SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

*Spacewalk Dry Run Planned for Thursday*

Image above: Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin (left) and Flight Engineer Clay Anderson work with a spacesuit in the Quest Airlock of the International Space Station. Image credit: NASA TO VIEW IMAGE GO TO: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

The Expedition 15 crew on Thursday will do a dry run of its spacewalk planned for Monday. The crew is also configuring the Quest airlock systems.

+ Expedition 15 Mission Status Briefing Materials, July 18, 2007 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition15/exp15_msb_07182007.html

Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Clay Anderson will put on their U.S. spacesuits for Thursday’s dry run activities. Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov will test his robotic skills and maneuver the station’s robotic arm, Candarm2, to a pre-determined position. During Monday’s spacewalk one of Anderson’s tasks is to jettison the 1,400-pound Early Ammonia Servicer (EAS).

A docked Progress 25 cargo craft will fire its thrusters on July 21 and 23 raising the International Space Station’s orbit. The reboost provides the proper phasing for an upcoming Progress 26 launch and docking. The Progress firing also clears the station after the EAS is jettisoned and provides flight day three rendezvous opportunities when space shuttle Endeavour arrives on mission STS-118.

The Progress 24 cargo craft will undock from the Pirs docking compartment on Aug. 1 and burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere. Progress 26 is scheduled for launch on Aug. 2 and will reach the station on Aug. 5. Two days later on Aug. 7, space shuttle Endeavour is targeted for launch with a station rendezvous and docking planned for Aug. 9.

+ 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