More Details for 1999-01-27
Original archive entry. The text, images and links below are kept as they were written.
ISS Status Report: ISS 99-04
Flight controllers continued to monitor the International Space Station this week, performing routine housekeeping activities as well as a test using the Unity module's communications system to command some Zarya module systems.
The test, to be performed this evening, will check the capability to send commands to Zarya through the U.S. Early Communications System installed by the shuttle astronauts during STS-88 in December. Mission controllers also continued cycling of the six Zarya batteries to maintain them at peak operation, and the power system on the station continued to perform well. Mission controllers in Houston and Moscow also periodically checked the station's orientation - a naturally stable slow spin that provides moderate vehicle shell temperatures and conserves fuel - using television camera views from onboard the station as well as other data.
No major systems tests or checkouts are planned for the station in the coming week. The next station assembly mission will be a visit by the Space Shuttle Discovery planned for launch in May on Space Shuttle mission STS-96, a flight that will carry interior supplies for the station as well as U.S. and Russian cranes to be installed on the exterior. The International Space Station is in an orbit with a high point of 259 statute miles and a low point of 245 statute miles, circling Earth once every 92 minutes.