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| Image above: Michael E. Lopez-Alegria (top right),
Anousheh Ansari (left) and Mikhail Tyurin at the launch pad at Baikonur
Cosmodrome. Photo credit: Victor Zelentsov/NASA |
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Expedition 14’s Soyuz rocket at pad ready for launch
The Soyuz rocket that will launch the Expedition 14 crew into orbit is
now at the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch
is scheduled for 12:09 a.m. EDT Monday.
Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, KE5GTK, and Flight Engineer
Mikhail Tyurin, RZ3FT, are scheduled to arrive at the station at 1:24
a.m. Wednesday.
Flying to the station with Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin will be American
Anousheh Ansari, the first female spaceflight participant to visit the
orbiting laboratory. She is flying under contract with the Russian Federal
Space Agency.
Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin will replace Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov,
RV3BS, and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ, who are wrapping
up a six-month stay on the station. European Space Agency Astronaut Thomas
Reiter, DF4TR, will stay on the station and join Expedition 14.
Meanwhile on the station, Expedition 13 is close to ending a busy week
of joint operations with STS-115. The six-member STS-115 crew arrived
at the station Sept. 11 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis. The STS-115 crew
used the shuttle and station robotic arms to install the P3/P4 truss and
its solar arrays on to the station. The crew then conducted three spacewalks
to prepare the addition for operation.
Atlantis’ undocking is set for 8:50 a.m. Sunday. STS-115 is the
first construction mission to visit the station since late 2002. STS-116
is the next construction mission and it is scheduled to visit the station
and Expedition 14 as early as December.
The Expedition 13 crew is also preparing for the departure of the Progress
21 cargo ship, which is filled with trash and other unneeded items. The
Progress will undock at 8:28 p.m. Monday. It will then be commanded to
re-enter Earth’s atmosphere to burn up harmlessly.
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