[sarex] NASA TV COVERAGE FOR NEXT LAUNCH, LANDING OF SPACE STATION CREWS

["Arthur Z Rowe" <n1orc@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Submitted by Arthur - N1ORC

Allard Beutel
Headquarters, Washington               October 3, 2003
(Phone: 202/358-4769)

Rob Navias
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone: 281/483-5111)

NOTE TO EDITORS: N03-098

NASA TV COVERAGE FOR NEXT LAUNCH, LANDING OF SPACE STATION 
CREWS

     NASA Television plans extensive coverage of the next 
crew exchange for the International Space Station. Coverage 
includes the launch and docking of the next International 
Space Station Expedition crew, and the landing of the 
current residents of the orbiting laboratory.

The coverage will be anchored from NASA's Johnson Space 
Center, Houston, and the Russian Mission Control Center in 
Korolev, Russia, with commentary and live television as 
available.

Expedition 8 Commander and NASA Space Station Science 
Officer Michael Foale, Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander 
Alexander Kaleri of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency 
(Rosaviakosmos), and Spain's Pedro Duque of the European 
Space Agency (ESA) are scheduled to launch Oct. 18 from the 
Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a Soyuz TMA-3 vehicle. 
Docking with the Station is set for Oct. 20.

Foale and Kaleri will replace Expedition 7 Commander Yuri 
Malenchenko and NASA Station Science Officer Ed Lu, who have 
been aboard since late April. Malenchenko and Lu will return 
to Earth Oct. 27, with Duque, who is flying under a 
commercial contract between ESA and Rosaviakosmos. 
Malenchenko, Lu and Duque will land in Kazakhstan in the 
Soyuz TMA-2 capsule, which is currently docked to the ISS. 
It will be the second time American astronauts return to 
Earth in a Soyuz spacecraft.

Coverage includes video B-roll of the crew's training and 
prelaunch activities in Baikonur during the weeks prior to 
launch. An in-flight crew news conference is planned for 
Oct. 23. Several in-flight media interviews are also 
scheduled during the handover period between the two crews. 
These events will be broadcast live on NASA TV.
Coverage plans include (all times Eastern):

--	Oct. 18: Launch and post-launch coverage: 12:30 - 1:50 
a.m. EDT (Launch scheduled at 1:37 a.m. EDT)
--	Oct. 20: Docking, hatch opening, welcoming ceremony 
and post-docking news conference: 2 - 5:30 a.m. EDT 
(Docking scheduled at 3:20 a.m. EDT, and hatch opening 
scheduled at 4:45 a.m. EDT)
--	Oct. 27: Hatch Closure and Farewell Ceremony: 2:45 - 
3:45 p.m. EST (Hatch closure scheduled at 3:10 p.m. 
EST)
--	Oct. 27: Expedition 7/ESA Astronaut Undocking: 5:45 - 
6:45 p.m. EST (Undocking scheduled at 6:20 p.m. EST)
--	Oct. 27: Landing operations coverage: 8 - 10:30 p.m. 
EST (Landing scheduled at 9:36 p.m. EST; no live 
television coverage of the actual Soyuz spacecraft 
landing)

Video from the landing site, the crew's return to Astana, 
Kazakhstan, and their welcoming ceremony at Star City, 
Russia, will be fed throughout the morning Oct. 28. NASA TV 
will also replay the crew's post-landing news conference on 
Oct. 30.

NASA Television is available on AMC-9, transponder 9C, C-
Band, located at 85 degrees west longitude. The frequency is 
3880.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is monaural 
at 6.80 MHz. For information about NASA TV on the Internet, 
visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

For information about NASA and the International Space 
Station on the Internet, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov









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