[sarex] ISS STATUS REPORT #06-14

[Arthur Rowe <azrowe80@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468


*International Space Station Status Report #06-14*
*9 p.m. Wednesday, March 29, 2006*
*Expedition 12 Crew*

The 13th crew of the International Space Station roared away from 
Kazakhstan today and into orbit atop a Russian Soyuz rocket.

Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, NASA Science Officer and 
Flight Engineer Jeff Williams and Brazilian Space Agency Astronaut 
Marcos Pontes will dock to the station late Friday. Vinogradov and 
Williams will spend six months on the complex during Expedition 13. 
Pontes, flying under a commercial agreement with the Russian Federal 
Space Agency, will stay on the station for eight days.

The 162-foot tall Soyuz rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 
8:30 p.m. CST. About 10 minutes later, the Soyuz spacecraft was in orbit 
with its solar arrays and antennae extended. Docking is planned for 
10:19 p.m. CST Friday. Vinogradov, Williams and Pontes will open hatches 
at about 11:30 p.m. CST Friday to join Expedition 12 Commander Bill 
McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev inside the space complex. 
NASA Television will broadcast the activities on Friday starting at 9 
p.m. CST.

The five space fliers will be available for media questions during a 
crew news conference at 9:55 a.m. CST Monday. Reporters at NASA's 
Johnson Space Center, Houston, and Kennedy Space Center, Fla., as well 
as at the Russian Mission Control Center in Korolev, Russia, may ask 
questions.

The two crews will spend about a week handing over operations of the 
orbiting research laboratory. Pontes will conduct a series of research 
investigations. McArthur, Tokarev and Pontes will leave the station and 
return to Earth April 8. At landing, McArthur and Tokarev will have 
spent almost 190 days in space.

Earlier this week, McArthur found an onboard supply of lithium hydroxide 
canisters that are used to scrub carbon dioxide from the air in Russian 
space suits during a spacewalk. The find ensures Russian suits can be 
used for a spacewalk if one is needed, although none is planned in the 
near future.

Information on the crew's activities aboard the space station, future 
launch dates, as well as station sighting opportunities from anywhere on 
the Earth, is available on the Internet at:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

The next ISS status report will be issued after the docking on Friday or 
earlier if events warrant.
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