Image above: Expedition 12 arrived at the station in this ISS Soyuz 11 spacecraft. They will relocate the same Soyuz and return home in it. Image credit: NASA

Crew readies Soyuz for relocation to Zvezda

Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander Valery Tokarev readied the ISS Soyuz 11 spacecraft for relocation.

On the morning of March 20, Tokarev and station commander Bill McArthur KC5ACR, will enter the Soyuz, undock from the Zarya Module then redock to the aft end of the Zvezda Service Module. The relocation makes way for the arrival of Expedition 13 crewmembers in their ISS Soyuz 12 spacecraft on March 31.

On Tuesday afternoon, Mission Control Houston informed the station commander that the second Return to Flight mission, STS-121, has been delayed till no earlier than July 1.

Expedition 13 has wrapped up its stay at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. Saturday, March 18, they depart for final launch preparations at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Commander Pavel Vinogradov RV3BS, Flight Engineer Jeff Williams KD5TVQ and Brazilian astronaut Marcos Pontes are scheduled for launch March 29 at 9:30 p.m. EST

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