates and Growth Development of German Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) Seeds
(U-14) Action: Green Clamp Opened/Shaken gently for 15 seconds; When Action Occurred on ISS: 8:25 AM EDT, 9/16/21; Time Nanoracks Notified NCESSE: 9:23 AM EDT, 9/16/21
(U-2) Action: Blue Clamp Opened/Shaken gently for 15 seconds; When Action Occurred on ISS: 4:30 AM EDT, 9/28/21; Time Nanoracks Notified NCESSE: 9:26 AM EDT, 9/28/21

NRP-10009-3, S/N 1053 iForward-Grantsburg, Wisconsin: If grape seeds were in microgravity, would they still be able to germinate?
(A+2) Action: Green Clamp Opened/Shaken gently for 30 seconds; When Action Occurred on ISS: 9:45 AM EDT, 9/2/21; Time Nanoracks Notified NCESSE: 10:23 AM EDT, 9/2/21
(U-5) Action: Blue Clamp Opened/Shaken gently for 30 seconds; When Action Occurred on ISS: 1:15 PM EDT, 9/25/21; Time Nanoracks Notified NCESSE: 1:07 AM EDT, 9/26/21

NRP-10009-5, S/N 1053 WNY-STEM Buffalo/Niagara, New York: The Effects of Microgravity on the Mating Habits of Hypsibius Dujardini
(A=0) Action: Green Clamp Opened/Shaken gently for 10 seconds/Exposed to light 110 seconds; When Action Occurred on ISS: 4:10 AM EDT, 8/31/21; Time Nanoracks Notified NCESSE: 10:19 AM EDT, 8/31/21
(A+2) Action: Exposed to light for 120 seconds; When Action Occurred on ISS: 9:45 AM EDT, 9/2/21; Time Nanoracks Notified NCESSE: 10:23 AM EDT, 9/2/21
(U-14) Action: Exposed to light for 120 seconds; When Action Occurred on ISS: 8:25 AM EDT, 9/16/21; Time Nanoracks Notified NCESSE: 9:23 AM EDT, 9/16/21
(U-5) Action: Exposed to light for 120 seconds; When Action Occurred on ISS: 1:15 PM EDT, 9/25/21; Time Nanoracks Notified NCESSE: 1:07 AM EDT, 9/26/21
(U-2) Action: Blue Clamp Opened/Shaken gently for 10 seconds; When Action Occurred on ISS: 4:30 AM EDT, 9/28/21; Time Nanoracks Notified NCESSE: 9:26 AM EDT, 9/28/21

NRP-10009-6, S/N 1053 University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Effects of Microgravity on the Oxidation of 3D Printed Aluminum with Unique Topography
(A=0) Action: Green Clamp Opened/Shaken gently for 30 seconds; When Action Occurred on ISS: 4:10 AM EDT, 8/31/21; Time Nanoracks Notified NCESSE: 10:19 AM EDT, 8/31/21
(U-14) Action: Shaken gently for 30 seconds; When Action Occurred on ISS: 8:25 AM EDT, 9/16/21; Time Nanoracks Notified NCESSE: 9:23 AM EDT, 9/16/21
(U-2) Action: Blue Clamp Opened/Shaken gently for 30 seconds; When Action Occurred on ISS: 4:30 AM EDT, 9/28/21; Time Nanoracks Notified NCESSE: 9:26 AM EDT, 9/28/21

NRP-10009-7, S/N 1053 Redlands, California: Microgravity’s Effect on the Germination and Early Growth of the Seeds of Cymbopogon citratus
(U-14) Action: Green Clamp Opened/Shaken vigorously for 120 seconds; When Action Occurred on ISS: 8:25 AM EDT, 9/16/21; Time Nanoracks Notified NCESSE: 9:23 AM EDT, 9/16/21
(U-2) Action: Blue Clamp Opened/Shaken gently for 120 seconds; When Action Occurred on ISS: 4:30 AM EDT, 9/28/21; Time Nanoracks Notified NCESSE: 9:26 AM EDT, 9/28/21

5. Undocking and Landing

September 30, 2021 at 9:12 am EDT: Undock began with the Cargo Dragon spacecraft backed away from the research outpost using pulses from its Draco thrusters. Astronaut Shane Kimbrough radioed from the space station “I want to give a huge thank you to the SpaceX and the NASA teams for getting this vehicle up to us in great shape with a lot of science and supplies for the ISS. The activities associated with SpaceX-23 kept our crew busy over the past month. We look forward to hearing about the results of the payloads we interacted with. Have a safe journey back to Earth.”

September 30, 2021 at 10:06 pm: The Cargo Dragon capsule lined up with the re-entry corridor and the mission’s primary recovery area in the Atantic Ocean ~40 miles east of St. Augustine, Florida. Dragon fired its Draco thrusters for ~10 minutes, slowing the capsule’s velocity just enough for Earth’s gravity to pull it back into the atmosphere.

September 30, 2021 at 10:45 pm: Dragon entered Earth’s atmosphere. Sightings of the nighttime re-entry were reported in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. This was the first night splashdown of a Dragon capsule in the Atlantic Ocean.

September 30, 2021 at 10:57 pm: SpaceX confirmed splashdown via tweet. The “Go Searcher” recovery ship hoisted the capsule on to its deck where teams opened the hatch and unloaded time-sensitive cargo.

6. Return of Experiments to Student Teams

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