Nasa TV airs space station crew exchange events

NASA TV begins two weeks of coverage Friday of journeys to and from the international space station.

The station's residents, Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev and Flight Engineer John Phillips, will be replaced by the Expedition 12 crew after more than six months in space.

Expedition 12 Commander William McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev, along with spaceflight participant Gregory Olsen, launch Friday at 11:54 p.m. EDT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on a Soyuz spacecraft.

McArthur and Tokarev will stay on the orbiting laboratory for six months. Under a commercial contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency, Olsen will spend 10 days in space. He returns with the Expedition 11 crew at 9:08 p.m. EDT, Monday, Oct. 10.

On Tuesday, Oct. 4, the five crew members will participate in a joint news conference at approximately 1:20 p.m. EDT. Questions will be taken from reporters at participating NASA centers and at the Russian Mission Control Center outside Moscow.

In addition to video highlights of crew pre-launch activities on the NASA TV Video File, other major programming events include (all times EDT):

Friday, September 30:
12 p.m. - Replay of the Expedition 12/spaceflight participant crew pre-launch news conference from Baikonur, Kazakhstan
11 p.m. - Launch coverage begins (launch scheduled at 11:54 p.m.)

Monday, October 3:
12 a.m. - Soyuz docking to space station coverage (docking scheduled at 1:32 a.m.)

Monday, October 10:
2 p.m. - Farewell and Hatch Closure Coverage (hatch closes at approximately 2:40 p.m.)
5 p.m. - Soyuz undocking coverage (undocking scheduled at 5:40 p.m.)
7:45 p.m. - Soyuz deorbit burn and landing coverage (deorbit burn scheduled at 8:21 p.m.; landing scheduled at 9:08 p.m.)

NASA TV will air video of crew activities at the remote landing site in northern Kazakhstan during the early morning hours of October 11.

For continental North America, NASA TV is carried on an MPEG-2 digital signal accessed via satellite AMC-6, at 72 degrees west longitude, transponder 17C, 4040 MHz, vertical polarization. Beginning October 1, it will be available in Alaska and Hawaii on an MPEG-2 digital signal accessed via satellite AMC-7, transponder 18C, 137 degrees west longitude, 4060 MHz, vertical polarization. A Digital Video Broadcast compliant Integrated Receiver Decoder is required for reception. Through September 30, it's available in Alaska and Hawaii in analog on AMC-7, at 137 degrees west longitude, transponder 18C, at 4060 MHz, horizontal polarization.

For information about NASA TV, including digital downlink information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about the international space station on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station

For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/home

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