SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

*Station Crew Prepares for Upcoming Missions*

iss015e23031 -- The Expedition 15 and STS-118 crewsImage above: The Expedition 15 and STS-118 crews pose for a group photo inside the International Space Station. Image credit: NASA TO VIEW IMAGE GO TO:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.htm

Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineers Oleg Kotov and Clay Anderson are back to work with the departure of space shuttle Endeavour and the STS-118 crew. The departing shuttle crew left behind a newly installed S5 truss structure and an external stowage platform.

Upcoming missions to visit the current station residents include the STS-120 and Expedition 16 crews.

Space Shuttle Discovery will deliver a new station resident, Flight Engineer Dan Tani, and return Anderson home. The Discovery crew will also install the Harmony module, the second U.S. node.

Expedition 16 will launch in October aboard a Soyuz rocket carrying Commander Peggy Whitson, Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko and spaceflight participant Sheikh Muzaphar Shukor. When Expedition 15 leaves the station, Shukor will return home with the departing crew.

+ Read more about Expedition 15 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition15/index.html + View crew daily timelines http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/timelines/index.html