INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION STATUS REPORT: 05-046

Katherine Trinidad
Headquarters, Washington Oct. 3, 2005
(Phone: 202/358-3749)

John Ira Petty
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone: 281/483-5111)

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION STATUS REPORT: 05-046

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying Expedition 12 Commander William
McArthur, Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev and American businessman Gregory
Olsen arrived at the international space station this morning after a
two-day journey.

McArthur and Tokarev are beginning a six-month mission aboard the orbiting
laboratory. Olsen will spend eight days there conducting scientific and
photography experiments under a commercial agreement with the Russian
Federal Space Agency.

With Tokarev at the controls, the Soyuz automatically linked up to the Pirs
Docking Compartment today at 1:27 a.m. EDT. After systems checks, hatches
between the Soyuz and station opened at 4:36 a.m. EDT. Expedition 11
Commander Sergei Krikalev and Flight Engineer John Phillips greeted their
colleagues with handshakes, hugs and the traditional offering of bread and
salt.

Krikalev and Phillips have spent 169 days on the station since they arrived
in April.
They, along with Olsen, return to Earth at 9:08 p.m. EDT, Oct. 10 in the
Soyuz spacecraft docked to the station's Zarya module.

Shortly after entering the space station, the Expedition 12 crew and Olsen
had a safety briefing on emergency escape procedures. They will transfer
Olsen's custom-made seat liner to the Soyuz he will use to return home. The
crews will also move cargo from the newly-arrived Soyuz to the station.

This week McArthur and Tokarev will familiarize themselves with station
systems and stowed equipment, conduct robotics training with the Canadarm2
robot arm and receive detailed briefings about scientific payloads. For
information about crew activities, future launch dates, previous status
reports and station sighting opportunities on the Web, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/station

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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info