SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

*Expedition 14’s Soyuz Rocket at Pad for Monday’s Launch *

The Soyuz rocket that will launch the Expedition 14 crew into orbit is now at the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch is scheduled for 12:09 a.m. EDT Monday.

Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin are scheduled to arrive at the station at 1:24 a.m. Wednesday. Flying to the station with Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin will be American Anousheh Ansari, the first female spaceflight participant to visit the orbiting laboratory. She is flying under contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency.

Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin will replace Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams, who are wrapping up a six-month stay on the station. European Space Agency Astronaut Thomas Reiter will stay on the station and join Expedition 14.

Meanwhile on the station, Expedition 13 is close to ending a busy week of joint operations with STS-115. The six-member STS-115 crew arrived at the station Sept. 11 aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis. The STS-115 crew used the shuttle and station robotic arms to install the P3/P4 truss and its solar arrays on to the station. The crew then conducted three spacewalks to prepare the addition for operation.

Atlantis’ undocking is set for 8:50 a.m. Sunday. STS-115 is the first construction mission to visit the station since late 2002. STS-116 is the next construction mission and it is scheduled to visit the station and Expedition 14 as early as December.

The Expedition 13 crew is also preparing for the departure of the Progress 21 cargo ship, which is filled with trash and other unneeded items. The Progress will undock at 8:28 p.m. Monday. It will then be commanded to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere to burn up harmlessly.

For the latest information on STS-115, please visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

+ Expedition 13 Briefing Materials, August 22, 2006 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition13/exp13_brief_082206.html + Expedition 14 Preflight Briefing Materials, August 22, 2006 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition14/exp14_preflight_brief_082206.html + Next station assembly mission -- 12A http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/iss_assembly_12a.html + Previous station assembly mission -- ULF 1.1 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/iss_assembly_ulf1_1.html + Read more about Expedition 13 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition13/index.html + Read more about Expedition 14 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition14/index.html