SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468
Mar. 20, 2007
Katherine Trinidad Headquarters, Washington 202-358-3749
James Hartsfield Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111
NASA SETS BRIEFINGS ON STATION CREW CHANGE, SOYUZ MOVE
HOUSTON - NASA will hold a pair of media briefings on Tuesday, March 27, to preview the upcoming exchange of crews aboard the International Space Station.
At 1 p.m. CDT, NASA will preview the upcoming Expedition 15 mission. A second briefing, set to begin at 2 p.m., will review the work done during the current Expedition 14 mission aboard the station. The briefings will originate from NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, and will be broadcast live on NASA Television. Questions will be taken from media at participating NASA sites. Reporters should call their preferred field center to confirm participation availability.
On March 29, the station's current residents will take a short ride in the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft now docked at the complex. Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin, Expedition 15 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Suni Williams will move the Soyuz from an Earth-facing docking port on the Zarya module to a docking port at the aft of the Zvezda module. The half-hour flight will be broadcast live on NASA TV, beginning at 5 p.m.
The Soyuz move frees the Zarya docking port for the arrival of the Expedition 15 crew, set to launch April 7 in a Soyuz from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander Oleg Kotov and Spaceflight Participant Charles Simonyi will dock to the station April 9. Lopez-Alegria, Tyurin and Simonyi will return to Earth April 20 in a Soyuz.
Williams, who has been aboard the station since December, will remain with Yurchikhin and Kotov as a member of the Expedition 15 mission.
Participants in the March 27 briefings include:
1 p.m. - Expedition 15 Preview Briefing -- Kirk Shireman, International Space Station Program deputy manager -- Susan Brand, Expedition 15 increment manager -- Bob Dempsey, Expedition 15 lead flight director
2 p.m. - Expedition 14 Recap Briefing -- Ginger Kerrick, Expedition 14 lead flight director -- Julie Robinson, International Space Station Program scientist -- Dr. Dave Alexander, Expedition 14 lead flight surgeon
For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and schedule information, visit:
For more information on the station, visit:
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