Space Station (ISS) Status 10/03/05

Source: NASA

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying Expedition 12 Commander William McArthur, Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev and American businessman Gregory Olsen arrived at the international space station this morning after a two-day journey.

McArthur and Tokarev are beginning a six-month mission aboard the orbiting laboratory. Olsen will spend eight days there conducting scientific and photography experiments under a commercial agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency.

With Tokarev at the controls, the Soyuz automatically linked up to the Pirs Docking Compartment today at 1:27 a.m. EDT. After systems checks, hatches between the Soyuz and station opened at 4:36 a.m. EDT. Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev and Flight Engineer John Phillips greeted their colleagues with handshakes, hugs and the traditional offering of bread and salt.

Krikalev and Phillips have spent 169 days on the station since they arrived in April.
They, along with Olsen, return to Earth at 9:08 p.m. EDT, Oct. 10 in the Soyuz spacecraft docked to the station's Zarya module.

Shortly after entering the space station, the Expedition 12 crew and Olsen had a safety briefing on emergency escape procedures. They will transfer Olsen's custom-made seat liner to the Soyuz he will use to return home. The crews will also move cargo from the newly-arrived Soyuz to the station.

This week McArthur and Tokarev will familiarize themselves with station systems and stowed equipment, conduct robotics training with the Canadarm2 robot arm and receive detailed briefings about scientific payloads.

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