SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 25 September 2007
*Crew Prepares for Soyuz Move*
Docked Soyuz and Progress spacecraftsImage above: The Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft docked to the International Space Station can be seen in the foreground. A Progress cargo craft is visible behind the Soyuz. Credit: NASA TV TO VIEW IMAGE GO TO:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
The Expedition 15 crew aboard the International Space Station is busy preparing for numerous arrivals and departures in the coming weeks.
On Tuesday, the crew members tagged up with Russian flight controllers to review the relocation of the docked Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft Thursday. The crew will move the Soyuz to the aft port of the Zvezda service module, freeing up the Zarya nadir, or Earth-facing, port for the arrival of Expedition 16 on Oct. 12.
+ Read more about the Soyuz move http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition15/soyuzmove.html
Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov conducted a motion control system test on the Soyuz Tuesday. Flight Engineer Clay Anderson checked the seals on the hatches of the U.S. segment of the station. The hatches will be closed during Thursday's Soyuz move to protect against depressurization.
Later, Kotov and Anderson moved the station's robotic arm, Canadarm2, into position to view the retraction of the Zarya module's starboard and port solar array wings on Friday and Saturday. While space shuttle Discovery is docked to the station during the STS-120 mission in October, the station's starboard radiators will be deployed, followed by the port radiators shortly after Discovery departs. To avoid contact with the radiators, the Zarya arrays must be completely retracted.
On Monday afternoon, the Zvezda service module's engines were fired for about two minutes to raise the space station's altitude by an average of about 5.3 nautical miles. This brings the station into the correct position for the upcoming Soyuz TMA-11 and Discovery dockings in October.
+ View crew daily timelines http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/timelines/index.html + Read more about Expedition 15 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition15/index.html + Read more about Expedition 16 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition16/index.html