SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

*Crew Prepares for New Arrivals* 5 October 2007

ISS015-E-29049 : Astronaut Clay Anderson Image above: Expedition 15 Flight Engineer Clay Anderson smiles for a photo while floating in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station. Credit: NASA TO VIEW IMAGE GO TO:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

As the clock counts down to a crew change aboard the International Space Station and a visit by space shuttle Discovery, the Expedition 15 crew wrapped up a busy week of preparations.

Flight Engineer Clay Anderson installed the centerline camera in a hatch window in the Unity node Friday. The camera will serve as an alignment aid when astronauts use a robotic arm to guide the Harmony node into place. Harmony is being delivered to the station aboard space shuttle Discovery, set to launch Oct. 23.

Also on Friday, the crew members conducted medical evaluations, an activity performed regularly by long-duration crews to assess physical condition.

Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov and Anderson continue to pack items for return to Earth as they prepare for their departure and the arrival of the next crew. The Expedition 16 crew, Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko, will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Oct. 10 and arrive at the station on Oct. 12.

Accompanying Expedition 16 is Malaysian spaceflight participant Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, who will return to Earth on Oct. 21 with Yurchikhin and Kotov. Anderson will remain on the station with Expedition 16 until his replacement, Flight Engineer Dan Tani, arrives on Discovery later 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