HOUSTON, Oct. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new crew that will live and work
aboard the International Space Station rocketed into orbit early Sunday aboard
a Soyuz spacecraft. U.S. astronaut E. Michael Fincke, Russian cosmonaut Yury
Lonchakov and Richard Garriott, a U.S. computer game developer, lifted off
from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2:01 a.m. CDT.
Fincke, the only American to launch twice on a Soyuz, will serve as commander
of the six-month Expedition 18 mission. The mission's main focus will be
preparing the station to house six crew members on long-duration missions.
The Expedition 18 crew is scheduled to arrive at the station Tuesday, with
docking to the Zarya module scheduled for 3:33 a.m.
After the hatches are opened, Expedition 17 Commander Sergey Volkov and
spaceflight participant Garriott will become the first children of previous
space fliers to greet each other in orbit. Garriott is the son of former NASA
astronaut Owen Garriott, who was a member of the Skylab-3 crew in 1973. Volkov
is the son of veteran cosmonaut Alexander Volkov, who flew three Soyuz
missions.
Garriott will spend nine days on the station under a commercial agreement with
the Russian Federal Space Agency. He will return to Earth on Oct. 23 with
Volkov and Expedition 17 Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko, who have worked
aboard the station since April 10.
Expedition 17 Flight Engineer Greg Chamitoff, who arrived at the station in
June, will be replaced in November by NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus. Space
shuttle Endeavour will deliver Magnus and return Chamitoff to Earth.
Endeavour's November STS-126 mission also will deliver equipment to the
station necessary for supporting a six-member crew, including a water
recycling system, sleeping quarters, a new kitchen, a second toilet, and an
advanced exercise device.
Although they will be in space on Election Day, Chamitoff and Fincke have
arranged for the chance to cast their ballots from the station.
For more information about the space station and how to view it from Earth,
visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/station
For more information about upcoming space shuttle missions and their crews,
visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle
SOURCE NASA
Katherine Trinidad, NASA Headquarters, Washington, +1-202-358-3749, or
katherine.trinidad@nasa.gov, or Kelly Humphries, Johnson Space Center,
Houston, +1-281-483-5111, or kelly.o.humphries@nasa.gov, both of NASA
