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| Image above: Expedition 12 arrives at the station
in the Soyuz TMA-7 spacecraft prior to docking |
Station crew to move Soyuz
Even though they'll be traveling at five miles a second and flying
independently for about 40 minutes, they won't be going very far.
Space station Commander Bill McArthur KC5ACR and Cosmonaut Valery
Tokarev will move their Soyuz TMA spacecraft from the station's
Pirs docking compartment to the Earth-facing port of the Zarya module
on Friday.
The move is being made to clear Pirs, which also serves as an airlock,
for a spacewalk by Tokarev and McArthur in Russian spacesuits on
Dec. 7.
The Soyuz is scheduled to undock from Pirs about 3:40 a.m. EST.
The station crewmembers, wearing their Russian Sokol launch and
entry suits, are scheduled to reach Zarya's nadir docking port at
about 4:20 a.m.
Preparations for the move begin Thursday with McArthur and Tokarev
putting station systems in unmanned configuration. That is done
to prepare for the unlikely eventuality that the Soyuz could not
redock at the station. If that were to occur, the crew would have
to return to Earth.
Live NASA television coverage of the move is scheduled to begin
at 3 a.m. EST. It will continue until shortly after the Soyuz docks
with Zarya
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