[sarex] Expedition 11 Welcomes Shuttle Crew Aboard Station

["ARTHUR Z. ROWE" <N1ORC@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

For the first time since December 2002, a Space Shuttle is docked with 
the International Space Station. The two spacecraft linked up at 7:18 
a.m. EDT today as they flew over the southern Pacific Ocean west of Chile.

Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev and Flight Engineer John 
Phillips welcomed the visiting Shuttle astronauts onto the Station just 
after the hatches opened at 8:50 a.m. EDT. The two crews are slated to 
begin eight days of joint operations after the initial greetings and a 
safety briefing. Their work today will include preparations for possible 
additional inspections of the Shuttle’s heat shield and the three 
STS-114 spacewalks.

The two crews will also begin transferring cargo from the Shuttle to the 
Station. Discovery is delivering supplies and equipment to the Station, 
most of which is located in the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics 
Module. Raffaello, a reusable cargo container, is scheduled to be lifted 
out of the Shuttle's payload bay and attached to the Station’s Unity 
Module on Friday.
----
Via the sarex mailing list at AMSAT.ORG courtesy of AMSAT-NA.
To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe sarex" to Majordomo@amsat.org