ISS Status Report No. 56 - 2003

International Space Station Status Report #03-56
9 p.m. CST, Monday, October 27, 2003
Expedition 7 Crew

The Expedition 7 crew touched down in northern Kazakhstan in its Soyuz
spacecraft about 8:41 p.m. CST, concluding a 183-day mission aboard the
International Space Station and 185 days in space. Landing occurred on
target, approximately 24 miles (38 kilometers) from Arkylyk in Kazakhstan.

Expedition 7 Commander Yuri Malenchenko, NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu and
European Space Agency astronaut Pedro Duque undocked from the Station at
5:17 p.m. today, leaving behind the eighth resident Space Station crew,
Commander Michael Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri. Duque flew to
the Station with the Expedition 8 crew, launching on October 18.

A formal change of command ceremony between the Expedition 7 and 8 crews
occurred this afternoon, just before Malenchenko, Lu and Duque climbed
aboard their Soyuz spacecraft for the return trip home. After final
farewells, hatches between the Station and the ISS Soyuz 6 were closed at
2:14 p.m. Foale and Kaleri are beginning a planned six-month stay on board
the ISS. About three hours later, a command was issued to release latches,
with undocking occurring at 5:17 p.m.

A 4-minute, 17-second deorbit burn began at 7:47 p.m. CST. About 8:17 p.m.,
the orbital and instrumentation/propulsion modules separated from the crew's
descent module, the only one of the three modules intended to return to
Earth. Minutes later, that module began to feel the effects of the upper
atmosphere. About 8:25 p.m. the first of a series of parachutes deployed to
slow the module's rate of descent, with six small rocket engines firing just
before touchdown to further slow the capsule.

Helicopters with U.S. and Russian ground support personnel retrieved the
crew shortly before 9 p.m. CST. NASA officials and flight surgeons reported
Malenchenko, Lu and Duque were in excellent condition. Following brief
medical exams, the crew will return to Star City, near Moscow, site of the
Russian space center where they will be reunited with their families and
begin their formal rehabilitation regimen. Malenchenko and Lu are expected
to return to the Johnson Space Center in Houston in approximately two weeks.

Video of the crew's arrival will air on NASA Television at 5 a.m. EST
Tuesday. Information on the crew's activities aboard the Space Station, and
instructions on how to view the Space Station from anywhere on Earth, is
available at:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov

Details on Space Station science operations can be found on an Internet site
administered by the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space
Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., at

http://scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov/

The next International Space Station status report will be issued Friday,
Oct. 31, 2003, or sooner if events warrant.



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Jacques :-)

Editor: www.spacepatches.info