SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

*Expedition 15 Prepares the Station for STS-118*

The station crew is preparing the International Space Station for the arrival of space shuttle Endeavour on mission STS-118. Endeavour is targeted for launch Wednesday at 6:36 p.m. EDT and will arrive at the station two days later.

Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineers Oleg Kotov and Clay Anderson have shifted their sleep schedule to align their operations with the arriving shuttle crew. They have been packing items for return aboard Endeavour and have conducted conferences with ground controllers and the STS-118 crew members.

The Expedition 15 crew members have also been unpacking items from the newly arrived Progress 26 (P26) cargo craft. The P26 docked to the station’s Pirs docking compartment Sunday at 2:40 p.m. The cargo craft delivered over 5,000 pounds of food, fuel, air and spare parts.

+ Read more about the ISS Progress 26 docking http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition15/exp15_progress26_advancer.html + 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