SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

*Crew Prepares for Return Home, Shuttle Visit*

Image above: Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin performs in-flight maintenance in the Unity node of the International Space Station. Credit: NASA TO VIEW IMAGE GO TO:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Preparations continued Wednesday as the clock counts down to a crew change aboard the International Space Station and a visit by space shuttle Discovery.

The Mobile Transporter and Mobile Base System, a movable platform that allows the station’s robotic arm to move back and forth along the truss, was commanded from the ground to move to the port side of the station in preparation for the STS-120 shuttle mission. The railcar traversed the 74-foot distance at a rate of about one inch per second.

Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov opened the hatches to the Progress cargo craft. The hatches were closed last week for the relocation of the Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft as a contingency measure in case the crew was unable to return to the station.

Flight Engineer Clay Anderson collected air samples and surface swabs throughout the station. The samples will be incubated and analyzed for bacterial and fungal contamination.

The Expedition 15 crew members continue with preparations 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 space shuttle 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