SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

*Crew Readies for Move*

ISS014-E-17858 : Michael Lopez-Alegria drinks beverageImage above: Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria drinks a beverage in the Zvezda Service Module 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 14 crew members enjoyed a half day of off-duty time Wednesday on the eve of their short trip to relocate their Soyuz TMA spacecraft to a different docking port on the International Space Station.

Thursday afternoon, Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Sunita Williams will board their Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft and move it from the Earth-facing port of the station's Zarya module to the aft port of the Zvezda module.

The move is being made to clear the Zarya port for the arrival of Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov, along with spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi. Docking their Soyuz to Zarya after their scheduled April 7 launch will allow them to avoid a relocation move later in their expedition.

+ Read more about the Soyuz relocation http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition14/exp14_soyuz_relocation_032907.html

In preparation for Thursday's activities, the unpiloted Progress 23 cargo craft was undocked from the aft port of the Zvezda service module on Tuesday. The cargo craft, filled with trash and unneeded items from the station, was commanded several hours after undocking to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up over the Pacific Ocean.