Tyurin Credit - www.spacefacts.de

Personal: Male, Married, One child. Born in Kolomna, Russia.

Astronaut Career

Astronaut Group: Energia Engineer Group 12 - 1994. Active Entered space service: 1 April 1994. Number of Flights: 2.00. Total Time: 344.21 days. Number of EVAs: 5.00. Total EVA Time: 1.10 days.

Civilian Engineer, Energiya NPO. NASA Official Biography

NAME: Mikhail Turin

Russian Cosmonaut

PERSONAL DATA:

Michael Turin lives in Korolev, a small city outside of Moscow. He was born March 2, 1960, in Kolomna, Russia (about 60 miles from Moscow) where his parents still reside. He is married to Tatiana Anatoleyvna Turin. They have a daughter, Alexandra, born in 1982. He enjoys sailing in his free time.

EDUCATION:

He graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute in 1984 with a degree in engineering and a specialization in creating mathematical models related to mechanical flight. He is currently doing graduate work in his field of research.

EXPERIENCE:

After graduating from the Aviation Institute he began working at the Energia corporation as an engineer. The main subjects of his job have been dynamics, ballistics, and software development. His personal scientific research is connected with the psychological aspects of cosmonauts' training for the manual control of spacecraft motion. In 1993 he was selected to begin cosmonaut training, and since 1998 he has trained as a flight engineer for the third ISS mission and as a backup crew member for the first ISS mission.

• 10 August 2001 Flight: ISS EO-3. Flight Up: STS-105. Flight Back: STS-108. Flight Time: 128.86 days.

• 18 September 2006 Flight: ISS EO-14. Flight Up: Soyuz TMA-9. Flight Back: Soyuz TMA-9. Flight Time: 215.35 days.

1 April 1994 - Energia Engineer Cosmonaut Training Group 12 selected..

The Atlantis crew, Commander Steve Lindsey, Hobaugh and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi, Mike Gernhardt and Jim Reilly, will leave behind the Expedition Two crew of Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms, who are in their 136th day in space.

The Expedition Three crew, Commander Frank Culbertson and Flight Engineers Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikail Tyurin, will replace the Expedition Two crew next month during the STS-105 mission.

Atlantis will undock from an International Space Station that is ready to begin independent operations. Since July 2000, 77 tons of hardware has been added to the station, including the Zvezda module, the Z1 Truss Assembly, Pressurized Mating Adapter 3, the P6 Truss and its 240-foot long solar arrays, the U.S. laboratory Destiny, the Canadarm2 and the Quest airlock.

The Atlantis crew was awakened at 4:14 p.m. Saturday by the song "Who Let The Dogs Out" sung by the Baha Men. The song was played for Hobaugh. All systems aboard both Atlantis and the International Space Station continue to function normally as the two spacecraft orbit the Earth at an average altitude of 240 statute miles.

Pilot Charlie Hobaugh was at the shuttle's aft flight deck controls for the fly-around, which allowed the shuttle crew to take a parting look at the newly installed airlock, Quest, and the four large air supply tanks they had delivered.

Commander Steve Lindsey, Hobaugh and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi, Mike Gernhardt and Jim Reilly, had spent 196 hours, 46 minutes - or more than 8 days - docked to the station, working with Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms to install, checkout and christen the station's newest asset.

A final separation burn at 1:14 a.m. CDT Sunday put Atlantis on its initial course for home, with landing scheduled for 11:37 p.m. CDT Monday at Kennedy Space Center.

The entire Atlantis crew took time out to discuss the mission with CNN and Fox News early Sunday, then got ready for bed about 7:30 a.m. The shuttle astronauts will awaken at 5:34 p.m. CDT Sunday and begin stowing gear and testing Atlantis' systems that will be used during re-entry and landing.

Back on the station, the Expedition Two crew will go to bed about 1 p.m. Sunday, then enjoy a day of off-duty time following the busy shuttle stay and begin shifting back to its regular schedule. So far, the Expedition Two crew has spent 136 days in space. The trio will be replaced by Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson and Flight Engineers Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin next month during Discovery's STS-105 mission.

All systems aboard both Atlantis and the International Space Station continue to function normally as the two spacecraft orbit the Earth independently once again.

Almost immediately after Atlantis departed following its mission to install an addition on the home in space, station Commander Yury Usachev, and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms began unpacking and stowing supplies delivered by Atlantis, while at the same time beginning to prepare for the arrival of their replacement crew.

The Expedition Three crew consists of Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin. The three will be delivered aboard Discovery by its crew of Commander Scott Horowitz, Pilot Rick Sturckow and Mission Specialists Dan Barry and Pat Forrester.

The STS-105 and Expedition Three crews will travel to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida Sunday and the countdown begins Monday.

While Discovery's countdown to launch to the ISS is set to begin, half a world away at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the fifth Progress supply craft is being readied for launch Aug. 21 followed Sept. 15 by the launch of the next station component - a Russian docking compartment named Pirs, the Russian word for pier.

Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev, Voss and Helms also continue to oversee a variety of science investigations while packing for the trip home.

The International Space Station (ISS) is orbiting in excellent shape at an altitude averaging 240 miles (385 km).

The STS-105 mission to deliver the third resident crew to the ISS is scheduled to launch tomorrow at 4:38 p.m. Central time as the ISS sails over the Southern Ocean south of Adelaide, Australia at an altitude of around 240 statute miles.

Discovery's Commander, Scott Horowitz, Pilot Rick Sturckow, and Mission Specialists Pat Forrester and Dan Barry are ready to ferry Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin to the Station for a four-month mission, succeeding Usachev, Voss and Helms, who have been aloft since March 8.

Discovery was cleared for launch earlier this week by Shuttle managers after reviewing the status of fuel injector units used in the hydraulic power units that steer the Shuttle's solid rocket booster nozzles during the first two minutes of powered flight.

Last night aboard the ISS, one of three command and control computers (C & C 1) which is used as a backup for the operation of some Station systems experienced a problem reading its hard drive, or Mass Storage Device. The hard drive stores commands for a variety of vehicle activities on the U.S. segment of the complex. Flight controllers attempted to reboot the computer with no success and are continuing efforts to bring it back into operation. This computer has lost only some of its functional capability. The Station's primary computer (C & C 3) is operating normally, however, and a third computer (C & C 2) is being transitioned from standby status to act as the backup for C & C 3.

A newly refurbished command and control computer had already been manifested to be launched on Discovery to the ISS as a spare, and would be installed for operation, if required. The backup computer glitch has had no impact on Station operations and will not affect the joint mission to deliver the new Expedition crew to the orbital outpost.

As Usachev, Voss and Helms prepared to handover command of the Station to a new crew, Russian engineers prepared two vehicles for launch right after the STS-105 mission. At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, a Progress resupply ship is being readied for launch on August 21 to deliver food, fuel and supplies for the new Expedition Three crew. It is scheduled to dock to the aft docking port of the Zvezda Service Module on August 23, one day after the current Progress attached to the ISS is jettisoned. And the newest ISS module, a Russian Docking Compartment named Pirs, the Russian word for pier, is in the final stages of preparation for launch on September 15 to link up to the earthward facing docking port of Zvezda. It will provide a new docking port for future visiting Russian vehicles.

In addition to packing to come home, the Expedition Two crew continues to oversee a variety of science investigations.

The International Space Station (ISS) is orbiting at an altitude averaging 240 miles (385 km).

The 15,107 kg payload consisted of:

• Bay 1-2: Orbiter Docking System/External Airlock and 3 EMU spacesuits - 2160 kg
• Bay 4P: Adapter beam with G-780 (Mayo High School, Rochester, Minnesota experiment to study germination of faba beans) and PSP-1 (NASA-GSFC canister with passive experiments and ballast) - 200 kg
• Bay 5: Integrated Cargo Carrier/KYD - 1280 kg, with the Early Ammonia Servicer for the station's P6 truss- 640 kg and two small exposure experiments PEC-1 and PEC-2, to be installed on the be installed on the ISS Quest module as part of the MISSE materials exposure program
• Bay 7-12: MPLM FM1 (Leonardo) module - 9800 kg total including 3300 kg of payload to be transferred to the Station
• Bay 13P: Adapter beam with G-774 (Microgravity Smoldering Combustion (MSC) experiment) and SEM-10 (canister with 11 school experiments) - 410 kg
• Bay 13S: Adapter beam with Simplesat and ACE avionics - 355 kg
• Sill: RMS arm - 410 kg

The Leonardo MPLM module was lifted out of Discovery's payload bay at 1326 GMT on August 13 and docked to Unity's nadir at 1554 GMT. 3300 kg of cargo from Leonardo was transferred to the Station. Then 1700 kg of station garbage and materials were loaded into Leonardo. It was unberthed from Unity at 1816 GMT on August 19 and returned to the payload bay for the return to Earth at 1917 GMT.

Discovery undocked at 1452 GMT on August 20 with the Expedition 2 crew aboard, leaving Expedition 3 at the Station.

At 1830 GMT on August 20 the Simplesat test satellite was ejected from a GAS canister in the cargo bay. Discovery landed at Kennedy Space Center at 1822:58 GMT on August 22 on runway 15, after a deorbit burn at 1715 GMT. The Expedition Two crew of Usachyov, Voss and Helms had been in space for 167 days. Discovery was taken out of service after the flight for structural inspections. Its last maintenance down period was in 1995-1996.

As the station sailed over the Pacific Ocean southwest of the border between Mexico and Guatemala, Discovery rocketed away from Launch Pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center at 4:10 p.m. Central time en route to a rendezvous and docking Sunday afternoon.

Aboard Discovery were Commander Scott Horowitz, Pilot Rick Sturckow and Mission Specialists Pat Forrester and Dan Barry along with Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin. They will replace the Expedition Two crew, Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms, who were wrapping up their 155th day in space at the time of Discovery's launch.

Less than nine minutes after beginning its journey, Discovery settled into its preliminary orbit as the crew prepared to open the ship's payload bay doors prior to receiving the green light to begin orbital operations. This is the fifth shuttle mission of the year.

Discovery's crew will spend the next few hours unpacking equipment, setting up computers and conducting the first in a series of engine firings to refine the shuttle's orbit as it heads for the station. The crew will begin an eight-hour sleep period shortly after 11 p.m. and will be awakened at 7:15 a.m. Saturday for its first full day in orbit. That day will be devoted to preparations for Sunday's rendezvous and docking and eight days of joint operations with the Expedition Two crew, highlighted by the official transfer of command of the station from Usachev to Culbertson.

Aboard the station, Usachev, Voss and Helms have spent most of the past couple of weeks packing gear for the trip home aboard Discovery, and tidying up for the arrival of visitors about 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

Discovery is in an orbit inclined 51.6 degrees to either side of the Equator with all of its systems operating normally.

Commander Scott Horowitz, Pilot Rick Sturckow and Mission Specialists Pat Forrester and Dan Barry, along with Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, checked out Shuttle systems, navigational tools and docking hardware in advance of Discovery's planned linkup to the ISS.

The docking is scheduled to occur Sunday at 1:38 p.m. Central time over the Indian Ocean northwest of Australia, just south of the Indonesian island of Jawa.

Forrester and Horowitz powered up, unfurled and checked out Discovery's 50-foot long robotic arm, which will be used by Forrester to move the Leonardo cargo module from Discovery's payload bay to the ISS for the transfer of food and supplies, and by Horowitz to transport Barry and Forrester around the Station during their two spacewalks next week.

In addition, Barry and Forrester tested the devices they will use tomorrow to measure Discovery's distance from the ISS and its rate of closure on the complex during the terminal phase of the Shuttle's approach to the Station. Discovery's docking mechanism was also checked out and its outer docking ring extended to ensure it is ready for tomorrow's capture of the ISS docking port on the forward end of the Station's Destiny laboratory module.

Next week, Barry and Forrester will test the spacesuits they will wear during their two excursions outside Discovery to attach a spare cooling reservoir to the ISS and to hook up heating cables for a large truss structure that will be mounted to the Station next year.

The crew enjoyed a few hours of spare time this afternoon to relax as they wound down for the start of an eight-hour sleep period just after 9 p.m. Central time tonight.

Aboard the ISS, Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms spent the day packing up personal items and preparing Station systems for tomorrow's arrival of their replacements, Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin. This was the 156th day in space for the current occupants of the ISS.

The exchange of crew members on the Station will occur on Monday, although formal command of the Station will not be transferred from Usachev to Culbertson until a few hours before Discovery's undocking on August 20.

Almost 7,000 pounds of food, supplies and personal items for the Expedition Three crew are housed in Leonardo, the Italian-built Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM).

Once the module is transferred to the Station and unpacked, it will be filled with equipment no longer needed on the ISS, including Expedition Two crew clothing and trash for return to Earth.

Discovery is orbiting the Earth in excellent shape with no issues being worked by the flight control team.

Discovery's astronauts and cosmonauts, Commander Scott Horowitz, Pilot Rick Sturckow and Mission Specialists Pat Forrester and Dan Barry, and Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, were awakened to "Back in the Saddle Again" by Gene Autry. It was played for Culbertson, making his third flight into space, eight years after he last flew.

At the time the crew was awakened, some 8000 statute miles separated Discovery from the ISS. A second firing of Discovery's orbital maneuvering systems engines is scheduled for early in the crew's day today to further adjust its orbit in preparation for rendezvous and docking with the station. Also scheduled today are the checkout of spacesuits to be worn by Barry and Forrester during two spacewalks next week, the preparation of rendezvous and navigation tools and a test of the shuttle's robotic arm, all routine work on the day before docking. Crewmembers also will perform a camera survey of Discovery's cargo bay with arm-mounted cameras.

Discovery is scheduled to linkup to the ISS tomorrow at 1:37 p.m. Central time as the two spacecraft fly over the Indian Ocean northwest of Australia, just south of the Indonesian island of Jawa.

The major objective of the STS-105 mission of Discovery is the swapout of the new resident Station crew, led by Culbertson, with the Expedition Two crew, Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms, who have been aboard the Station more than five months. They are to return to Earth aboard Discovery on August 22.

Discovery also is bringing equipment, supplies and scientific experiments to the Station. Almost 7,000 pounds of that cargo is in Leonardo, the Italian-built Multipurpose Logistics Module in Discovery's cargo bay. Once that is transferred to the station, Leonardo will be packed with other equipment, unused items and trash for return to Earth.

During their eight days docked to the station, Discovery Mission Specialists Barry and Forrester will perform two spacewalks. On the first, next Thursday, they will install a device called an Early Ammonia Servicer on the Station. It contains spare ammonia that could be used to cool Station systems should it be needed. During the second spacewalk, two days later, they will install heater cables for the station's large S0 truss segment, which will be delivered on a future mission, as well as handrails.

Discovery is orbiting the Earth in excellent shape with no issues being worked by the flight control team.

Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms looked on from the station's Destiny laboratory as Discovery arrived this afternoon, then worked in concert with their Shuttle counterparts to ensure a tight seal and a firm mate between the two vehicles.

At 3:41 p.m., hatches finally swung open between Discovery and the ISS, and the two crews greeted one another. First aboard the station was Culbertson to survey his home for the next four months. Within minutes, all ten astronauts and cosmonauts had shared greetings before settling in for a station safety briefing conducted by Usachev.

Monday the crews will attach the Leonardo cargo carrier to the station at about 9:30 a.m. and begin unloading its supplies.

Just prior to this operation, the two station crews will systematically begin the process of handing over command from Expedition Two to Expedition Three. The plan is for Culbertson and Helms to remove her form-fitting seat liner from the Soyuz spacecraft and replace it with Culbertson's at about 7 a.m. Two hours later at about 9 a.m., Dezhurov and Usachev will do the same followed at 12:30 p.m. by the seat liner swap of Tyurin and Voss. The Soyuz is used as a return vehicle in the event of a problem on the station.

Crew sleep is scheduled for about 8 tonight with a musical wakeup call from Mission Control at 5:10 a.m. Monday.

The station and shuttle complex is orbiting the Earth every 92 minutes in good shape.

Discovery Commander Scott Horowitz, Pilot Rick Sturckow and Mission Specialists Pat Forrester and Dan Barry, along with the Expedition Three crew, will begin rendezvous operations a little before 9 a.m. today. The shuttle will begin a final approach to the station from a point about 9 miles behind the outpost with the last major rendezvous maneuver scheduled at around 11:15 a.m.

With Discovery about 600 feet directly below the station, Horowitz will fly the shuttle in a quarter circle to a point in front of the complex. From there he will very slowly and precisely maneuver Discovery toward the station, pausing about 30 feet from the ISS to precisely align the docking mechanisms of the two craft.

Docking is expected to occur at 1:38 p.m. over the Indian Ocean just south of the Indonesian island of Jawa. The hatches separating the two spacecraft are to be opened around 3:30 p.m. allowing the current station residents, Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms to greet their replacements and the Discovery astronauts who will bring them home after more than five months in space.

ISS flight controllers are expected to ask the Expedition Two crew on Wednesday to try to reboot one of three command and control computers which experienced a hard drive problem last week and which has been put in standby mode with no impact to station operations. If the reboot does not recover the use of the hard drive, the crew may be asked to replace a component in the computer with a spare being brought to the station on Discovery. Two other command and control computers, a prime and a backup, are working perfectly in support of U.S. segment systems.

Discovery is orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes in good shape in pursuit of the International Space Station.

Once they swap out their custom-made Soyuz capsule seat liners with those belonging to Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms, Culbertson, Dezhurov and Tyurin will become the third trio of residents to inhabit the complex, while Usachev, Voss and Helms become members of Discovery's crew.

The Soyuz serves as a crew return vehicle in the unlikely event it should become necessary to leave the station.

Official handover of command of the ISS from Usachev to Culbertson will take place on August 20, shortly before Discovery undocks from the Station.

After the crew transfer is complete, the oncoming ISS residents will begin a comprehensive handover with their departing counterparts, receiving briefings on Station systems, the current configuration of hardware and computers and procedures they will employ during their first days on board the outpost.

Mission Specialist Pat Forrester will use Discovery's robot arm to move the Italian-built Leonardo cargo module from the shuttle's payload bay to the nadir docking port of the Station's Unity module so it can be unloaded of more than three tons of supplies and equipment for the newly arrived Expedition Three crew. Leonardo also contains racks of scientific experiments which will greatly enhance the scientific research on board the ISS over the next few months. Leonardo will be installed on the Station late this morning.

Other equipment will be transferred throughout the day from Discovery's middeck lockers to the ISS as the crews work in concert to set the stage for the Expedition Three mission.

The joined spacecraft are orbiting at an average altitude of about 244 statute miles, completing an orbit of the Earth every 90 minutes. Both craft are in good condition.

That marked the end of the Expedition Two crew's stay on the station at 148 days since it took over for the first resident crew on March 18. By the time the Expedition Two crew lands aboard Discovery next week, Yury Usachev, Jim Voss and Susan Helms will have spent 163 days aboard the station and 167 days in space.

The official ceremonial handover of command of the ISS from Usachev to Culbertson will take place Aug. 20, shortly before Discovery undocks from the Station.

The systematic swap of the seat liners and space suits occurred in and around the installation of the Leonardo Multipurpose Pressurized Logistics Module onto the station. Leonardo is one of three cargo supply vessels designed to deliver food, clothing, experiments and other hardware to and from the station throughout its orbital life. It was attached to the station at 10:55 a.m. CDT and its hatch opened at 2:47 p.m. CDT.

Now that the official crew transfer is complete, the Expedition Three crew of Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin will begin a comprehensive handover with their departing counterparts, receiving briefings on station systems, the current configuration of hardware and computers and procedures they will employ during their first days on board the outpost.

The crew will be awakened at 4:10 a.m. CDT Tuesday to continue the unloading of more than three tons of supplies and experiments from Leonardo. At 2 p.m. CDT Tuesday, the two station commanders, Culbertson and Usachev, will take part in an interview from space with television networks. The interview will air live on NASA TV.

The joined spacecraft are orbiting at an average altitude of about 244 statute miles, completing an orbit of the Earth every 90 minutes.

During the day, the shuttle's thrusters were fired 240 times to subtly boost the station's orbit by about 2 miles over the course of one hour. At least one more 30 minute-long reboost is planned before Discovery departs early next week.

Several tons of equipment, food and supplies for the new station crew of Frank Culbertson, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin were moved to the station, while the two Expedition crews began extensive discussions of operations, enabling the new residents to familiarize themselves with station systems and life on board the ISS.

Late in the day, Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev and Dezhurov updated software in the computers of the Zvezda Service Module to create greater efficiency in Russian commanding of systems in their segment of the station.

The Mission Control wakeup call to the shuttle and station is scheduled for 4:10 a.m. CDT Wednesday. The joint crews will continue to pack items in Leonardo for the return trip home next week, while stowing those items now aboard the station.

Discovery and the station are orbiting at an average altitude of 244 statute miles, orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes.

The wakeup music was for Discovery Commander Scott Horowitz from his wife.

The Expedition Two crew became members of Discovery's crew yesterday after Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson and cosmonauts Mikhail Tyurin and Vladimir Dezhurov transferred their personal seat liners to the Soyuz spacecraft docked to the station, officially beginning the third Expedition aboard the orbital outpost.

Several tons of equipment, food and supplies for the new station crew will be unloaded today from the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, which was attached to the Unity module of the station yesterday. The two Expedition crews will begin extensive discussions today in a handover of operations, enabling the new residents to familiarize themselves with station systems and life on board the expanding complex.

Later today, Usachev and Dezhurov will spend some time loading updated software into the computers of the Zvezda Service Module. The new software is designed to create greater efficiency in Russian commanding of systems in their segment of the station.

Discovery also will perform a reboost of the station this afternoon, increasing its average altitude by around two statute miles. At 2 p.m. Usachev and Culbertson will discuss the progress of the flight with three television networks in a series of interviews to be broadcast on NASA Television.

Discovery and the station are orbiting at an average altitude of about 244 statute miles, orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes.

In preparation for that Extravehicular Activity (EVA), the crew spent part of the day checking out the suits that will be worn for the planned six and a half hour excursion to install an ammonia servicing unit on the outside of the station. It contains spare ammonia that could be used in the station's cooling system if needed. They also will attach an experiment to the station to expose samples of engineering materials to the space environment. The samples will be returned to Earth for analysis in about a year.

A second space walk currently is planned for Saturday to hook up heater cables for the first of several girder-like truss structures, that will be delivered to the station next year.

Meanwhile, members of the station's Expedition Two crew continued the handover of station operations to their Expedition Three replacements. Throughout the handover, the stowage of equipment and supplies inside the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module continued. Some 5,200 pounds of supplies was confirmed on board the station and will be unpacked and stowed by the Expedition Three crew after Discovery departs early next week.

Early in the day, Russian flight controllers completed the reloading of upgraded software into the computers of the Zvezda module in preparation for next month's arrival of a new module to the station, the Russian Docking Compartment, which will serve as a new docking port for visiting Russian vehicles.

The Russian flight control team continues to track preparations of a Soyuz spacecraft set to deliver the next Progress supply vehicle to the station. Launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan remains targeted for Tuesday with docking Aug. 23.

Early Thursday morning, the Expedition Three crew of Frank Culbertson, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin plan to televise a commemorative message marking the one-thousandth day in space for the International Space Station. It was Nov. 20, 1998 when the first element - Zarya - was launched atop a Proton rocket initiating the construction of the orbiting outpost.

Discovery and the station are orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes at an average altitude of 246 statute miles with no systems issues being worked by the flight control team.

Barry and crewmate Pat Forrester will conduct the first space walk of Discovery's flight to the International Space Station at around 9:30 this morning to install the Early Ammonia Servicer on the station's P6 truss structure. The servicing unit contains spare ammonia that could be used in the station's cooling system, if needed.

They also will attach an experiment to the station to expose samples of materials to the space environment. Carrying the acronym MISSE, for Materials International Space Station Experiment, it contains about 1,500 samples of materials in two suitcase-like containers. The samples will remain outside the station for about a year, then will be returned to Earth for analysis.

Discovery Commander Scott Horowitz will operate the shuttle's robotic arm during the space walk. Pilot Rick Sturckow will serve as the space walk choreographer from inside the shuttle's cabin during the 61/2-hour space walk, which will be staged from Discovery's airlock.

A second space walk is planned for Saturday. Barry and Forrester will hook up heater cables for another truss structure to be delivered to the station next year.

Aboard the ISS, the computers of the Zvezda Service Module once again commanded the station's gyroscopes to assume control of the orientation of the complex at around 5 a.m. after Russian flight controllers completed their loading of upgraded software commands to those computers. In the meantime, Discovery maintained control of the complex until the computer upgrades were completed with no impact to station operations.

While Barry and Forrester conduct their space walk, the Expedition Three crew, Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, will continue stowage of equipment and supplies inside the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module for return to Earth. The Italian-built pressurized module brought almost 7,000 pounds of equipment, supplies and two scientific experiment racks to the station.

At 7:10 this morning, Culbertson and his crewmates plan to offer a few commemorative words to mark the 1000th day in space for the International Space Station since the Zarya module was launched on November 20, 1998 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Discovery and the station are orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes at an average altitude of 244 statute miles with all systems functioning normally.

Earlier today, the computers inside the Zvezda module once again assumed control of the station's attitude - or position in space -- after Russian flight controllers completed the loading of upgraded software commands to those computers. In the meantime, Discovery maintained control of the complex until the computer upgrades were completed with no impact to station operations.

The Expedition Three crew --Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin -- earlier today offered commemorative remarks on the occasion of the 1000th day in space for the International Space Station since the Zarya module was launched on Nov. 20, 1998 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Discovery and the station are orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes at an average altitude of 244 statute miles with all systems functioning normally.

Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms will continue handover briefings with the Expedition Three crew. The new station commander, Frank Culbertson, and Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Tyurin and Vladimir Dezhurov have taken up residence aboard the station. The Expedition Two crewmembers, who spent more than five months on the station, will return home aboard Discovery next week.

Aboard Discovery, Commander Scott Horowitz, Pilot Rick Sturckow, and Mission Specialists Pat Forrester and Dan Barry, along with the Expedition Two crewmembers, were awakened at 4:10 a.m. Central time to the sounds of "Time Bomb", a song performed for Forrester by his sons, Patrick and Andrew.

On the heels of their successful space walk yesterday to install an ammonia coolant reservoir and a suite of experiments on the station, Barry and Forrester will be reviewing procedures and will check out hardware for the mission's second space walk on Saturday to hook up heater cables for a truss structure to be delivered to the station next year

Horowitz and Sturckow will perform the mission's second reboost of the station this morning, this one to raise the ISS' altitude by about two statute miles. The three Russian crewmembers aboard the shuttle/station complex will field questions from Russian reporters at the Russian Mission Control Center outside Moscow at 11:15 a.m. Central time. Three hours later, at 2:15 p.m., all ten crewmembers will hold a news conference with U.S. reporters at NASA centers. At 3 p.m., the crewmembers will gather for a change of command ceremony on the station as Expedition Two Commander Usachev passes the baton to Expedition Three Commander Culbertson. The formal handover of command actually occurred late Monday afternoon after the crews exchanged custom-made Soyuz seat liners for the return capsule docked to the station.

Discovery and the station are orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes at an average altitude of 244 statute miles with systems functioning well.

Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms continued handover briefings with the Expedition Three crew while stowage of equipment, discarded items and belongings of the Expedition Two crew continued aboard the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module for return to Earth.

The new station Commander, Frank Culbertson, and Russian cosmonauts Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin, officially took command of the station Monday afternoon to begin a four month stay on the ISS. The Expedition Two crewmembers, which spent more than five months on the station, will return home aboard Discovery next week.

In preparation for the space walk set to begin about 9 a.m. Saturday, Dan Barry and Pat Forrester reviewed procedures and checked hardware that will be used during the excursion outside the station to hook up heater cables for a truss structure to be delivered to the station next year.

Shuttle Commander Scott Horowitz and Pilot Rick Sturckow performed the mission's second reboost of the station early in the day, raising the average altitude of the ISS by 2.2 statute miles (3.5 kilometers). Discovery's thrusters were systematically fired 253 times over the course of an hour. It was the final reboost planned prior to Discovery's departure Monday morning.

The crew heads to bed about 9 tonight, Central time and will be awakened by Mission Control at 4:10 a.m. CDT Saturday.

Discovery and the station are orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes at an average altitude of 247 statute miles with all systems functioning well.

Discovery's astronauts, including the returning Expedition Two crew, were awakened at 4 a.m. Central time by "Hotel California," performed by the Eagles. It was requested for Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev by his wife.

The new station crew, Commander Frank Culbertson and Cosmonauts Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin, are beginning a four-month stay on the station. They will be separated from Discovery's crew by closed hatches to accommodate today's space walk

Barry and Forrester are to emerge from the shuttle's airlock a little after 9 a.m. Central time. Commander Scott Horowitz will operate the shuttle's robotic arm to move the space walkers around while Pilot Rick Sturckow will serve as the space walk choreographer.

The heating cables Barry and Forrester will install are for the S0 truss, to be delivered to the station next year. The space walk is the 26th in support of the assembly of the International Space Station and is expected to last around 6 hours.

Discovery and the station are orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes at an average altitude of 246 statute miles with all systems functioning well.

The cables would provide backup power to the S0 truss, if needed, in the unlikely event it could not be installed in a timely fashion on the station next spring as the centerpiece for a 300-foot girder, which will serve as the backbone for the orbital outposts external experiments, solar arrays and the future mobile base for the Canadian-built station robotic arm.

Barry and Forrester began their spacewalk at 8:42 a.m. Central time, and ended their final excursion outside Discovery at 2:11 p.m., completing the 26th spacewalk devoted to the assembly of the International Space Station, 24 of which were staged from the Shuttle, and the 68th spacewalk in Shuttle program history.

Other spacewalk statistics following today's activity include:

-- Total spacewalk time in Shuttle program history: 431 hours, 39 minutes. -- Total spacewalk time to assemble the ISS: 167 hours, 24 minutes. -- Total Shuttle spacewalk time for ISS assembly: 163 hours, 3 minutes. -- Total spacewalk time for the two EVAs on STS-105: 11 hours, 45 minutes.

While the spacewalk was being conducted, Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson and his crewmates, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin, continued loading the Leonardo cargo module on the station, which will be detached from the ISS Unity module Sunday and returned to Discovery's payload bay for the trip back home.

The astronauts and cosmonauts will begin an eight-hour sleep period at about 8 tonight Central time and will be awakened at 4:10 a.m. Sunday to begin the 10th day of this mission.

The two spacecraft are in excellent health orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 250 statute miles.

The ten crewmembers aboard Discovery and the station are spending their final day and night together prior to the farewell ceremony and hatch closing scheduled for about 7 a.m. CDT tomorrow. That follows the wakeup call from Mission Control set for 4:40 a.m.

Leonardo brought almost 7,000 pounds of material to the station, including equipment, supplies and two scientific racks for the new Expedition Three crew of Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin. Leonardo - one of three pressurized cargo carriers provided by the Italian Space Agency - completes its second visit to the station.

Astronaut Pat Forrester carefully removed the high-tech moving van from the station and placed it back in Discovery's payload bay at 2:15 p.m. CDT. He was backed up throughout the operation by Discovery Commander Scott Horowitz, who operated the arm during the spacewalks by Forrester and Dan Barry to outfit the station with spare equipment and scientific gear.

Once Discovery departs, Pilot Rick Sturckow will perform a strategic fly around of the station at a distance of about 400 feet before firing thrusters shortly after 11 a.m. to depart the vicinity of the complex. Wednesday afternoon, Discovery is set to return to the Kennedy Space Center with the Expedition Two crew of Yury Usachev, Jim Voss and Susan Helms. The three departed the Florida spaceport March 8 and will return after 167 days in space.

Meanwhile, Russian space officials are set to launch the fifth Progress resupply craft to the International Space Station Tuesday at 4:24 a.m. Central time followed by an automatic docking early Thursday. The Progress will carry supplies, food and equipment for the new Expedition Three crew. Its predecessor will be undocked Wednesday and commanded to burn up harmlessly in Earth's atmosphere.

Discovery and the ISS are orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 246 statute miles with all systems functioning normally.

Discovery's crew, including the returning Expedition Two crewmembers, were awakened shortly after 4 a.m. Central time by the sounds of "Under the Boardwalk" by the Drifters, played for Jim Voss by his wife Suzan.

Leonardo brought almost 7,000 pounds of material to the station, including equipment, supplies and two scientific racks for the new Expedition Three crew of Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin. Leonardo, which is one of three pressurized cargo carriers for station resupply activities provided by the Italian Space Agency, is completing its second visit to the station.

Mission Specialist Pat Forrester will use the shuttle's robotic arm this afternoon to unberth Leonardo from the station and move it to Discovery, beginning the one-hour operation a little before 12:30 p.m. He will be backed up by Discovery Commander Scott Horowitz, who operated the arm during two successful space walks by Forrester and Dan Barry to outfit the station with critical spare equipment and scientific gear.

Overnight, controllers reworked the crewmembers' flight plan to give them some time off this afternoon after Leonardo is returned to Discovery. The day will be highlighted by final handover discussions between the two Expedition crews before hatches are closed one last time between Discovery and the station tomorrow morning just before 7 a.m. Central time. Discovery is scheduled to undock from the ISS at 9:52 a.m. Central time Monday to set the stage for a landing at the Kennedy Space Center Wednesday afternoon, completing 167 days in space for Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev, Voss and Susan Helms.

Meanwhile, Russian space officials are all set to launch a new Progress resupply craft to the International Space Station on Tuesday at 4:24 a.m. Central time for a docking early Thursday. The Progress will carry supplies, food and equipment for the new Expedition Three crew. The Progress currently docked to the aft end of the Zvezda Service Module will be undocked on Wednesday and commanded to a destructive reentry in Earth's atmosphere.

Discovery and the ISS are orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 246 statute miles with all systems functioning normally.

The final farewells and hatch closing are scheduled for just before 7 a.m. Central time. Discovery's crewmembers, Commander Scott Horowitz, Pilot Rick Sturckow, and Mission Specialists Pat Forrester and Dan Barry, assisted by the returning Expedition Two crew, Commander Yury Usachev and Astronauts Jim Voss and Susan Helms, will undock Discovery at 9:52 a.m. as the two craft sail over the south Pacific due west of the southern coast of Chile.

With Sturckow at the controls, the shuttle will conduct a flyaround of the station, circling it 11/4 times before the shuttle's jets are fired at 11:12 a.m. to drop Discovery into a lower orbit for final separation from the station.

The seven crewmembers aboard Discovery were awakened at 3:40 a.m. by the sounds of "Brand New Day," played by Sting. The song was for Helms, requested by her family and friends. She and her Expedition Two crewmates are wrapping up five and a half months on orbit.

Parked in Discovery's cargo bay is Leonardo, the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module that brought 7,300 pounds of material to the station, including equipment, supplies and two scientific racks. It is returning to Earth with almost 2 tons of unneeded equipment from the station, trash and personal effects of the Expedition Two crew.

Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin are beginning a science-intensive increment that is scheduled to end with their replacement by the Expedition Four crew late this year.

Also on today's schedule for Discovery's crewmembers after undocking is the deployment of a small science satellite called Simplesat, designed to evaluate the use of inexpensive commercially available hardware in space. It is designed to demonstrate GPS attitude control and pointing in free flight. It will be spring-ejected from a canister at the rear of the Shuttle's cargo bay.

The Russians are all set to launch an unmanned Progress resupply craft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan tomorrow at 4:24 a.m. Central time. It is the fifth Progress to be launched to the station, and is scheduled to dock a little after 5 a.m. on Thursday, the day after the current Progress attached to the ISS is undocked from the rear of the Zvezda Service Module to burn up in the atmosphere with its load of trash.

Discovery and the ISS are circling the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 246 statute miles. All systems are functioning well.

The final farewells and hatch closing occurred at 7 a.m. Central Monday just prior to closing the hatches and conducting leak checks between the two vehicles. Under control of Pilot Rick Sturckow, Discovery gently backed away from the station to a distance of about 450 feet. At that point, Sturckow performed a fly-around of the complex allowing for photo documentation and a final look by Yury Usachev, Jim Voss and Susan Helms at their home for the past five and a half months.

Returning with Discovery is the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module that brought equipment, supplies and two scientific racks to the station. It is returning to Earth with more than a ton of equipment, experiments, personal effects and unneeded hardware.

Also today, Discovery's crewmembers deployed a small science satellite called Simplesat, designed to evaluate the use of inexpensive commercially available hardware in space. It is designed to demonstrate Global Positioning System attitude control and pointing in free flight. It was spring-ejected from a canister at the rear of the Shuttle's cargo bay.

Tuesday is a day devoted to packing up the orbiter and checking its landing systems for the planned return to the Kennedy Space Center Wednesday. Landing is set for just before Noon Central time with weather conditions expected to be favorable with light winds and only a slight chance of rain predicted in the area.

Meanwhile, on the steppe of the Kazak desert, a Soyuz rocket is poised to launch an unmanned Progress supply ship to the station tomorrow at 4:24 a.m. Central time. It is the fifth Progress to be launched to the station, and is scheduled to dock a little after 5 a.m. Thursday, the day after the current Progress attached to the ISS is undocked from the rear of the Zvezda module to burn up in the atmosphere.

The two spacecraft are at slightly different orbits, circling the Earth every 90 minutes. All systems are in excellent shape.

Leading the station now by more than a thousand miles, Discovery's aero surfaces and maneuvering engines were tested early today by the shuttle's Commander Scott Horowitz and Pilot Rick Sturckow while the remaining crewmembers busily prepared the cabin for the high-speed reentry.

Late in the day, the reclining seats that will be occupied by Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev, and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms were put into position on the orbiter's middeck. The reclined position has been proven to be the most comfortable method of return to Earth from space by long duration crewmembers.

Weather forecasters are predicting favorable conditions in Central Florida for Discovery's return to Earth, prompting mission managers to forego calling up support at the backup landing site in California.

To prepare for deorbit and landing activities, the shuttle crew will awaken at 3:10 a.m. Wednesday and start deorbit preparations about 6:45 a.m. The payload bay doors are to be closed at about 8 a.m. with the deorbit firing of the twin Orbital Maneuvering System engines on the tail of Discovery targeted for 10:37 a.m.

While Discovery was readied for the trip home, the Expedition Three crew of Frank Culbertson, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin activated one of the two scientific racks delivered by Discovery's crew. The crew also prepared for the undocking of a Progress supply vehicle docked to the station since late May. The undocking is set for 1:05 a.m. Wednesday to make room for the next Progress already on its way following launch at 4:24 a.m. today from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. As was its four predecessors, the 5 Progress is loaded with fuel, food and other equipment for use by the Expedition Three crew.

The launch pad now is free for the next launch of a Soyuz Sept. 15 delivering the Russian Docking Compartment to the station.

Discovery is circling the Earth every 90 minutes at an average altitude of about 240 statute miles. Systems aboard it and the International Space Station are in excellent shape.

Discovery Commander Scott Horowitz, Pilot Rick Sturckow, and Mission Specialists Pat Forrester and Dan Barry, along with Expedition Two crewmembers Commander Yury Usachev, and Astronauts Jim Voss and Susan Helms, were awakened at 3:10 a.m. CDT to the sounds of "East Bound and Down" by Jerry Reed, at the request of their Houston-based training team.

Activities on board Discovery will focus on tomorrow's planned return trip to Earth as the astronauts stow away the equipment and hardware used during their mission and verify the performance of Discovery's landing systems. Horowitz, Sturckow and Barry will conduct the standard day-before-landing checkouts of the flight control surfaces, the rudder and flaps that will control the shuttle during its descent through the atmosphere.

Later in the day, they will set up three recumbent seats on Discovery's middeck for use by the returning Expedition Two crewmembers during Wednesday's re-entry. The seats are designed to minimize the forces of reentry after their more than five months in space.

Expedition Three crewmembers Frank Culbertson, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin, were awakened about 12:30 a.m. to begin their first day alone aboard the space station. The day's plan includes activation and checkout of Express Rack 4 - one of two scientific racks for the U.S. laboratory Destiny delivered during STS-105 - exercise and a review of plans for unloading the next Russian unpiloted cargo carrier, Progress 5, scheduled to arrive at the station Thursday morning.

Crewmembers also activated the current Progress vehicle, docked at the rear of the station's Zvezda module, before closing the hatches that connect it to the station. Progress 4 is scheduled to be undocked from the station shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday. The new Progress supply ship - Progress 5 - was launched on a Soyuz rocket at 4:24 a.m. today from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and is scheduled to dock at the station about 5 a.m. Thursday with its cargo of fuel, food and equipment.

Discovery is circling the Earth every 90 minutes at an average altitude of about 240 statute miles. Systems aboard the shuttle and the International Space Station are functioning well.

Following a one-orbit wave-off due to a rain shower that popped up off the end of the landing strip, STS-105 Commander Scott Horowitz fired Discovery's engines to begin the shuttle's return through the atmosphere, concluding a 4.3 million mile voyage. On Discovery's middeck, the Expedition Two crew - Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms - rode home in recumbent seats designed to lessen the effects of gravity.

Following routine medical examinations, the STS-105 crew - Horowitz, Pilot Rick Sturckow and Mission Specialists Dan Barry and Pat Forrester - along with the Expedition Two crew, will be reunited with their families. All seven crewmembers are expected back in Houston about 5 p.m. Thursday for a public welcome home ceremony at Ellington Field.

During their 12 days on orbit, the STS-105 astronauts worked with both the returning Expedition Two crew and newly-arrived Expedition Three crew to transfer more than two tons of experiment hardware, food and logistical supplies between Discovery and the station. In addition, Barry and Forrester performed two spacewalks to prepare the station for future growth.

In the meantime, aboard the International Space Station, the Expedition Three crew - Commander Frank Culbertson and Cosmonauts Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin - are preparing for the arrival of a Progress 5 cargo vehicle which is scheduled to dock to the aft docking port of the Zvezda module of the Station about 5 a.m. tomorrow.

Discovery is about 1,300 statute miles ahead of the space station and widening the gap by about 50 miles per 90-minute orbit. The seven-member crew - Commander Scott Horowitz, Pilot Rick Sturckow, Mission Specialists Dan Barry and Pat Forrester, along with the returning Expedition Two crew members, Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Susan Helms and Jim Voss - were awakened at 3:10 a.m. CDT to begin a day with two landing opportunities at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. Weather conditions in Florida hold promise for today's landing, but the entry team of flight controllers will be watching for a chance of rain near the landing site.

The first opportunity would see a deorbit burn at 10:37 a.m., resulting in an 11:46 a.m. CDT (12:46 p.m. EDT) landing. Discovery would descend across southern Mexico, cross the Bay of Campeche, skirt the northwestern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula, and cross the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall on Florida's western coast. For the second opportunity, the deorbit burn would occur at 12:17 p.m. The shuttle would cross northern Mexico, descend over the Rio Grande near Laredo, and fly along the Gulf Coast before crossing the Florida peninsula for a 1:23 p.m. landing.

Aboard the International Space Station, the Expedition Three crew - Commander Frank Culbertson and Cosmonauts Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin - were awakened a little after midnight for the undocking of the Progress 4 vehicle. That spacecraft was moved to make way for the Progress 5 cargo vehicle which launched at 4:24 a.m. Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and is scheduled to dock at the rear of the space station's Zvezda Service Module about 5 a.m. tomorrow.

Progress 4 docked to the space station last May 22 with a cargo of equipment, food, fuel and spare computer parts. After unloading, it was refilled with trash. Just before 1 a.m. flight controllers at Moscow's Mission Control Center sent the command for it to undock. About three minutes later, springs pushed it away from the station, and three minutes after that, Progress jet thrusters were fired to increase the separation rate. At about 4 a.m. a deorbit burn command initiated its descent to fiery destruction in the Earth's atmosphere.

Discovery is circling the Earth every 90 minutes at an average altitude of about 240 statute miles. Systems aboard the shuttle and the space station are functioning well.

The unmanned Progress 5 craft linked up to the aft docking port of the Zvezda Service Module at 4:51 a.m. Central time (951 GMT) after an automated two-day excursion following its launch Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The docking occurred over Central Asia.

Within a few minutes after docking, hooks and latches were commanded to close between the Progress and Zvezda, forming a hard mate and a tight seal between the two craft. Hatches between the two vehicles will be opened later today, enabling Station Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin to unload some 3000 pounds of supplies and personal effects.

The arrival of the Progress vehicle at the Station sets the stage for the launch of the next module for the outpost next month --- the Russian Docking Compartment named Pirs, the Russian word for pier. The Docking Compartment will automatically link up to the nadir, or earthward facing docking port of Zvezda two days after launch, providing an additional docking port for future Russian vehicles arriving at the ISS.

At the Kennedy Space Center, Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Jim Voss and Susan Helms are in excellent shape, readapting to gravity and enjoying life back on Earth after167 days in space, 163 days of which were spent aboard the ISS. They are scheduled to return to Ellington Field in Houston late this afternoon with their Discovery crewmates, Commander Scott Horowitz, Pilot Rick Sturckow and Mission Specialists Pat Forrester and Dan Barry following yesterday's landing of Discovery at the Florida spaceport.

In addition to attending to the newly arrived Progress craft, the Expedition Three crew continues to oversee a variety of science investigations.

The International Space Station (ISS) is orbiting at an altitude averaging 240 miles (385 km).

The arrival of the Progress vehicle at the Station sets the stage for the launch of the next module for the outpost next month --- the Russian Docking Compartment named Pirs, the Russian word for pier. The Docking Compartment will automatically link up to the nadir, or earthward facing docking port of Zvezda two days after launch, providing an additional docking port for future Russian vehicles arriving at the ISS. A Progress-style instrumentation and propulsion stage attached to Pirs, which will provide the new module with its thruster capability to reach the ISS, will be jettisoned shortly after the new component docks to Zvezda.

The crew members are also working on unpacking equipment recently delivered on the STS-105 shuttle mission. They installed the Volatile Organic Analyzer (VOA) this week and will activate it later this week. The VOA is designed to sample the air inside the ISS, detecting and identifying any possible contaminants. Flight controllers at Mission Control, Houston will command the VOA to take daily local samples of the air. The Expedition Three Crew can also take remote air samples from anywhere in the ISS.

One of the voltage converter units in the Zvezda associated with one of eight power-producing batteries for the Service Module was successfully replaced this week after it recently experienced a problem. All of Zvezda's systems are functioning normally.

In addition to attending to the new supplies, the Expedition Three crew continues to oversee a variety of science investigations.

The International Space Station (ISS) is orbiting at an altitude averaging 240 miles (385 km).

Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin are in the fourth week of a four-month stay aboard the station. Much of their time was devoted to experiment work this week, uninterrupted by any station system problems. Some minor repairs were accomplished by the crew and included a check of wiring that proved a treadmill is usable for exercise sessions onboard; tightening of a connection in a station air conditioning system that stopped a minute freon leak; and the installation of a new videotape recorder in the Destiny Laboratory, replacing a recorder that had failed.

Early this morning, flight controllers assisted the crew as the station's orientiation was changed slightly to allow the Sun to continue to fully shine on the complex's solar arrays. As the seasons change, the angle of the sun relative to the station also changes. The sun had previously been fairly low to the southern horizon relative to the station, and the complex was oriented so as to point the arrays south toward the sun. The sun has grown higher in the sky relative to the station now and the complex today was moved back to an orientation that has the arrays perpendicular to the station's direction of travel, a more naturally stable orientation that is preferred for the complex when possible. Such orientation adjustments are performed regularly to optimize power generation. Later today, Culbertson maneuvered the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm into position to allow its television cameras to focus on a dump of waste water from vents on the Destiny Lab that is planned to be performed on Friday. About five gallons of water will be dumped overboard in 10 minutes, and the behavior of the expelled water crystals will be recorded. The crew also will document station surfaces with both television and still photography both before and after the water dump. Water has been dumped from the Destiny vents before, but Friday's activities will allow engineers to better characterize how well the jettisoned water clears the vicinity of the station.

Scientific work on the station this week has been highlighted by the completion of a human cell culture experiment that has grown colon, kidney and ovarian cancer cells in space to be used in medical research when returned to Earth late this year. The crew also installed equipment in preparation for a series of tests to characterize a vibration isolation system that will dampen disturbances to very sensitive experiments aboard the station. In addition, the crew continued to gather data from a host of investigations of the radiation environment in orbit and monitored the status of other studies.

Flight controllers and the crew are preparing for the continued assembly of the station next week with the planned launch of a new Russian station component from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Liftoff of a Soyuz rocket carrying the Pirs Docking Compartment, a Russian airlock and docking port, is planned for about 6:35 p.m. CDT Sept. 14. The Pirs compartment, which is the Russian word for pier, is planned to dock with the station at about 8:08 p.m. CDT Sept. 16, attaching to an Earth-facing port on the station's Zvezda living quarters module.

The International Space Station (ISS) is orbiting at an average altitude of 240 statute miles (385 km).

The Expedition Three crew is in its fifth week of a four-month stay aboard the space station. The crew is continuing to work with a variety of scientific experiments aboard the station and perform periodic maintenance on station systems as required. The crew and flight controllers are preparing for Friday's launch of a new Russian station component from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Liftoff of the Soyuz rocket carrying the Pirs Docking Compartment, a Russian airlock and docking port, is planned for 6:35 p.m. Central time September 14. Pirs, the Russian word for pier, is scheduled to dock with the station at 8:08 p.m. September 16, at an Earth-facing port on the station's Zvezda module.

Last Friday, the crew released about five gallons of wastewater from vents on the Destiny Lab to allow ground controllers to study the behavior of the expelled water crystals. The crew also took the first measurements for the PuFF experiment that is studying the function of an astronaut's lungs over the course of a long-duration space flight. The crew tested their lung capacity using equipment in the Human Research Facility Rack.

The International Space Station (ISS) is orbiting at an average altitude of 240 statute miles (385 km).

Early Wednesday morning, the crew sent down video taken Tuesday of the smoke plume rising from the World Trade Center area. The crew also sent down a view of the New York City area filmed shortly before sunrise this morning. Yesterday, Culbertson also extended his condolences to the victims of the New York attack saying, "Our prayers and thoughts go out to all the people there, and everywhere else. Here I am looking up and down the East Coast to see if I can see anything else, and to the people in Washington."

Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson reported that he was able to see the rocket climbing into orbit as the station was orbiting 250 miles up, southwest of the Caspian Sea. He said it was the first time he had witnessed such an event from orbit.

Using its Progess-style instrumentation and propulsion stage, Pirs will navigate its way to the ISS for a fully automatic docking planned at 8:08 p.m. CDT on Sunday, September 16.

Culbertson and crewmates Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin spent some time this week preparing for the arrival of Pirs. Preparation tasks included checking out the automated and manual docking systems and configuring the outside cameras to view the Docking Compartment's approach.

The crew also practiced using the manual docking system to complete the rendezvous, which would occur only if there were a problem with the automatic system. Thursday night, flight controllers in Houston and Moscow completed a ground-controlled docking test. In that test, Mission Control in Houston handed over attitude control authority to the Zvezda module's motion control system. Russian flight controllers commanded the Zvezda control thrusters to fire and rotate the station to the docking attitude. After going into a free drift mode, the Russian control system then moved the station back to its normal attitude and handed control back to the U.S control moment gyroscopes.

The new Russian component will serve as an additional docking port for future Russian vehicles arriving at the station, an added stowage area and also as an airlock for the Russian segment. Three spacewalks are to be conducted in October from Pirs by the Expedition Three crew - two by Dezhurov and Tyurin and one by Culbertson and Dezhurov - to electrically mate the Docking Compartment to Zvezda and install more equipment on the outside of the module.

The crew will be shifting its sleep period, going to bed at 7:30 a.m. CDT Sunday, just six and a half hours after awakening. The crew will awaken again at 4 p.m. CDT and immediately begin final preparations for the docking about four hours later.

In addition to preparing for the arrival of the new component, crewmembers have been monitoring many science activities. Oversight of science investigations on the station from the ground is handled by the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. the Human Research Facility is managed by the Johnson Space Center.

The International Space Station (ISS) is orbiting at an average altitude of 240 statute miles (385 km).

As Pirs linked up to the Zvezda module, Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson said, "We really felt that", describing the new component settling into its new home.

The docking went according to plan, with the automated docking system controlling a Progress-style instrumentation and propulsion system attached to the rear of the Pirs compartment itself. The 16-foot-long, 8,000-pound module approached the station from below and behind, beginning its automated docking sequence shortly after 5:30 p.m. About 20 minutes later, the station's thrusters moved it to the proper orientation for docking. The station's large solar array wings were positioned to eliminate contamination from the jets on Pirs as it made it final approach.

After the probe-and-drogue docking system completed capture of the incoming module and pulled the two spacecraft together, 12 active latching hooks were driven to their closed position, locking the module securely in place.

After docking, the Expedition Three crew checked to make sure there was a good seal between the station and its new module, then began to equalize pressure between the two craft prior to the first opening of the hatch to Pirs, which was scheduled later this evening. The aft instrumentation and propulsion system locked onto the docking compartment itself will be jettisoned next month to set the stage for spacewalks by the crew to install and activate key systems for the compartment's future operation. Pirs, which is the Russian word for pier, was launched on a Soyuz rocket at 6:35 p.m. CDT Friday. The new Russian component is an additional docking port for future Russian vehicles arriving at the station, an added stowage area and an airlock for the Russian segment. Three space walks are to be conducted in October and November from Pirs by the Expedition Three crew - two by Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin and one by Culbertson and Dezhurov - to electrically mate the Docking Compartment to Zvezda and install more equipment on the outside of the module.

The International Space Station (ISS) is orbiting at an average altitude of 240 statute miles (385 km).

The 16-foot long Pirs, with a 20-foot instrumentation and propulsion segment still attached, is now docked to the Earth-facing port of the station's Zvezda service module. Pirs provides the station with an airlock for use with Russian Orlan space suits and a new docking port. The crew opened the hatch to Pirs on Sunday evening a few hours after it arrived and spent Monday and Tuesday unloading cargo and supporting equipment from the new module. On Wednesday, they removed automated rendezvous equipment, which will be returned to Earth for reuse on later missions.

So far this week, the crew has upgraded the station's Russian software to allow control computers aboard Zvezda to work with the Pirs' systems; installed and activated Pirs' caution and warning system; set up ventilation equipment and lighting in Pirs; and tested the new computer software. All of the activities have gone smoothly, and Pirs is in excellent condition. Later this week, the crew is planned to activate Pirs' communications equipment and conduct further systems tests on the new addition.

As well as working in Pirs, the crew has continued scientific investigations with experiments that study spinal cord reflexes during long-duration spaceflight; gauge the interactions between crewmembers and ground personnel; and characterize a system that isolates sensitive experiments from vibrations on the station. The crew also conducted physical examinations that are done periodically during the flight to gauge the effects of weightlessness.

Oversight of science investigations on the station from the ground is handled by the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. the Human Research Facility is managed by the Johnson Space Center.

A highlight of the work with Pirs will be the jettison of the compartment's instrumentation and propulsion segment. The segment is scheduled to be pyrotechnically detached from Pirs on Oct. 1, backed away from the station, and moved to an orbit that will have it reenter the atmosphere and burn up. That operation will set the stage for a space walk by Dezhurov and Tyurin planned for Oct. 8, the first of three space walks to be performed from Pirs using Russian space suits to continue hooking up and activating the module during Expedition Three.

Just a few days later, on Oct. 19, the crew will relocate its Soyuz spacecraft from its present location at an Earth-facing port on the Zarya module to the new docking port on Pirs. That clears the way for the arrival of a fresh Soyuz return craft with a taxi crew of Commander Victor Afanasyev, Flight Engineer Konstantin Kozeev and Flight Engineer Claudie Haignere. The new Soyuz will be launched Oct. 21 and will dock to the station Oct. 23 for an eight-day stay.

The International Space Station (ISS) is orbiting at an average altitude of 240 statute miles (385 km).

Mission controllers in Moscow fired pyrotechnic devices that activated spring pushrods to eject the 20-foot-long instrumentation and propulsion segment of the Pirs Docking Compartment at 10:36 a.m. Central time today. The segment moved away from the station at a rate of about 4 meters per second until it reached a point far enough away to fire its control system jets without contaminating the station. It then moved ahead and above the station to a distance of 24 kilometers when its thrusters were commanded to fire in a deorbit maneuver sending it into the atmosphere to burn up upon reentry. Left behind is the 16-foot long, 4-ton Pirs, which will serve as a new port for future Russian vehicles arriving at the station and as an airlock from which spacewalks will be conducted from the Russian segment of the outpost.

Today's activity sets the stage for the first space walk from Pirs by Dezhurov and Tyurin on Oct. 8. On that space walk, the pair will use Russian Orlan space suits to connect power and data cables between the Docking Compartment and the Zvezda Service Module. A second space walk is planned Oct. 14, and a third in early November.

Flight control teams in Houston and Moscow are working on a plan to address this week's shutdown of the Russian segment oxygen generation unit called Elektron, and an air-conditioning unit in Zvezda. Russian flight controllers are reviewing data in an attempt to determine the causes of the shutdowns and are working with their American counterparts to provide backup oxygen generation capability until the two Russian components can be repaired or replaced. The crew has about a week's worth of oxygen already in the station atmosphere, and has ample stores of oxygen from the gas tanks on the Quest Airlock as well as solid fuel oxygen candles to last for months. Other maintenance work completed by the crew this week included the replacement of 10 smoke detectors in the Zvezda module. The Elektron shutdown will have no impact on station operations.

Meanwhile, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, a replacement Soyuz return spacecraft is being readied for launch to the station on Oct. 21. The station crew will relocate its current Soyuz spacecraft on Oct. 19 from its present location at an Earth-facing port on the Zarya module to the new docking port on Pirs to clear the way for arrival of the fresh Soyuz and a taxi crew. Commander Victor Afanasyev, Flight Engineer Konstantin Kozeev and Flight Engineer Claudie Haignere will arrive at the station Oct. 23 for an eight-day stay.

The orbiting trio has expanded its scientific investigations into new areas, including a study of the ability of certain chemical compounds to impede the formation of kidney stones. Culbertson set up and served as the first test subject for the experiment this week, which involves ingesting pills that contain either the active compound or a placebo in an effort to determine the value of the countermeasure on a small population. Urine samples are collected, as are detailed information about the crewmember's fluid and food intake. The other two crewmembers also will participate in the experiment. The crew also continued testing the Active Rack Isolation System through a series of "shaker" tests of its ability to protect sensitive experiments from vibrations caused by everyday crew activity. Oversight of science investigations on the station from the ground is handled by the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. the Human Research Facility is managed by the Johnson Space Center.

The station is orbiting at an average altitude of 240 statute miles (385 km).

The first spacewalk by Dezhurov and Tyurin is scheduled to begin around 10 a.m. Eastern time on Monday to hook up a cable between Pirs and Zvezda for telemetry and data transmission from Russian Orlan spacesuits, and to attach handrails, an access ladder and a cargo boom to Pirs, which serves as both a docking port for future Russian spacecraft arriving at the Station, and as an airlock for spacewalks out of the Russian segment of the outpost.

Dezhurov and Tyurin will conduct a second spacewalk on Oct. 15 and Culbertson and Dezhurov will perform a third excursion outside the Station on Nov. 5 to complete the outfitting of Pirs.

Dezhurov, who conducted five previous spacewalks on the Mir Space Station in 1995, and Tyurin, who will be making his first spacewalk, checked out their suits, communications gear and spacewalking tools this week and reviewed plans and timelines. This will be the first external spacewalk staged from the Station without the presence of a visiting Space Shuttle and the 27th spacewalk in support of the assembly of the complex.

On Monday, Dezhurov and Tyurin will close hatches between the Zvezda Service Module Transfer Compartment to which Pirs is docked, and Zvezda's living quarters and the Zarya module prior to depressurizing Pirs for the first time Monday morning. Dezhurov, who will wear the Orlan spacesuit bearing the red stripes, and Tyurin, who will the suit with the blue stripes, will then float out of one of two hatches on Pirs to begin their initial spacewalk. Culbertson will monitor the spacewalk from inside Zarya, to which the Soyuz return craft is attached. He will have access to the U.S. modules to the Station during the spacewalk, but not to Zvezda. The spacewalk is expected to last at least 4 ½ hours.

The new Docking Compartment will be used for the first time on Oct. 19, when the crew temporarily leaves the Station and boards its Soyuz rescue craft to relocate it from its current docked position on the nadir port of the Zarya module to the Pirs. The undocking and redocking of the Soyuz is expected to take about an hour to complete.

That will set the stage for the launch of a fresh Soyuz return craft on Oct. 21 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. A taxi crew consisting of Commander Victor Afanasyev, Flight Engineer Konstantin Kozeev and Flight Engineer Claudie Haignere of CNES, the French Space Agency, will arrive at the station Oct. 23 for an eight-day stay and will return to Earth on Oct. 31 aboard the Soyuz currently at the Station.

The orbiting trio also continued a variety of scientific investigations this week as they moved into the second half of their four-month stay on orbit. Oversight of science investigations on the station from the ground is handled by the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. the Human Research Facility is managed by the Johnson Space Center.

With all of its systems operating in good shape, the station is orbiting at an average altitude of 240 statute miles (385 km).

With Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson coordinating activities from inside the ISS, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin opened the hatch on the Pirs Docking Compartment for the first time at 9:23 a.m. Central time (1423 GMT) to hook up telemetry and data cables between Pirs and the Zvezda Service Module to which it linked up to three weeks ago, and to install handrails, an access ladder, a cargo crane, a docking target and a automated navigational antenna.

It was the 27th spacewalk in support of the assembly of the ISS totaling 172 hours, 22 minutes, the third spacewalk staged out of the Station itself, the first external spacewalk from the ISS without the presence of a visiting Space Shuttle and the 100th spacewalk in Russian spaceflight history. It was Dezhurov's sixth spacewalk spanning two flights and the first for Tyurin, who is midway through his first flight into space.

Moving with ease, Dezhurov and Tyurin worked leisurely and methodically through their timeline as television cameras on the Canadarm2 Station robotic arm and a camera in the Soyuz return vehicle captured spectacular views of the spacewalk.

Because the spacewalk ran slightly longer than predicted, Dezhurov and Tyurin were unable to complete one task --- a test of the rigidity of the Strela cargo crane, using Tyurin as a mock payload. Russian flight controllers said the task would be conducted on a future spacewalk by the Expedition Three crew.

With all of the other work successfully completed, the hatch to Pirs was closed at 2:21 p.m. Central time (1921 GMT) and the new compartment was repressurized.

A second spacewalk by Dezhurov and Tyurin is planned for Oct. 15 to mount a series of experiments to the exterior of Zvezda designed to gather data on the effect of exposure to the space environment on engineering materials. A third spacewalk by Culbertson and Dezhurov is scheduled for November 5 to complete the exterior outfitting of Pirs.

The new Docking Compartment will be used for the first time on Oct. 19, when the Expedition Three crew temporarily leaves the Station and boards its Soyuz rescue craft to relocate it from its current docked position on the nadir port of the Zarya module to the Pirs. The undocking and redocking of the Soyuz is expected to take about 30 minutes to complete. -2-

That will set the stage for the launch of a fresh Soyuz return craft on Oct. 21 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. A taxi crew consisting of Commander Victor Afanasyev, Flight Engineer Konstantin Kozeev and Flight Engineer Claudie Haignere representing CNES, the French Space Agency, will arrive at the station Oct. 23 for an eight-day stay and will return to Earth on Oct. 31 aboard the Soyuz currently at the Station.

With all of its systems operating in good shape, the station is orbiting at an average altitude of 240 statute miles (385 km).

The orbiting trio also plans a variety of scientific investigations this coming week as they move into the second half of their four-month stay on orbit. Oversight of science investigations on the station from the ground is handled by the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. the Human Research Facility is managed by the Johnson Space Center.

Meanwhile, in Moscow's Mission Control Center, flight controllers were preparing for a reboost of the station on Thursday, using the unmanned Progress resupply vehicle's engines to increase the altitude of the ISS for the upcoming launch of a new Soyuz return vehicle to the station later this month.

The reboost will consist of two Progress engine firings, at 5:32 a.m. CDT, then again at 10:55 a.m.

Next Monday's spacewalk, which is scheduled to begin around 4:15 a.m. CDT, is designed to mount scientific experiments on the Zvezda Service Module analyzing the effect of micrometeroid impacts and other deteriorating effects of the harsh environment of space on engineering materials. The spacewalk will be staged from the new Pirs Docking Compartment.

Russian and U.S. flight controllers agreed today to burn three oxygen-producing candles on the Station beginning Thursday as a test of the system. The candles, housed in special canisters, would be used in the unlikely event a problem developed with the Russian Elektron oxygen-generation system in Zvezda. The Elektron and the Russian Vozdukh carbon dioxide removal system are functioning normally.

Last Monday's spacewalk accomplished all but one of its goals, which included installing telemetry and data cables between Pirs and Zvezda, to which it linked up to three weeks ago. Dezhurov and Tyurin also installed handrails, an access ladder, a cargo crane, a docking target and a navigational antenna.

Because the spacewalk ran a bit longer than planned, a test of the rigidity of the newly installed Strela cargo crane on Pirs was postponed. It is expected to be performed during the third spacewalk of the Expedition by Culbertson and Dezhurov on Nov. 5. The focus of that spacewalk will be the completion of the exterior outfitting of Pirs.

Because some discoloration was detected by Dezhurov and Tyurin near a set of thrusters on Zvezda during their spacewalk this week, U.S. and Russian station officials agreed to relocate the site of one of the experiments to be installed on Zvezda next Monday. The so-called Kromka experiment was to have been mounted on the zenith, or space-facing area of the Service Module. Now it will be installed on Zvezda's port side. The Kromka experiment is designed to study ways to minimize the dissemination of contaminate particles from spacecraft jet thrusters as they are fired, thus protecting the exterior of future spacecraft.

Crewmembers successfully downlinked the first EarthKam photo from the station on Wednesday. The experiment allows students to select areas of the Earth to be photographed, then submit their targets via the Internet to the EarthKam control center at the University of California at San Diego for uplink to the station. Photos by the remote-controlled camera are sent to the students by the same path.

On Oct. 19, the Expedition Three crewmembers will board the Soyuz capsule attached to the Earth-facing port of the station's Zarya module, undock it and redock it to Pirs. That will clear the Zarya port for the arrival of a replacement Soyuz to be launched Oct. 21 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with a taxi crew, consisting of Commander Victor Afanasyev, Flight Engineer Konstantin Kozeev and Flight Engineer Claudie Haignere of CNES, the French Space Agency. They will dock with the space station Oct. 23. The taxi crew will leave the station Oct. 31 in the Soyuz currently mated to the ISS.

With systems operating well, the station is orbiting at an average altitude of 240 statute miles (385 km).

The Expedition Three crew continues to operate and monitor scientific experiments aboard the station. Oversight of science investigations on the station from the ground is handled by the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. the Human Research Facility is managed by the Johnson Space Center.

Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin opened the hatch on the Pirs Docking Compartment at 4:17 a.m. Central time (917 GMT) and installed three separate sets of experiment equipment designed to learn more about the space environment around their orbiting outpost. Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson helped from inside, positioning Canadarm2 so that its cameras could provide television pictures of the workmen as they completed their tasks outside.

Dezhurov and Tyurin moved hand-over-hand to work sites on the Zvezda service module, using handrails to get to a site near the back end of the module. At that location, they installed a Russian experiment called Kromka, which is designed to accumulate any contamination caused by Zvezda steering jets for analysis in the design of better thrusters for future spacecraft.

The duo then moved on to a nearby site, where they assembled a small truss structure and attached three suitcase-sized experiment packages provided by NASDA, the Japanese space agency. The Micro-Particles Capturer will employ aerogel and foam substances to collect naturally occurring micrometeoroids and human-made orbital debris particles. A companion Space Environment Exposure Device will expose a variety of materials such as paint, insulation and solid lubricants to the harsh environment of space.

On their way back to the Pirs hatch, they removed a placard and exposure experiment with the image of the Russian Federation flag, and replaced it with another exposure experiment as part of a commercial agreement.

It was the 28th spacewalk in support of the assembly of the station, increasing the total to 178 hours, 14 minutes, the fourth space walk staged out of the station itself, and the 101st space walk in Russian history. It was Dezhurov's seventh space walk spanning two flights and the second for Tyurin, who is midway through his first flight into space.

With all work successfully completed, Dezhurov and Tyurin re-entered the Pirs compartment and closed the hatch at 10:09 a.m. Central time (1509 GMT).

A third space walk by Culbertson and Dezhurov is scheduled for November 5 to complete the exterior outfitting of Pirs, that was begun by Dezhurov and Tyurin on their first space walk of the expedition on Oct. 8.

The new Docking Compartment docking port will be used for the first time on Oct. 19, when the Expedition Three crew temporarily leaves the station and boards its Soyuz rescue craft to relocate it from its current docked position on the nadir port of the Zarya module to the Pirs. The undocking and redocking of the Soyuz is expected to begin with a separation at 5:56 a.m. CDT (1056 GMT), and take about 30 minutes to complete, with redocking expected at 6:15 a.m. CDT (1115 GMT).

That will set the stage for the launch of a fresh Soyuz return craft on Oct. 21 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. A taxi crew consisting of Commander Victor Afanasyev, Flight Engineer Konstantin Kozeev and Flight Engineer Claudie Haignere representing CNES, the French Space Agency, will arrive at the station Oct. 23 for an eight-day stay and will return to Earth on Oct. 31 aboard the Soyuz currently at the station.

With all of its systems operating in good shape, the station is orbiting at an average altitude of 250 statute miles (395 km).

The orbiting trio will continue its scientific investigations this coming week as it prepares for the relocation of the Soyuz craft. Oversight of science investigations on the station from the ground is handled by the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. the Human Research Facility is managed by the Johnson Space Center.

The crew, Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, will prepare the station for a period without human occupation before boarding the Soyuz for its relocation. That is done as a precaution, in the unlikely event the crew is unable to return to the station.

The move of the Soyuz will mark the first time the new Pirs, which arrived at the station Sept. 17, will serve as a docking port. The Soyuz will be shifted to prepare for the arrival of a new Soyuz return craft, to be launched Oct. 21 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz can serve as a crew return vehicle at the station for a maximum of about six months.

Today, the crewmembers reviewed relocation procedures and conducted a Soyuz communications check. On Thursday, they will prepare the station for their departure. Also on Thursday they will spend some time stowing items for return to Earth on the Soyuz.

The Soyuz taxi crew, Commander Victor Afanasyev, Flight Engineer Konstantin Kozeev and French Flight Engineer Claudie Haignere, will blast off from Baikonur on Sunday at around 3:59 a.m. CDT for their two-day flight to the station. Haignere is a European Space Agency astronaut carrying out a flight program for CNES, the French Space Agency, under a commercial contract with the Russian Aviation and Space Agency. They will arrive at the station Oct. 23 for an eight-day stay, riding the Soyuz currently docked to Zarya back to Earth on Oct. 31.

Two Expedition Three spacewalks conducted by Dezhurov and Tyurin linked Pirs with data and power cables to the Zvezda service module to which it is docked, and mounted experiment on Zvezda's exterior.

The third and final Expedition Three spacewalk by Culbertson and Dezhurov was moved from Nov. 5 to Nov 8 to give the crewmembers more time to prepare after departure of the Soyuz taxi crew. The spacewalk is designed to complete the exterior outfitting of Pirs that was begun by Dezhurov and Tyurin on their initial spacewalk Oct. 8.

Meanwhile, ISS officials in Moscow and Houston agreed to conduct a test of the solid-fuel oxygen-producing candles on the station on Oct. 29. The test is being performed as the final step in formally extending the expiration date of the candles. The test initially was scheduled to begin Oct. 11, but was postponed to refine procedures. The candles would be used in the unlikely event the Russian Elektron oxygen-generation system in Zvezda malfunctioned.

With systems operating normally, the station is orbiting at an average altitude of 247 statute miles (395 km).

The orbiting trio will continue its scientific investigations this coming week after the relocation of the Soyuz.

Russian "taxi" crew Commander Victor Afanasyev, rookie Flight Engineer Konstantin Kozeev and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Claudie Haignere began their trip to the ISS at 3:59:34 a.m. CDT (8:59:34 GMT) as their Soyuz rocket climbed away from their cloudy desert launch site in Central Asia. At the time of launch, the Expedition Three crew aboard the ISS, Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin were asleep, flying over the border of Cameroon and Sudan in Africa.

Less than nine minutes after launch, the new Soyuz TM-33 craft was in orbit and its solar arrays were deployed, heading for a linkup with the ISS on Tuesday morning.

Afanasyev, making his fourth flight into space, and Haignere, who is in her second flight, are veterans of previous flights on the Mir Space Station.

Haignere is flying for ESA, but representing CNES, the French Space Agency, under a commercial contract with the Russian Aviation and Space Agency. In addition to helping deliver the new Soyuz to Culbertson, Dezhurov and Tyurin, she will be conducting a host of scientific experiments while she and her crewmates spend eight days aboard the ISS.

The "taxi" crew is scheduled to dock to the Zarya module's nadir docking port on Tuesday at 5:41 a.m. CDT (10:41 GMT), with hatches scheduled to be opened about 90 minutes later to enable the two crews to greet each other. Afanasyev and his crew will depart in the Soyuz return craft currently docked to the new Pirs Docking Compartment early in the morning of October 31 for a landing two hours later in Kazakhstan.

The Expedition Three crew aboard the ISS is scheduled to return to Earth in December after their Expedition Four replacements arrive on board during the STS-108 mission aboard the Shuttle Endeavour.

With systems operating normally, the station is orbiting at an average altitude of 247 statute miles (395 km).

The Expedition Three crew will continue its scientific investigations this coming week in concert with the work being performed on board the ISS by the "taxi" crew.

Russian "taxi" crew Commander Victor Afanasyev, rookie Flight Engineer Konstantin Kozeev and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Claudie Haignere docked the Soyuz TM-33 craft to the nadir docking port of the Zarya Control Module at 5:44 a.m. CDT (10:44 GMT) as the Soyuz and the ISS sailed 240 statute miles over Eastern Asia. The successful docking came two days after the crew was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

In the ISS, Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin monitored the docking and prepared for the opening of hatches between the Soyuz and Zarya after leak checks are completed to greet their first visitors since they took over station operations back in August.

Afanasyev, making his fourth flight into space, and Haignere, who is in her second flight, are veterans of previous flights on the Mir Space Station. This is Kozeev's first flight in space.

Haignere is flying for ESA, but representing CNES, the French Space Agency, under a commercial contract with the Russian Aviation and Space Agency. In addition to helping deliver the new Soyuz to Culbertson, Dezhurov and Tyurin, she will be conducting a host of scientific experiments while she and her crewmates spend eight days aboard the ISS.

Within hours after the docking, the visiting crewmembers were scheduled to receive a safety briefing on station systems from Culbertson, before Haignere begins to activate and conduct initial experiments in materials research, life sciences and meteorological phenomena.

The "taxi" trio is scheduled to depart the station next Tuesday night at 7:41 p.m. CDT (1:41 GMT on October 31) in the Soyuz TM-32 craft which arrived at the ISS in April and which is now docked to the new Pirs Docking Compartment. The "taxi" crew will land in the steppes of Kazakhstan several hours later.

The Expedition Three crewmembers are scheduled to return to Earth in December after their Expedition Four replacements arrive on board during the STS-108 mission aboard the Shuttle Endeavour. The shuttle is targeted for launch November 29.

With systems operating normally, the station is orbiting at an average altitude of 247 statute miles (395 km).

The Expedition Three crew will continue its scientific investigations this coming week in concert with the work being performed on board the ISS by the "taxi" crew.

Russian "taxi" crew Commander Victor Afanasyev, Flight Engineer Konstantin Kozeev and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Claudie Haignere undocked the Soyuz TM-32 craft from the Pirs Docking Compartment at 7:39 p.m. CST (1:39 GMT on Oct. 31) as the Soyuz and the ISS sailed 240 statute miles over Eastern Asia near the Russian-Chinese border. The Soyuz TM-32 craft arrived at the ISS on April 30 and was nearing the end of its operational lifetime. A fresh Soyuz is flown to the Station every six months to provide Station residents an assured ride home in the event of an emergency.

The successful undocking came ten days after the "taxi" crew was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in the new Soyuz TM-33 craft, which will remain at the ISS until next spring.

The older Soyuz was scheduled to fire its braking rockets in a deorbit maneuver just after 10 p.m. CST (4:00 GMT on Oct. 31) to enable the "taxi" trio to reenter Earth's atmosphere. Landing was scheduled at 10:58 p.m. CST (4:58 GMT, 9:58 a.m. Kazakhstan time Oct. 31) on the Kazakh steppes.

In the ISS, Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin monitored the undocking and began to turn their attention to the final weeks of their four-month mission aboard the complex. They are scheduled to return to Earth in December after being replaced by a Russian commander and two American astronauts.

After saying their final farewells to one another, the two crews closed hatches between the Zvezda Service Module and the Pirs, to which the older Soyuz was docked. The undocking occurred after commands were sent to drive open hooks and latches that held the older Soyuz firmly to the new Pirs docking port. Afanasyev backed the Soyuz away from the ISS to a safe distance for the deorbit burn of the capsule's rockets.

With systems operating normally, the station is orbiting at an average altitude of 247 statute miles (395 km).

Now on their own once again, the Expedition Three crewmembers will continue their scientific investigations this coming week.

Culbertson, making his first spacewalk, and Dezhurov, completing his third spacewalk of this Expedition and his eighth overall, opened the hatch on the Pirs compartment at 3:41 p.m. CST (21:41 GMT) and went right to work, successfully hooking up seven telemetry cables between Pirs and the Zvezda Service Module to complete the installation of the Kurs automated rendezvous system, which will be used to guide approaching Russian vehicles for docking to the Pirs in the future. Pirs serves as both a docking port and an airlock for spacewalks out of the Russian segment of the ISS.

Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, who conducted two previous spacewalks in October with Dezhurov, monitored tonight's activities from inside the ISS and operated the Canadarm2 robotic arm, providing television views for flight controllers in Houston and Moscow and lighting for the spacewalkers as they conducted their tasks.

Standing in foot restraints on the Zvezda, Culbertson and Dezhurov also conducted an inspection of a solar array panel on the service module which failed to deploy properly during its launch on July 12, 2000. The stuck panel has had no impact on station operations or the electrical capability of the Russian segment. Culbertson snapped a number of pictures of the array for analysis by Russian engineers.

Culbertson and Dezhurov wrapped up the spacewalk by testing the capability of the newly installed Russian Strela cargo crane, which was attached to Pirs back on October 8. They used a crank to extend the Strela to its fully extended length of some 30 feet, then raised and lowered the crane from an operator's post at the base of the boom. Strela will be used to maneuver cosmonauts and cargo around the Russian modules of the ISS during future spacewalks.

Finally, the spacewalkers reentered Pirs and closed the hatch at 8:45 p.m. CST (2:45 GMT Tuesday) to complete the 29th spacewalk in support of ISS assembly and the fifth conducted from the station itself. In all, ISS assembly spacewalk activity has now spanned 183 hours and 18 minutes.

The crewmembers plan to relax on Tuesday before resuming a busy schedule Wednesday as they start to pack up all of their gear for their return to Earth in December on the shuttle Endeavour at the conclusion of the STS-108 mission, which will bring their replacements, the Expedition Four crew, to the ISS.

Science work aboard the station will resume this week as well following tonight's spacewalk. Oversight of ISS science investigations is the responsibility of the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The Human Research Facility is managed by the Johnson Space Center.

With systems operating normally, the station is orbiting at an average altitude of 247 statute miles (395 km).

Engineers at the Mission Control Center outside of Moscow conducted a series of tests and verified that the exterior connections made by Commander Frank Culbertson and Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov during Monday's space walk had successfully brought the Pirs Docking Compartment's automated Kurs telemetry system to full functionality.

With the help of Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, they spent Wednesday cleaning up, servicing and storing the Orlan spacesuits they had used on the 5-hour, 4-minute space walk. They also spent about 20 minutes answering questions posed by middle school students in Texas and Kansas as part of a regional education conference.

With those activities complete, the trio of space researchers began getting ready for a series of comings and goings, and packing for their impending return home. The Progress 5 resupply craft currently docked to the Zvezda service module is scheduled to undock Nov. 22; it later will be commanded to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere where it will burn up along with refuse being stored inside by the crew this week. Another supply vehicle, Progress 6, is scheduled to launch Nov. 26 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and dock with the station Nov. 28.

All preparations for the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour and the Expedition Four crew - Commander Yuri Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz - are on schedule for launch at 6:42 p.m. CST Nov. 29. Mission managers will meet at Kennedy Space Center this Thursday to review all preparations for launch; an official launch target is expected at the conclusion of that meeting. The shuttle crew - Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani - joined the new station crew in Florida for a final dress rehearsal of the launch last week.

While visiting the station, the shuttle crew will conduct a space walk to install insulation blankets on the beta gimbal assemblies for the station's large solar array wings. These large swivels, which allow the solar arrays to track the Sun's rays and provide maximum power generation, appear to be experiencing adverse effects related to the extreme temperature swings that occur as the station moves in and out of direct sunlight. These multi-layer insulation blankets are expected to reduce the temperature swings and allow normal operation of the solar arrays.

Meanwhile in Florida, the next major component to be launched to the space station has successfully completed acceptance testing and been moved to a work platform for final closeouts. One last software test remains, and that will be completed in January. The S-zero truss, which will serve as the base section of a framework connecting more large solar array wings, is scheduled for launch on STS-110 in March 2002.

With systems operating normally, the station is orbiting at an average altitude of 247 statute miles (397 km).

Science work aboard the station continues with emphasis on human physiology experiments as the crew nears the end of its time on orbit, and with autonomous microgravity materials research. Overall coordination of the research is the responsibility of the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The Human Research Facility is managed by the Johnson Space Center.

The Progress, attached to the docking port at the rear of the Zvezda service module, is the fifth to visit the station. It will undock at 10:06 a.m. CST Thursday, to be deorbited and burn up in the atmosphere with its load of trash and unneeded equipment. Its undocking makes room for Progress 6, scheduled for launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:24 p.m. CST Monday. The new Progress, filled with fresh supplies, is planned to dock to the station at 1:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 28.

The Expedition Three trio also began preparations for their return home after about four months in space. They began packing up gear and readying station equipment in anticipation of the arrival of the space shuttle Endeavour, targeted for a launch to the space station from Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 29 at 6:41 p.m. CST on the STS-108 mission. Endeavour is commanded by Dom Gorie. Pilot is Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists are Linda Godwin and Dan Tani.

The major purpose of the mission is bring the Expedition Four crew, cosmonaut and Commander Yury Onufrienko and Astronauts Dan Bursch and Carl Walz, to the station and bring home Expedition Three. Also during the flight, Godwin and Tani will do a spacewalk to install thermal blankets over the station's beta gimbal assemblies of the orbiting laboratory's solar wings, which stretch 240 feet from tip to tip. The assemblies let the wings track the sun to provide maximum power.

Flight controllers at Houston's Mission Control Center have seen in those mechanisms occasional unexpected surges in the power required to turn the wings. They believe the surges are related to extreme temperature swings that occur as the station moves in and out of direct sunlight. Installation of the blankets is expected to reduce the temperature fluctuations and eliminate the "power spikes" seen as the wings pivot.

The spacewalkers will go out of Endeavour's airlock, then get a 50-foot lift from the shuttle's robotic arm. They will have to climb with the blankets another 30 feet to the worksite, atop the P6 Truss and about 80 feet from Endeavour's cargo bay.

With systems operating normally, the station is orbiting at an average altitude of 247 statute miles (397 km).

Human physiology experiments continue to be a focus of crew science activities as the crew prepares for its return home. Autonomous microgravity materials research continued to accumulate scientific experiment run time hours in a variety of disciplines. Overall coordination of the research is the responsibility of the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The Human Research Facility is managed by the Johnson Space Center.

At 12:24 p.m. CST (1824 GMT) today, the Progress 6 resupply craft, filled with fresh supplies for the station, launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and successfully reached orbit nine minutes later. Progress 6 is planned to dock to the station Wednesday at 1:40 p.m. CST (1940 GMT). The Progress 5 capsule that was attached to the docking port at the rear of the Zvezda service module undocked from the station last Thursday and reentered the atmosphere, where it was destroyed.

Today, the crew also tested a manual docking system, called the TORU, which can be used should the Progress 6 experience any problems with its automated docking system as it approaches the aft docking port of the Zvezda Service Module Wednesday. The crew also prepared some of the spacewalking equipment that will be used by STS-108 astronauts Linda Godwin and Dan Tani. Godwin and Tani will conduct a 4-hour spacewalk next week with Endeavour docked to the ISS to install thermal blankets over the station's mechanisms which enable the large U.S. solar wings to rotate to track the sun for the manufacture of electricity for station systems.

Flight controllers at Houston's Mission Control Center have seen those mechanisms experience occasional unexpected surges in the power required to turn the wings. They believe the surges are related to extreme temperature swings that occur as the station moves in and out of direct sunlight. Installation of the blankets is expected to reduce the temperature fluctuations and eliminate the "power spikes" seen as the wings pivot.

The major purpose of the 108 mission, however, is to bring the Expedition Four crew, Russian Commander Yury Onufrienko and U.S. Astronauts Dan Bursch and Carl Walz, to the station and bring home Expedition Three.

With systems operating normally, the station is orbiting at an average altitude of 247 statute miles (397 km).

Human physiology experiments continue to be a focus of crew science activities as the crew prepares for its return home. Autonomous microgravity materials research continued to accumulate scientific experiment run time hours in a variety of disciplines.

The Progress 6 craft, which launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Monday, gently docked to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module over Central Asia at 1:43 p.m. CST, completing a two-day automated flight.

On board the station, Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin monitored the docking, and prepared for the opening of the hatch between Zvezda and Progress later today.

The Progress is carrying more than a ton of food, fuel and equipment for the Expedition Four crew, Russian Commander Yury Onufrienko and U.S. Astronauts Dan Bursch and Carl Walz, who are scheduled to be launched aboard the shuttle Endeavour tomorrow night on the STS-108 mission to relieve the Expedition Three crew, which has been in orbit since August. They will be ferried to the ISS by Endeavour Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani. Launch from the Kennedy Space Center is scheduled for 6:41 p.m. CST.

With systems operating normally, the station is orbiting at an average altitude of 247 statute miles (397 km).

Human physiology experiments continue to be a focus of crew science activities as the crew prepares for its return home. Autonomous microgravity materials research continued to accumulate scientific experiment run time hours in a variety of disciplines. Overall coordination of the research is the responsibility of the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The Human Research Facility is managed by the Johnson Space Center.

With Commander Frank Culbertson watching from inside, Dezhurov and Tyurin worked swiftly to clear the debris during a 2-hour, 46-minute spacewalk, the fourth of the expedition and the 30th devoted to ISS assembly and maintenance. With the seal removed, Russian flight controllers commanded the Progress' docking probe to retract fully, and a hard mate between the two craft was completed at 8:54 a.m. CST. Progress had initially docked with Zvezda last Wednesday, but hooks and latches between the craft failed to fully engage because of the debris, apparently left on the docking interface when an old Progress resupply vehicle was jettisoned on Nov. 22.

Dezhurov, who was making the 9th spacewalk of his career, and Tyurin, who was conducting the 3rd spacewalk in his first flight into space, exited the Pirs Docking Compartment at 7:20 a.m. CST with one goal in mind --- clearing the obstruction which prevented the Progress from completing a hard docking and a tight seal with Zvezda last Wednesday at the completion of a two-day free flight following its launch. The docking problem postponed last week's launch of Endeavour to bring the new residents --- the Expedition Four crew --- to the ISS.

Once they made their way to the aft end of Zvezda, Dezhurov used a tool to cut the seal, which then was easily stripped away from the circumference of the aft docking port of the Service Module. With the debris removed, Russian flight controllers initiated the mating of Progress and Zvezda, completing the repair effort. With their work completed, Dezhurov and Tyurin took a number of pictures of the debris and the docking interface between Progress and Zvezda, and returned to Pirs, closing the hatch at 10:06 a.m. CST.

The spacewalk now sets the stage for Endeavour's launch at 4:45 p.m. CST Tuesday on an 11-day mission to deliver the next trio of residents to the ISS as well as several tons of equipment and food. The launch was delayed from last Thursday to enable Russian flight controllers to plan for the contingency spacewalk. Endeavour's launch is scheduled on the third anniversary of its launch in 1998 on the first ISS assembly flight which mated the Unity connecting node to the Zarya Control Module.

The International Space Station is orbiting at an average altitude of 247 statute miles (397 km).

Human physiology experiments continue to be a focus of crew science activities as the crew prepares for its return home. Autonomous microgravity materials research continued to accumulate scientific experiment run time hours in a variety of disciplines.

The station was about 250 statute miles above the central Indian Ocean as Endeavour rocketed away from Launch Pad 39-B at the Kennedy Space Center, FL, on time at 4:19 p.m. CST. Endeavour will close in on the station for the next two days and dock with the complex on Friday to begin a week-long stay.

Endeavour is commanded by Dom Gorie with Mark Kelly serving as pilot. Mission Specialists are Linda Godwin and Dan Tani. Also aboard Endeavour are station Expedition Four crew members Commander Yuri Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch, who are beginning more than five months in orbit.

Endeavour will bring home the Expedition Three station crew, Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, who have been aboard the station since mid-August. In addition to the new crew, Endeavour is carrying more than three tons of food, supplies and equipment in the Raffaello logistics module to the orbiting outpost.

Endeavour's crew will spend the next few hours unpacking equipment, setting up computers and conducting the first of periodic engine firings that will occur over the next two days to refine the shuttle's approach to the station. The shuttle crew will begin a sleep period at 11:19 p.m. CST and will be awakened at 7:19 a.m. CST Thursday. On Thursday, Endeavour's crew will check out the shuttle's equipment and systems that will be needed for Friday's final approach and docking to the International Space Station. Docking is planned for just after 2 p.m. CST Friday. On Saturday, the Raffaello module will be lifted from the shuttle payload bay using Endeavour's robotic arm and attached to a station berthing port to be unloaded. Godwin and Tani are planned to conduct a four-hour space walk on Monday to install insulation around two solar array rotation mechanisms. Raffaello will be returned to the shuttle payload bay later in the mission and brought back to Earth.

In addition to a new station crew and supplies, Endeavour is carrying a host of scientific investigations, including experiments from space agencies, schools and universities across the United States, Europe and South America as well as a small satellite that has involved more than 25,000 students in 26 countries.

The crew, Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly, Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani, Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko, Flight Engineer Carl Walz and Flight Engineer Dan Bursch, was awakened by the song "Soul Spirit" and "Put a Little Love in Your Life," sung by Bursch's daughter and her second-grade classmates.

The crew will spend the day preparing shuttle systems for docking with the International Space Station, which is scheduled for about 2 p.m. CST Friday. Preparations include powering up the shuttle's robotic arm and checking out the airlock and the space suits that will be used on Monday's planned four-hour spacewalk by Godwin and Tani to place thermal blankets on the motors that rotate the solar arrays atop the P6 truss.

In addition to performing the spacewalk, other activities during the mission include a crew exchange on board the space station Saturday and the transfer of more than three tons of cargo. The cargo, housed in the Raffaello logistics module that will be attached to the Unity module, includes food, supplies and equipment that the Expedition Four Crew will use during its stay on the station. The Expedition Three crew, Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin have been living aboard the space station since mid-August and will return home on Endeavour.

Also on board Endeavour is a host of scientific investigations, including experiments from other space agencies, schools and universities across the United States, Europe and South America. Two experiments located in the Multiple Application Customized Hitchhiker-1 (MACH-1) in the shuttle payload bay had already completed 15% and 10% of their mission objectives by the time the crew went to sleep last night. Those experiments are the Capillary Pumped Loop Experiment (CAPL) and the Prototype Synchrotron Radiation Detector (PSRD) respectively. The CAPL demonstrates a multiple evaporator capillary pumped loop system and the PSRD measures cosmic ray background data.

Endeavour Commander Dom Gorie and Pilot Mark Kelly fired the shuttle's steering engines and jets twice today to adjust course toward the station. Gorie and Kelly also checked out the rendezvous systems and navigation aids Endeavour will require for its final approach to the orbiting complex, finding everything in good shape. Later, Kelly, assisted by Mission Specialist Linda Godwin, powered up the shuttle's robotic arm to check its operation and to use its television cameras to survey the Raffaello cargo module and experiments housed in Endeavour's payload bay. On Saturday, the robotic arm will be used by Kelly to attach Raffaello to a station berthing port so that more than three tons of food, supplies and experiments it holds can be moved aboard the complex.

Godwin and Mission Specialist Dan Tani also powered up and tested the space suits they will wear for a four-hour space walk on Monday, finding all the equipment in good condition. Godwin and Tani will install extra insulation on mechanisms that rotate the station's solar arrays during the excursion. Also today, Godwin powered up Endeavour's docking mechanism and extended it into position to await contact with the station. The Expedition Four crew members aboard Endeavour, en route to begin an almost six-month mission aboard the station, assisted the shuttle crew today with preparations and worked with several secondary scientific investigations.

All crew members on the shuttle had a few hours off-duty this evening, providing a short break in advance of what will be a busy week docked with the International Space Station. Endeavour is scheduled to dock at the station at about 1:59 p.m. CST Friday. The final phase of the approach begins with an engine firing by Endeavour at about 11:44 a.m. CST, when the shuttle is some nine miles behind the complex. Gorie will take over manual control of Endeavour's approach just after 1 p.m. CST, when Endeavour moves within a half-mile underneath the station. Gorie will fly the shuttle closer, maneuvering a quarter-circle around the station to dock at the complex's front port. Hatches will be opened between the two spacecraft and the crews will greet one another around 4 p.m. CST.

Meanwhile, aboard the station today, the Expedition Three crew, Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, spent their final solo day in flight packing for the trip home. The station crew, completing more than four months in space, also continued to unload a Russian cargo supply craft that docked to the station last week.

Endeavour's crew will begin a sleep period at 10:19 p.m. CST and awaken at 6:19 a.m. CST on Friday. Endeavour is now about 3,500 statute miles behind the station, closing in 260 miles with each orbit of Earth.

With the new Expedition Four station crew of Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch looking on from Endeavour's flight deck, shuttle Commander Dom Gorie brought Endeavour to a gentle linkup with the ISS at 2:03 p.m. CST as the two craft sailed over England. Within minutes, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani began to conduct post-docking checks of the mechanical interface between Endeavour and the station's Destiny Laboratory prior to the opening of the hatches on the two vehicles. At first, the shuttle's docking ring and the docking mechanism on the ISS did not align properly, but after allowing the two craft to dampen their relative motion against one another, the vehicles were hard mated for a week of joint operations by the ten crewmembers.

On board the ISS in their 119th day in space and their 116th day aboard the station, Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin watched as their replacements arrived for the start of more than five months of orbital duty. The only other visitors for the Expedition Three crew during its increment arrived on the ISS in October to deliver a new Soyuz return vehicle.

The hatches were opened between Endeavour and the ISS' Destiny Laboratory at 4:42 p.m. CST, enabling the ten crewmembers to greet one another. Onufrienko, Walz and Bursch will officially take over command of the ISS Saturday afternoon from Culbertson, Dezhurov and Tyurin after transferring custom made Soyuz seatliners and conducting leak checks to their spacesuits.

The crews now begin a busy week of handing over station responsibilities and unloading tons of supplies brought to the complex by Endeavour. Saturday's activities will be highlighted by Kelly's use of the shuttle's robotic arm to hoist the Italian-built Raffaello logistics module from Endeavour's payload bay and attach it to a station berthing port. Raffaello will stay attached to the station for most of the week while it is unloaded. The crews will begin a sleep period at 10:19 p.m. CST today and awaken at 6:19 a.m. CST on Saturday.

Endeavour's crew - Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly, Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani, Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko, and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch - will quickly move into their final rendezvous activities today, bringing the shuttle to a position about 9 ½ miles behind the International Space Station about 11:44 a.m. today.

From that position behind the station, Gorie and Kelly will command Endeavour 's jets in a final major rendezvous maneuver to begin the final phase of the approach for docking. Endeavour will close the final miles to the station during the next orbit of the Earth, about 90 minutes.

As Endeavour approaches the station, the on-board rendezvous radar system will begin tracking the station providing distance and closing rate information to the crew. During the approach, the shuttle can perform up to four, small mid-course corrections at regular intervals. Just after the fourth burn, Endeavour will be about one-half mile below the station. Gorie will take over manual control of the approach, slowing Endeavour's approach and maneuvering to a point about 600 feet directly beneath the station. There he will begin a quarter-circle of the station, slowly moving to a position in front of the complex, in line with its direction of travel.

Once Endeavour has firmly docked to the station, and required leak checks are complete, the hatches between the spacecraft will open around 4 p.m. allowing Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin to greet their newest guests.

Culbertson, Dezhurov and Tyurin began their formal residency on the station on August 13 as their custom-made Soyuz seat liners were installed on the Soyuz return vehicle. Their residency will officially end once those seat liners are transferred to Endeavour and the Expedition Four crew's seat liners are installed in the Soyuz on Saturday.

The transfer of the Expedition Four seatliners to the Soyuz return vehicle attached to the station marked the official exchange of crews. Culbertson reported that his crew had completed the exchange and that Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch had become official station residents at 4:11 p.m. CST. Handover briefings between the two crews will continue for the duration of docked operations.

While the crew exchange was under way, aboard Endeavour Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialist Linda Godwin used the shuttle's robotic arm to lift the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module from the shuttle payload bay and attach it to a berth on the station's Unity node. Raffaello was removed from the payload bay at 11:01 a.m. CST and secured in place on the station at 11:55 a.m. CST. The hatch to Raffaello was opened and the crews began unloading the cargo module just before 7:30 p.m. CST. Over the course of the next several days, the crews will work together to transfer approximately three tons of food and supplies from Raffaello to the station.

The crews will begin a sleep period at 10:19 p.m. CST and awaken at 6:19 a.m. CST Sunday. Sunday's work will focus on unloading Raffaello, continuing an exchange of information between the two station crews and some preparatory work for a space walk planned to take place Monday by shuttle astronauts Godwin and Dan Tani. Endeavour and the International Space Station remain in excellent condition with no significant systems problems of concern to Mission Control.

Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialist Linda Godwin will work together to remove the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module from Endeavour's payload bay and attach it to the Unity node of the International Space Station. Over the course of about three hours, Kelly will use the shuttle's robotic arm to gently lift Raffaello from the payload bay and maneuver it into place, securing it to the Earth-facing berthing port on the Unity module about 12:39 p.m. CST today.

As Kelly works to install the Raffaello module, the formal exchange of space station crews will occur as the Expedition Three crew - Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov, and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin - and the Expedition Four crew - Commander Yury Onufrienko, and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch, exchange their customized seat liners in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. As each Expedition Four crew member's seatliner is installed in the Soyuz and checked out, he officially becomes a resident of the space station with the Expedition Three crew member moving over to become a member of the Endeavour crew. Handover briefings between the crews will continue throughout docked operations.

Mission Specialist Dan Tani will focus his attention on transferring equipment from Endeavour to the space station while Commander Dom Gorie tends to vehicle operations.

The three commanders onboard - Gorie, Culbertson and Onufrienko - along with Endeavour's Pilot Kelly will participate in media interviews at 3:44 p.m. CST. MSNBC, CBS News and WAGT-TV in Augusta, Georgia will have the opportunity to interview the crewmembers in the station's Destiny laboratory.

Two payload bay experiments located in the Multiple Application Customized Hitchhiker-1 (MACH-1) facility have already completed 50% and 76% of their mission objectives. Those experiments are the Capillary Pumped Loop Experiment (CAPL) and the Prototype Synchrotron Radiation Detector (PSRD) respectively. The CAPL demonstrates a multiple evaporator capillary pumped loop system and the PSRD measures cosmic ray background data.

Aboard Endeavour are 6,000 small United States flags that will be distributed to heroes and families of the victims of the attacks after the shuttle returns to Earth. Also aboard are a U.S. flag that was found at the World Trade Center site after the attacks, a U.S. flag that has flown above the Pennsylvania state capitol, a U.S. Marine Corps Colors flag from the Pentagon, a New York Fire Department flag, and a poster that includes photographs of firefighters lost in the attacks.

Shuttle Commander Dom Gorie said the flag carried aboard Endeavour which came from the World Trade Center elicited especially poignant thoughts among the crew.

"This was found among the rubble and it has a few tears in it. You can still smell the ashes. It is a tremendous symbol of our country," Gorie said. "Just like our country, it was a little battered and bruised and torn, but with a little bit of repair it is going to fly as high and as beautiful as it ever did. And that is just what our country is doing."

International Space Station Expedition 3 Commander Frank Culbertson and his crew -- cosmonauts Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin -- were in orbit Sept. 11 and will be on their way home to Earth when Endeavour departs the station next week. The space station flew above New York the morning of Sept. 11, and the crew could see evidence of the attacks out the windows.

"That was quite a disturbing sight, as you might imagine, to see my country under attack," Culbertson said. "All of us were affected by that day greatly.

"To all of those who lost loved ones, to all of those who worked so hard to help people survive, and to the people who are trying so hard to stop this threat, we wish you the best. We have thought about you often over the last three months that we've been here ... and we will continue to keep you in our thoughts," Culbertson added. "We will continue, I hope, to set a good example of how people can accomplish incredible things when they have the right goals. We will continue to think of how we can improve peace around the world and how we can improve knowledge, and hopefully that will bring people together."

While the unloading of almost three tons of new food, supplies and experiments continued today, Culbertson's crew also conducted a handover of station work to the oncoming Expedition Four crew -- Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz. Also today, Endeavour fired its steering jets gradually over the course of an hour to increase the station's altitude by about two statute miles, the first of three similar reboost maneuvers planned for this week's mission.

The hatches were closed between the shuttle and the station, with only the Expedition Four crew remaining aboard the station, at about 6:43 p.m. CST today in preparation for a space walk planned from the shuttle on Monday. Closing the hatch allows the cabin pressure on the shuttle to be lowered slightly, part of a protocol that protects space walkers from decompression sickness when they go to the low pressure, pure oxygen space suits.

Astronauts Linda Godwin and Dan Tani are scheduled to exit the shuttle airlock at 11:24 a.m. CST Monday to begin four hours of work outside to add insulation to mechanisms that rotate the station's solar arrays. After the space walk is completed Monday afternoon, the hatches between Endeavour and the station will be reopened.

The crews begin a sleep period at 10:19 p.m. today and awaken at 6:19 a.m. on Monday.

A New York firefighter presented Pilot Mark Kelly with today's wake-up music when Kelly visited the World Trade Center site with former NASA Administrator Dan Goldin shortly after the September 11 attacks. All the astronauts and cosmonauts on board Endeavour and the International Space Station will take time today to remember the victims, their families and rescue workers in a special message from space, at 4:24 p.m. CST today.

Commander Dom Gorie, Kelly, Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani, Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko, and Flight Engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch will all gather in the Destiny laboratory aboard the station to display a U.S. flag and take a moment to honor the victim's families and survivors of the attacks.

Coordinated through the "Flags for Heroes and Families" campaign, which was initiated by Former NASA Administrator Dan Goldin, several American flags are being flown aboard the space shuttle Endeavour. Those flags include 6,000 small U.S. flags, one U.S. flag that was recovered from the debris of the World Trade Center, a Marine Corps flag that was retrieved from the Pentagon, and an American flag from the State of Pennsylvania. Also onboard, is a large New York Fire Department flag, 23 replica New York Police Department shields, and 91 New York Police Department patches. Those items are stowed away in the shuttle and will be distributed upon Endeavour's return to Earth.

The crew's activities today will focus on continuing transfer of several hundred pounds of equipment and supplies from the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module that was attached to the station yesterday. Transfer of equipment, supplies and experiments to and from the shuttle mid deck is already complete. Today, Godwin and Tani will also check out and prepare the tools they will use for Monday's scheduled spacewalk.

The focus of activities aboard Endeavour today will be on the planned four-hour spacewalk to be conducted by Godwin and Dan Tani. Godwin and Tani will exit the shuttle's airlock about 11:24 a.m. and will be carried about half way up the truss of the space station by the shuttle's robotic arm, operated by Pilot Mark Kelly. Commander Dom Gorie will coordinate efforts as the two spacewalkers maneuver hand-over-hand to their worksite location at the top of the P6 truss, some 80 feet above Endeavour's cargo bay.

The prime objective of the spacewalk is to place insulating blankets on the two Beta Gimbal Assemblies (BGA) that control the rotation of the solar arrays as they track the sun. The thermal blankets will protect the BGAs from temperature variances experienced in space, which has been leading to current spikes from the motors inside the BGAs. Once that task is complete, the spacewalkers will perform some get-ahead-tasks including retrieving tools from an outside pouch and bringing them inside for use during a spacewalk on the next mission to the space station early next year.

With hatches between the two spacecraft closed for today's space walk, the Expedition Four Crew, Commander Yury Onufrienko, and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz will continue transferring equipment and supplies from the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the station. This is the crewmembers' first day alone on the space station after exchanging places with the Expedition Three Crew, Commander Frank Culberston, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, on Saturday.

Shortly after the crews onboard Endeavour and the International Space Station were awakened, they prepared to take a moment to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the attacks on America on September 11, as part of President Bush's "Anthems of Remembrance" event. The event will take place at 7:46 a.m. CST, the exact moment of the attack three months ago.

The United States and Russian national anthems will be played in the shuttle and station flight control rooms in Mission Control and aboard the shuttle and the space station. The three commanders aboard the two spacecraft - Shuttle Commander Dom Gorie, Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, and Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko, will share their personal thoughts as well as play a special pre-recorded message from the rest of the crew currently in orbit.

Onufrienko, along with Expedition Three crew members Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin, will take time today to talk with Russian media located at the mission control center outside Moscow in an interview scheduled to begin at 9:24 a.m. Later in the day, the full crews - Gorie, Onufrienko, Culbertson, Pilot Mark Kelly, Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani, Expedition Four flight engineers Carl Walz and Dan Bursch, along with Dezhurov and Tyurin - will have an opportunity to talk with American news media during a crew news conference scheduled for 2:04 p.m.

A ceremony to mark the change of command from Culbertson to Onufrienko will take place at 2:48 p.m. today. Culbertson, in his 123rd day in space, will ceremoniously pass command of the space station on to Onufrienko, its newest commander. The official crew exchange occurred Saturday, December 8 with the transfer of Soyuz seatliners for each crew member. Today's event continues the tradition begun by Expedition One Commander Bill Shepherd in March of this year, when he relinquished command of the ISS to Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev.

The crews will also continue transferring equipment and supplies from the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the space station for later use by the Expedition Four Crew. About 4,000 pounds of cargo has already been transferred from Raffaello to the station.

When the day began, the crews had already completed unloading more than 4,600 pounds of food, clothes, supplies and equipment from Raffaello, about 95 percent of the module's total cargo. They also had completed moving the 1,000 pounds of station gear and experiments that were launched in Endeavour's cabin to the orbiting complex.

In repacking the cargo module and Endeavour with unneeded equipment bound for Earth, the crews have loaded more than 1,800 pounds of material into Raffaello, almost half the amount expected by the time the packing is completed. Packing of Raffaello and Endeavour will continue on Thursday. On Friday, Raffaello will be detached from the station and moved back into Endeavour's payload bay for the trip home.

In addition, Endeavour's crew - Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly, Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani, and offgoing station crew members Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin - assisted the new station Expedition Four crew in replacing most components of a station treadmill today. Expedition Four - Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz - will use the new treadmill almost daily during their five and a half months aboard the station. The job went smoothly and the crews finished several hours ahead of schedule, loading the old treadmill parts into Raffaello to be refurbished on Earth and, eventually, reused. A third and final scheduled reboost of the station by Endeavour also was completed today. The three boosts performed during the mission, each accomplished by a gradual, hour-long periodic firing of the shuttle steering jets, have raised the station's altitude by a total of almost 9 statute miles. The station's average altitude is now about 241 statute miles.

On Thursday, the crews will continue maintenance work as well as packing, replacing a faulty compressor in a Russian air conditioner on the station. Although the new crew officially took over aboard the station on Saturday, a formal handover ceremony also is planned for the two station crews at 2:04 p.m. CST Thursday.

The crews begin a sleep period at 10:19 p.m. CST today and awaken at 6:19 a.m. CST Thursday.

Flight Day 8 for Endeavour's crew began with a wake-up call from Mission Control offering a rendition of "Fly me to the Moon", sung by Oliver "Ollie" O'Regin for Dan Tani.

The astronauts and cosmonauts have transferred more than 5,000 pounds of supplies and material from Endeavour's middeck, and the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the station. Today, the crews will focus on packing up the Raffaello module with items bound for a return trip to Earth. Raffaello will be detached from the Unity module of the station onFriday and reberthed in Endeavour's cargo bay for its ride home.

With a one-day extension to the mission, Endeavour's crew - Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Tani - will spend today assisting the Expedition Four crew - Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Expedition Dan Bursch and Carl Walz - with maintenance tasks on board the station, including the replacement of some of the components of the on-board treadmill. Tomorrow, the crew will replace a failed compressor in one of the air conditioners in the Zvezda Service Module. As the Expedition Three crew - Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin - prepare for a return to Earth on Monday, they continue a series of handover briefings to acquaint the newest resident crew with their orbital home.

Endeavour is currently scheduled to undock from the ISS on Saturday morning, with landing planned for early Monday afternoon at the Kennedy Space Center.

The crew has already unloaded almost three tons of station food, clothes, experiments and other gear that was launched aboard Endeavour and Raffaello. Early today, the crews had also completed more than 70 percent of the repacking of Raffaello for the trip home, loading the cargo module with trash and gear from the offgoing station crew's mission such as individualized Soyuz space suits and seat liners.

The 10 astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the shuttle-station complex gathered this afternoon in the station's Destiny Laboratory for a formal change of command ceremony as Expedition Three ends and Expedition Four begins. The new crew officially took over duties aboard the station on Saturday. Expedition Three -- Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin -- spent 117 days as the station crew. Expedition Four -- Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz -- will remain aboard the complex until May 2002.

On Friday, the crews will close the hatch on Raffaello and Endeavour Pilot Mark Kelly will use the shuttle's robotic arm to detach it from the station and lower it back into the shuttle's payload bay to be brought back to Earth. The crews also will continue maintenance work on the station, replacing a faulty air conditioner compressor. Endeavour will undock from the station on Saturday.

Endeavour and the International Space Station remain in good shape, orbiting at an average altitude of 241 statute miles. Last night, the crew and Mission Control noted a transient problem with one of the shuttle's three inertial measurement units (IMUs), the primary navigation units for the shuttle. Only two of the three IMUs were on line at the time, with the third unit off line to save electricity. The IMU that experienced a problem, designated IMU 2, was immediately taken off line and the third IMU brought on line. IMU 2 has operated well since then, but it has remained off line and is considered failed by flight controllers. The loss of one IMU has no impact on Endeavour's mission, and the other two units are operating in excellent condition. Endeavour could operate well on only one IMU if needed.

Endeavour's crew will begin a sleep period at 9:19 p.m. CST today and awaken at 5:19 a.m. CST on Friday.

Today's agenda for the shuttle crew - Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly, and Mission Specialists Dan Tani and Linda Godwin - will focus on packing up the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics module with unneeded equipment and supplies for the return flight home. Raffaello will be detached from the Unity module of the International Space Station tomorrow and reberthed in Endeavour's cargo bay for its ride back to Earth. Endeavour is currently scheduled to undock from the station on Saturday morning, with landing planned for early Monday afternoon at the Kennedy Space Center.

The Expedition Three crew will also continue handover activities with the Expedition Four crew - Commander Yury Onufrienko, and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz.

A ceremony to mark the change of command from Culbertson to Onufrienko will take place at 3:09 p.m. CST. Culbertson, in his 125th day in space, will formally hand command of the space station on to Onufrienko, it's newest commander. The official crew exchange occurred Saturday, December 8 with the transfer of Soyuz seatliners for each crew member. Today's event continues the tradition begun by Expedition One Commander Bill Shepherd in March of this year, when he relinquished command of the ISS to Expedition Two Commander Yury Usachev.

With the crew completing the stowage of Raffaello for the trip home, work to replace a faulty compressor in an air conditioner unit in the Zvezda Service Module was deferred until tomorrow morning, concurrent with the closing of the hatch to the Raffaello module prior to its detachment from the ISS.

Endeavour will leave the station with a new crew and almost three tons of new food, supplies, experiments and equipment. Endeavour will bring home the offgoing Expedition Three station crew -- Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin -- and more than two tons of unneeded station gear, food containers, clothes, and other cargo. The station's Expedition Four crew -- Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz -- will remain aboard the outpost until May 2002.

Endeavour Pilot Mark Kelly used the shuttle's robotic arm to detach the Raffaello logistics carrier from the station today and reberth it in Endeavour's payload bay. Raffaello was latched back into the shuttle bay at 4:44 p.m. CST. This morning, Dezhurov and Onufrienko worked together to replace a faulty air conditioner compressor in the station's Zvezda living quarters module as the crews completed cargo transfer activities.

Flight controllers are planning slight changes to Endeavour's departure from the station Saturday, allowing time for a small jet firing by the shuttle to boost the station's future path away from a piece of space debris that could pass near the complex on Sunday. Mission Control was notified early today that a spent Russian rocket upper stage launched in the 1970s could pass within three miles of the station if Endeavour did not perform the engine firing. With the shuttle reboost now planned on Friday, the station is predicted to instead pass more than 40 miles away from the debris on Sunday.

The new plan for Saturday's activities will have the station and shuttle crews bid farewell to one another and close hatches between the two spacecraft at about 7:30 a.m. CST. Endeavour will pulse its steering jets gradually for about 30 minutes beginning at about 8:55 a.m. CST to raise the station's altitude by almost three-quarters of a mile. Endeavour will then undock from the station at about 10:37 a.m. CST. Because of the changes, Endeavour will not perform a full-circle flyaround of the station after undocking. Instead, Endeavour will undock from the station and fly only a quarter circle of the complex, to a point about 400 feet directly above the station where it will fire its engines at about 11:20 a.m. CST to depart the vicinity of the oribting outpost.

Endeavour's crew will begin a sleep period today at 8:19 p.m. CST and awaken at 4:17 a.m. CST Saturday.

Raffaello has been loaded with unneeded equipment, as well as gear from the returning Expedition Three crewmembers, including their custom Soyuz spacesuits and seat liners. The hatch between Raffaello and the space station will be closed about 10 a.m. CST today once final transfers are complete. About 1:20 p.m., Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialist Linda Godwin will begin the process of detaching Raffaello from the station using the shuttle's 50-foot long robotic arm. The process of removing Raffaello from the station and carefully placing it back in Endeavour's payload bay is expected to be complete shortly after 3:30 p.m.

The two station commanders - Frank Culbertson and Yury Onufrienko - will continue their handover briefings even as they prepare for Endeavour's scheduled departure Saturday morning. Expedition Three crew member Vladimir Dezhurov will join Onufrienko in some final maintenance work on the station this morning replacing a faulty compressor in an air conditioner unit in the Zvezda Service Module.

All of the crew members - Endeavour Commander Dom Gorie, Kelly, Godwin and Dan Tani, along with Expedition Three crew members Culbertson, Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin and the Expedition Four crew, Onufrienko, Dan Bursch and Carl Walz - will meet late in the day today for a final briefing in preparation for Endeavour's departure tomorrow. Following final farewells tomorrow morning, about 7:30 a.m., the hatches between Endeavour and the station will be closed for a final time during this mission. Endeavour will undock from the station at 10 a.m. Saturday, and after a brief fly-around of the station, a final engine burn will mark Endeavour's departure from the station, leaving the Expedition Four crew on board for a planned five-month stay.

Endeavour's crew was awakened at 5:12 a.m. today by a traditional Russian song, "My Sweetheart," played for Onufrienko, Dezhurov and Tyurin. The Expedition Four crew was awakened about a half-hour later with a wake-up tone on board the station.

Endeavour and the International Space Station remain in good shape, orbiting at an average altitude of 241 statute miles. Wednesday, the crew and flight control teams noted a transient problem with one of the shuttle's three inertial measurement units (IMUs), the primary navigation units for the shuttle. That IMU, designated IMU2, experienced about an hour-long "drift rate," subsequently returning to normal operation. Flight controllers have taken IMU2 off line and declared it "failed," though it has performed normally since the initial problem was observed. The remaining two IMUs on board are performing well and the loss of a single IMU has no impact on Endeavour's mission or planned landing. Endeavour could operate well on only one IMU if required.

Endeavour undocked from the station at 11:28 a.m. CST as the spacecraft flew 240 statute miles above the Indian Ocean off the Australian coast. Pilot Mark Kelly flew Endeavour through a half-circle of the station before firing jets to leave the vicinity.

Before undocking, Endeavour's jets were fired in a series of small pulses beginning at 8:55 a.m. CST to raise the altitude of the station about three quarters of a mile. The maneuver ensures the station will fly well clear of an old Russian rocket body that had been predicted to potentially pass close to the complex later this weekend. The final small reboost by the shuttle, coupled with three larger reboosts done earlier in the week, means the station was raised a total of more than nine statute miles by Endeavour.

The new station crew, Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz, said goodbye to Endeavour's crew and the departing Expedition Three crew and closed hatches between the spacecraft at 7:16 a.m. CST. Now en route home, Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin completed 117 days as the primary station crew and spent 125 days aboard the station overall. When Endeavour lands on Monday, they will have spent a total of 129 days in space.

The crew members aboard Endeavour had several hours off duty after departing the station, a break from a very busy pace moving tons of supplies between the shuttle and station during the past week. Sunday's activities will focus on checking out systems used during descent and making preparations for a landing on Monday. Endeavour is set to land at the Kennedy Space Center, FL, about 11:55 a.m. CST Monday. The weather forecast predicts generally acceptable conditions except for a chance of rain showers in the vicinity of the landing site. Flight controllers determined today that all three Inertial Measurement Units on Endeavour, the primary navigation systems for the shuttle, would be usable for landing. One of the three units had been taken off line two days ago due to a brief fault. However, the unit has worked well since that time. Even if the problem were to recur, it would not affect Endeavour's entry and landing since the shuttle can operate with only one such unit if necessary. Endeavour's crew will begin a sleep period at 7:19 p.m. CST and awaken at 3:19 a.m. CST Sunday.

Endeavour is bringing home the Expedition Three crew - Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin - who have been in space since they launched to the station on August 10. In addition to bringing home the Expedition Three crew, Endeavour carried to orbit both a new crew and almost three tons of supplies and experiments to the station. That new crew, Expedition Four Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz, will remain aboard the space station until May.

The Endeavour astronauts were awakened for their 11th day in space at 4:17 a.m. by the song "Where I Come From," by Alan Jackson, for Pilot Mark Kelly from his family.

Overnight, flight controllers decided to execute an additional reboost of the space station, designed to add about three-quarters of a mile to the station's altitude. On Friday, flight controllers received word from U.S. Space Command that a spent Russian rocket upper stage, launched in the 1970s, could pass within three miles of the station. With today's scheduled reboost, beginning at 8:55 a.m. and using Endeavour's small firing jets for about 20 minutes, the space debris is now expected to pass more than 40 miles away from the station.

With Kelly at the controls, Endeavour is scheduled to undock from the station about 10:37 a.m., concluding more than a week of docked operations. Because today's scheduled reboost will use additional propellant, Endeavour will not perform a full-circle flyaround of the station after undocking. Instead, the shuttle will undock from the station, performing a quarter circle flyaround of the complex to a point about 400 feet directly above the station where it will fire its engines in a final separation burn at 11:20 a.m. beginning its departure from the orbiting outpost.

On the station, all systems are functioning well, including a newly refurbished air conditioning unit in the Russian Zvezda Service Module which received a new compressor yesterday. The air conditioner was tested last night and is functioning normally.

The STS-108 and Expedition Three crewmembers will take time this afternoon to discuss the progress of their mission with KGO-TV in San Francisco, the Fox News

Network and Associated Press in an interview scheduled to begin at 3:09 p.m. today on NASA TV. The crew also will enjoy several hours of scheduled off duty time today prior to gearing up for Monday's scheduled landing.

Homecoming at the Kennedy Space Center is scheduled at 11:55 a.m. Central time Monday. The early weather forecast calls for possible scattered and broken clouds and thunderstorms within 30 nautical miles of the landing strip.

Endeavour is scheduled to return to the Kennedy Space Center about 11:55 a.m. CST tomorrow, weather permitting. Preliminary weather forecasts predict generally acceptable conditions at the landing site, with a chance of rain showers in the vicinity. Entry Flight Director LeRoy Cain and his team of flight controllers will oversee the crew's checkout of flight control systems and surfaces this morning from Mission Control. They also will receive updated weather forecasts for Monday's planned landing.

On what should be their final full day in space, Endeavour's crew - Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly, Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani, along with the returning Expedition Three crewmembers Frank Culbertson, Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin - were awakened at 3:14 a.m. by the song "I'll Be Home For Christmas," sung by Bing Crosby.

About 9 a.m. today, Endeavour's crew will deploy a small satellite called STARSHINE 2 from a canister located in the payload bay. More than 30,000 students from 660 schools in 26 countries will track STARSHINE 2 as it orbits the Earth for eight months. The students, who helped polish STARSHINE'S 845 mirrors, will use the information they collect to calculate the density of the Earth's upper atmosphere.

Endeavour's middeck will carry home the results of several experiments completed during Expedition Three's stay on the station. These include the Advanced Protein Crystallization Facility, the Dynamically Controlled Protein Crystal Growth experiment and cells from the Cellular Biotechnology Operations Support System (CBOSS). The CBOSS equipment aboard the space station will remain active during Expedition Four, growing ovarian and colon cancer cells, as well as kidney cells in microgravity.

Experiments in Endeavour's payload bay also will be coming home, to be returned to investigators around the world. The Multiple Application Customized Hitchhiker-1 (MACH-1) is carrying a wide array of experiments, including the Prototype Synchrotron Radiation Detector, the Collisions Into Dust Experiment-2, the Capillary Pump Loop, and the Space Experiment Module (SEM). The SEM is carrying experiments from Argentina, Portugal, Morocco and Australia, as well experiments from U.S. schoolchildren. Several other canisters in Endeavour's payload bay are also carrying student experiments.

The first KSC landing opportunity today would begin with a deorbit burn of Endeavour's large orbital maneuvering engines at 10:50 a.m. resulting in an 11:55 a.m. central time (12:55 p.m. eastern) landing. If weather precludes landing on that first opportunity, there is a second opportunity, one orbit later, with an engine firing at 12:28 p.m. resulting in a 1:32 p.m. central (2:32 p.m. eastern) touchdown. The alternate landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in California has not been called up for launch support today.

Just before 7 a.m., the crew will begin its formal deorbit preparations and by 8:10 a.m., Endeavour's payload bay doors should be closed in preparation for reentry. The crewmembers will begin climbing into their seats at 9:50 a.m., with a final "go, no go" call from the Entry Flight Director expected about 10:30 a.m. A landing today in Florida would conclude a voyage of more than 4.8 million miles for Endeavour and a 129-day stay in orbit for Culbertson, Dezhurov and Tyurin.

Concluding a successful mission to the International Space Station, today's landing brings to an end a voyage of more than 4.8 million miles for Endeavour and marks the 57th shuttle landing at the Florida spaceport.

On Endeavour's flight deck are Commander Dom Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Linda Godwin and Dan Tani. On the middeck, strapped into recumbent chairs to reduce the effects of reentry, is the Expedition Three crew, Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin.

Following routine medical examinations, the STS-108 and Expedition Three crewmembers will enjoy a reunion with their families. All seven crewmembers are expected to return to a public welcome home at Hangar 990 at Houston's Ellington Field about 1 p.m. Wednesday.

During their 12 days in orbit, the STS-108 crew worked with both the returning Expedition Three and newly-arrived Expedition Four crews to transfer more than three tons of material, hardware and supplies from Endeavour to the station. Godwin and Tani also conducted a spacewalk to install thermal protection on motor assemblies that control the motion of the station's large solar arrays.

On board the International Space Station, the Expedition Four crew - Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz - are settling in for a planned five-month stay on orbit, unloading the recently arrived Progress resupply vehicle.

Last Saturday, the three new station crewmembers bid farewell to their predecessors, the Expedition Three crew, and the crew of Endeavour as the shuttle undocked to begin its journey home. The Expedition Three crew of Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin returned to Earth on Monday and to Houston on Wednesday. The three have begun several weeks of physical rehabilitation to help their bodies readjust to the pull of Earth's gravity

Aboard the station, Onufrienko, Bursch and Walz spent the week activating science experiments, including a cell growth experiment used to study colon and ovarian cancer cells and human kidney cells. They also continued to familiarize themselves with their new home, unload the Progress 6 cargo ship, and unpack equipment and supplies brought aboard Endeavour.

The crew will continue experiment work next week, and they will have a day off on Christmas Day to observe the holiday. The station's food stores include turkey and some other traditional holiday foods. The crew also will observe a holiday on New Year's Day.

All International Space Station systems are currently operating well. However, on Tuesday flight controllers noted that the Beta Gimbal Assembly that rotates the port-side U.S. solar array experienced strain on its electric motor and briefly stalled. The mechanism was restarted quickly and has since been performing normally. The stall had no significant impact on station operations and is similar to events seen several times in the past. The Beta Gimbal Assemblies rotate the station's arrays, allowing them to precisely track the sun, generating the maximum possible power for the station.

During Endeavour's flight, thermal blankets were installed on both assemblies to better insulate them in hopes of alleviating such problems. Engineers have confidence the mechanisms will continue to operate, and they are continuing to gather data from both the port and starboard mechanisms to evaluate the effectiveness of the new insulation.

They will continue preparations for activation of the P3/P4 truss segment attached to the station Tuesday.

Spacewalkers Dan Burbank and Steve MacLean will release and remove launch locks and launch restraints from the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint of the P4 truss. That joint will enable the new solar arrays to track the sun. The arrays are to be unfurled late today and early Thursday.

Burbank and MacLean spent the night in the Quest Airlock, as did Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Joe Tanner before their Tuesday spacewalk, part of the campout pre-breathe protocol. Burbank and MacLean are preparing for their spacewalk, with help from shuttle Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and station Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 4:15 a.m. CDT.

Tanner, now a veteran of six spacewalks, will serve as the intravehicular officer for this spacewalk. Piper will operate the station robotic arm to ensure video viewing during the spacewalk.

Because of the success of the first spacewalk, planners were able to add get-ahead tasks to today’s scheduled activities. Once their original tasks are complete, Burbank and MacLean also will prepare the P3 for the mobile transporter, part of a movable base system for the Canadarm2 to move along rails on the truss structure.

Depending on time available, they will remove a keel pin and drag link and stow them within the truss structure. They’ll also remove a Space Vision System target, rotate P1 and P3 mobile transporter and tether shuttle stops. They'll install a temporary rail stop for the Crew and Equipment Translation Aid cart.

Meanwhile, inside the orbiting laboratory, Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams will continue with station operations tasks as well as transfer activities and preparations for their upcoming departure.

The two are scheduled to return to Earth aboard their Soyuz spacecraft Sept. 28. They will be replaced by Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, who are scheduled to launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan a little after 11 p.m. CDT Sept. 17. European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter of Germany will remain on board the station and join the Expedition 14 crew.

Crew members will get a look at the results of their STS-115 mission, which resumed assembly of the station. They'll do a full fly-around, the first in four years, to photograph the station with its new truss segments and solar arrays.

Before undocking, the STS-115 crew -- Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and Mission Specialists Dan Burbank, Joe Tanner, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve MacLean -- will say farewell to Expedition 13 -- Commander Pavel Vinogradov, and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter -- about 5 a.m. before closing the hatches between the two vehicles.

Then, with Ferguson at the controls, Atlantis will slowly move away from the station. The fly-around is scheduled to start at about 8:15 a.m. Atlantis is to leave the area a little after 9:30 a.m.

Meanwhile, on the ground, preparations are under way for the launch of the next inhabitants of the station. The Expedition 14 crew, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, and spaceflight participant Anousheh Ansari, are scheduled to launch in their Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:09 p.m. CDT. They are scheduled to dock with the orbital laboratory two days later.

The shuttle and station crews woke at 11:15 p.m. to "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins, played for Ferguson. In his reply, Ferguson thanked soon-to-retire STS-115 lead guidance, navigation and control flight controller Charles Alford for his 40 years of NASA service. The shuttle pilot also thanked all those in Mission Control for helping to make spaceflight possible.

Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station at 7:50 a.m. CDT, completing six days, two hours and two minutes of joint operations with the station crew. As the shuttle departs, a new station crew is preparing to launch to the complex tonight from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.

Atlantis left the station with a new, second pair of 240-foot solar wings, attached to a new 17.5-ton section of truss with batteries, electronics and a giant rotating joint. The new solar arrays eventually will double the station's onboard power when their electrical systems are brought online during the next shuttle flight, planned for launch in December.

Atlantis is now aiming for a 4:57 a.m. CDT Wednesday landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Meanwhile, the station's Expedition 14 crew -- Commander and NASA Science Officer Michael Lopez-Alegria, Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin and spaceflight participant Anoushheh Ansari -- are set to launch in their Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft from Baikonur at 11:09 p.m. CDT. Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin will begin a six-month stay aboard the station when they dock to the complex on Wednesday. Ansari is visiting the station for eight days under a commercial agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency.

After undocking, Atlantis' crew -- Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and Mission Specialists Dan Burbank, Joe Tanner, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve MacLean -- got a breath-taking view of the station as the shuttle circled the complex. During their stay at the station, the shuttle crew conducted three spacewalks in four days to prepare the new components for operation.

As Atlantis performed a full fly-around of the station, the shuttle crew took photographs and video of the complex's new T-shaped solar array configuration. The station's truss now stretches 179 feet.

In addition to the new truss section and its arrays, the astronauts transferred 800 pounds of hardware and 1,043 pounds of water to the station in exchange for 1,084 pounds of returning hardware. They also placed about 200 pounds of launch locks, restraints and other unneeded hardware on ISS Progress 21 for disposal.

The shuttle astronauts spent five days, 21 hours and 57 minutes with hatches open to the station working with the station's Expedition 13 crew -- Commander Pavel Vinogradov, and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter. The hatches were shut for Atlantis' undoccking at 5:27 a.m. CDT. Vinogradov, Williams and Ansari will land in a Soyuz spacecraft in Kazakhstan Sept. 29. Vinogradov and Williams have been in orbit since March.

On Monday, the shuttle crew will use the ship’s robotic arm to grapple the boom sensor system once more to conduct a final inspection of the heat shielding on Atlantis’ wings and nose cap. The additional late inspecting ensures the areas still are in good shape for entry into the atmosphere and landing.

Atlantis' crew begins their sleep period at 2:15 p.m. CDT and will awaken at 10:15 p.m. CDT.

The overheating is believed to have melted a rubber seal, causing a small amount of smoke, a strong odor and possibly releasing a small amount of a chemical irritant.

Aboard the station are Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter of the European Space Agency. At the time of the problem, Vinogradov was working with the Russian Elektron oxygen generator, a device that recycles wastewater on the station into oxygen for the cabin air. The Elektron had been shut off for nine days as planned during the joint operations by the station and the Space Shuttle Atlantis.

At the request of Russian flight controllers, Vinogradov attempted to restart the unit at about 2 a.m. CDT. The Elektron operated only briefly before shutting down. Several subsequent attempts were made to restart the device in various modes. Just before 6 a.m. CDT, Vinogradov restarted the unit again after it had shut down.

A few minutes later, as the station was out of communications with the ground, Vinogradov noted the Elektron overheating, light smoke and a bad odor. When the station moved into communications, at about 6:16 a.m. CDT, Mission Control asked the crew to manually initiate a fire alarm onboard to allow software to automatically shut down ventilation fans between the station modules. Flight controllers also checked for contaminants in the cabin air and found only low levels that posed no danger to the crew. However, the crew was asked to briefly don surgical masks, goggles and gloves to protect against possible irritation by a chemical used in the Elektron, potassium hydroxide, that may have leaked.

Vinogradov reported that a small amount of clear liquid had leaked from an apparently damaged seal on the Elektron and cleaned it up, sealing it in airtight bags. Within an hour, the crew had powered back on all station ventilation equipment and had returned to working on normal activities.

The incident will not affect plans to undock a Progress cargo craft from the station tonight and the docking of the next station crew with the complex, set for 12:24 a.m. CDT on Wednesday, Sept. 20.

Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin and Spaceflight Participant Anousheh Ansari lifted off at 11:09 p.m. CDT Sunday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan bound for the station. Their Soyuz spacecraft is in excellent condition.

Meanwhile, the crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis -- Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and Mission Specialists Joe Tanner, Dan Burbank, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve MacLean -- are continuing preparations for a return to Earth. The crew completed a late inspection of the heat shielding on the nose and wings of the shuttle today using a laser scanning system. They are scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center at 4:59 a.m. CDT Wednesday. They began a sleep period at 1:15 p.m. CDT and awaken at 9:15 p.m. CDT for what is planned to be their final full day in orbit.

Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin and spaceflight participant Anousheh Ansari lifted off at 11:09 p.m. CDT Sunday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

They are expected to arrive at the station early Wednesday. They will begin nearly nine days of handover activity as Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin prepare for their own six-month stay. Ansari, visiting the station as part of a commercial agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency, will return to Earth with Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams. European Space Agency Astronaut Thomas Reiter will remain onboard as part of Expedition 14.

Traveling about 50 miles behind the station, the Atlantis crew -- Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and Mission Specialists Dan Burbank, Joe Tanner, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve MacLean -- woke at 10:15 p.m. to “Rocky Mountain High.” It was played for Tanner.

The crew will focus today on the final inspection of the shuttle’s reinforced-carbon-carbon surfaces on the wing leading edges and nose cap. Ferguson, Burbank and MacLean will use the shuttle’s robotic arm to get a final look at those areas, ensuring no critical damage may have occurred since their arrival in space. Aside from a few other minor tasks it will be a light-duty day. Atlantis is prepared for its landing Wednesday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Three people aboard the Soyuz TMA 9 talked with the six Atlantis astronauts and the three-man Expedition 13 crew aboard the International Space Station.

The linkup was managed through Houston's Mission Control Center. The 12 people on the three very different space vehicles began their chat about 2 a.m. CDT.

"It's a little crowded in the sky today," said Jeff Williams from the station. "We look forward to having you guys on board," he told the Soyuz crew. "We'll see you back on Earth sometime soon," Atlantis Commander Brent Jett told Expedition 13.

The Expedition 13 crew, Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineers Williams and Thomas Reiter, is awaiting the arrival of Expedition 14, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin. With them is spaceflight participant Anousheh Ansari. They are scheduled to dock with the station at 12:24 a.m. Wednesday.

Atlantis' crew, Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and Mission Specialists Joe Tanner, Dan Burbank, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve MacLean, is getting ready to come home, with a landing scheduled for Kennedy Space Center at 4:59 a.m. CDT Wednesday.

They were awakened at 9:15 p.m. Monday with “Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi” (Don’t Leave Without Me) for MacLean, performed by fellow Canadian Celine Dion. They checked out Atlantis' flight control surfaces and later tested reaction control system thrusters. Today they'll continue stowage activities and other preparations for their landing.

The unpiloted Progress 21 cargo spacecraft with its load of station discards undocked from the orbiting laboratory at about 7:30 p.m. Monday. It re-entered the atmosphere and was incinerated over the Pacific Ocean about 11 p.m.

The decision to pursue additional inspections was made this morning after video from cameras aboard the shuttle showed a piece of debris in close proximity to the vehicle.

Also, the weather forecast for a landing on Wednesday had called for poor conditions, and Atlantis has plentiful supplies aboard to allow multiple landing attempts as late as Saturday. Atlantis is now aimed toward a landing on Thursday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

Engineers are concerned the debris seen could be something that came loose from Atlantis. They will use the extra time to verify the shuttle is in good shape for the trip home.

Atlantis' crew -- Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and mission specialists Joe Tanner, Dan Burbank, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Steve MacLean -- will use the shuttle's robotic arm on Wednesday to inspect the spacecraft. The crew began a sleep period at 12:45 p.m. CDT today and will awaken at 8:45 p.m. CDT. Before going to sleep, the crew positioned the arm above the payload bay, and Mission Control has used its cameras to survey the top side of the shuttle. The cameras on the robotic arm will later be used by the crew to inspect areas on the underside of Atlantis.

Atlantis' primary landing opportunity to Kennedy on Thursday begins with a deorbit engine firing at 4:14 am. CDT and culminates in a touchdown at 5:22 a.m. CDT.

Meanwhile, the International Space Station's next crew, Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Soyuz Commander and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin are closing in on the complex. With them is Spaceflight Participant Anousheh Ansari, a U.S. businesswoman who will spend eight days on the station under a commercial agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency. They will dock their Soyuz spacecraft to the station at 12:24 a.m. CDT Wednesday.

Aboard the station, Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter, a European Space Agency astronaut, will open hatches to greet their new arrivals at 3:10 a.m. CDT Wednesday. The station crew spent some additional time earlier today gathering data on the Elektron oxygen generating system's overheating malfunction. Russian engineers are continuing to evaluate the system's malfunction and future repairs. Repair work is not planned to be performed while the crew hands over operations of the complex to Expedition 14. Oxygen supplies on the station are plentiful, and the cabin air will be refreshed using oxygen canisters and tanks until the Elektron is repaired.

That decision was made after cameras detected a piece of debris near the shuttle early Tuesday.

The survey is to make sure Atlantis is ready for re-entry and its landing at the Kennedy Space Center. Florida weather also was questionable for a Wednesday landing.

The crew woke up at 8:45 p.m. CDT Tuesday to “Beautiful Day” by U2, played for Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper. After some routine personal time, they began the survey at about 11:30 p.m. Pilot Chris Ferguson and Mission Specialists Dan Burbank and Steve MacLean are using the shuttle's robotic arm and its cameras to get a full look at Atlantis' thermal protection system. The task could take up to five hours.

Specialists on the ground will review the imagery as it is available and determine if a more detailed survey using the 50-foot orbiter boom sensor system (OBSS) is warranted. The OBSS survey, if needed, would take another three hours.

Atlantis Commander Brent Jett and Mission Specialists Joe Tanner and Piper will help as needed with the survey and continue with other tasks including waste and water dump, exercise, downlink of imagery and stowage of the Payload General Support Computer.

Atlantis' next landing opportunity is Thursday with a deorbit engine firing at 4:14 a.m. CDT and touchdown at 5:22 a.m. Atlantis has enough supplies to stay in orbit until Saturday.

Early Wednesday International Space Station Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, and spaceflight participant Anousheh Ansari arrived at the orbiting laboratory. Their Soyuz docked at 12:21 a.m. The hatch opening and welcoming ceremony with the Expedition 13 crew, Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter, is scheduled for 3:30 a.m.

Atlantis is now aimed toward a landing that will begin with a deorbit engine firing at 4:14 a.m. CDT and culminate in a touchdown at 5:21 a.m. CDT at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The astronauts would close the shuttle's payload bay doors in preparation for the landing at about 1:44 a.m. CDT. A backup opportunity for landing would begin with a deorbit engine firing by the shuttle at 5:51 a.m. CDT leading to a touchdown at 6:57 a.m. CDT.

The weather is forecast to be acceptable for landing at Kennedy, with few clouds and light winds.

The astronauts performed televised inspections early this morning of the shuttle's heat shield, nose, tail, payload bay, wings and other areas using the robotic arm and a boom extension. Engineers found no issues of concern during the survey.

A shim and a spacer piece that had been protruding from thermal tiles on Atlantis earlier in the mission were found to be missing during the inspection. But it is not known whether one of them was the item seen floating near Atlantis in video on Tuesday. Atlantis' astronauts began a sleep period at 12:45 p.m. CDT. They will awaken at 8:45 p.m. CDT.

The new International Space Station Expedition 14 crew, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Soyuz Commander and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, along with spaceflight participant Anousheh Ansari, docked to the complex at 12:21 a.m. CDT. They opened hatches at 3:34 a.m. CDT and were greeted by Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter.

Joint crew operations continue through next week, until Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams, and Spaceflight Participant Anousheh Ansari undock and land their Soyuz spacecraft on Thursday, Sept. 28.

The new crew, Expedition 14 Commander and NASA Science Officer Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, docked to the complex with Ansari on Wednesday. European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter, who arrived at the station aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in July and has served as flight engineer for Expedition 13, will remain on the station and join Expedition 14. Ansari is a U.S. businesswoman spending eight days on the station under a commercial agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency.

During the weekend, Vinogradov and Tyurin may work with the Elektron oxygen-generating system to install a new liquids unit, a component that overheated early this week.

Several crew events will be broadcast live on NASA TV next week. On Monday, Sept. 25, at 5:40 a.m. EDT, all crew members will participate in a news conference with Russian media. At 12:17 p.m. EDT Monday, Williams and Lopez-Alegria will be interviewed by CBS News and AP TV.

On Tuesday, Sept. 26, at 12:04 p.m. EDT, Williams and Lopez-Alegria will be interviewed by CNN Espanol and the Houston Chronicle. On Wednesday, Sept. 27, at 12:28 p.m. EDT the crews will hold a station change of command ceremony.

The hatches between the station and the departing Soyuz will be closed about 2:45 p.m. EDT. The Soyuz will fire its engines at 8:20 pm. EDT to begin its descent. Landing is at 9:10 p.m. EDT in Kazakhstan.

Commander Pavel Vinogradov and NASA station science officer Jeff Williams landed in their Soyuz TMA 8 spacecraft about 50 miles northeast of Arkalyk. Russian recovery forces and NASA officials arrived at the site shortly after the spacecraft touched down. The Soyuz undocked from the space station at 5:53 p.m. EDT.

The crew will spend several weeks in Star City, near Moscow, for debriefing and medical examinations.

With Williams and Vinogradov was Spaceflight Participant Anousheh Ansari, who flew to the station with the Expedition 14 crew and spent eight days there. The American businesswoman went to the station under a contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency.

During their mission, which launched March 29, Vinogradov and Williams were joined by Thomas Reiter, a European Space Agency astronaut from Germany. He became the first non-Russian, non-U.S. long-duration station crew member. He will remain aboard as part of the Expedition 14 crew until December when he returns to Earth on the next space shuttle flight.

Two successful spacewalks were conducted during Expedition 13. The first was by Vinogradov and Williams in Russian spacesuits and the second by Williams and Reiter in U.S. spacesuits.

Vinogradov and Williams welcomed Space Shuttle Discovery astronauts and Reiter during the STS-121 mission to the station in July. In September Space Shuttle Atlantis' crew on the STS-115 mission brought and installed the station's integrated P3/P4 truss segments.

Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, Mikhail Tyurin and Reiter, now are on their own aboard the station after a week of handover, maintenance and some science activities. Vinogradov and Tyurin replaced a major component of the Elektron oxygen-producing device, which malfunctioned shortly after Atlantis departed.

The device was activated Sept. 16 and functioned for about three hours before shutting itself off. Further troubleshooting is planned.

Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin have been aboard the station for 19 days, while Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter of the European Space Agency is in his third month in orbit. Along with other work, the crew members prepared for a short trip away from the station next week, when they will fly the Soyuz spacecraft from one docking port to another.

Early in the week, the crew conducted a check of procedures required to exit the station in an emergency, ensuring all necessary equipment is in place. Throughout the week, time was set aside for Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin to familiarize themselves with the station and operations. They started several new scientific activities and medical checks.

Lopez-Alegria began his first session with the nutrition experiment. He collected blood and urine samples and began logging all of his consumed food and drink. The experiment, which tracks many vitamins and minerals essential for good health, is the most comprehensive in-flight study to date of human physiological changes during long-duration spaceflight. The information will help define nutritional requirements and food systems for future missions to the moon and Mars.

Lopez-Alegria also supported the Passive Observatories for Experimental Microbial Systems in Micro-G (POEMS) experiment, by storing the next set of samples into the Minus-Eighty Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI). MELFI is a cold storage unit that maintains experiment samples at temperatures of minus 80 degrees Celsius, minus 26 degrees Celsius or 4 degrees Celsius throughout a mission. POEMS will evaluate the effect of stress in the space environment on the generation of genetic variation in model microbial cells.

On Friday, all crew members performed a normal periodic fitness evaluation, exercising on a stationary bicycle, measuring heart rates and blood pressure. One new scientific investigation began with Reiter as part of his evaluation. An oxygen uptake monitor provided by the European Space Agency was used to measure Reiter's oxygen consumption, a key parameter that can be used to measure fitness. The fitness evaluations are performed monthly. Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin also checked emergency medical equipment and supplies, a check done early in each crew's flight.

Tyurin spent time mid-week continuing to troubleshoot the Russian Elektron oxygen-generation system. The system converts water into oxygen to replenish cabin air. It has not been functional since it overheated just before Expedition 14 arrived. The crew replaced components in an Elektron control panel this week, but problems persisted.

Russian engineers are evaluating the system and further repairs may wait until the next supply ship arrives with additional parts. The next Progress cargo craft launches later this month. Plentiful oxygen supplies are available on the station. Oxygen is being replenished from tanks located on the Quest airlock.

U.S. flight controllers are evaluating a vibration seen in one of the station's Control Moment Gyroscopes (CMGs) this week. The electrically powered CMGs maintain the station's orientation so thrusters and limited fuel are not used for that purpose. The vibrations were first observed Sept. 28 as a station maneuver was performed using thrusters. The gyroscope, CMG-3, was taken off line to allow additional testing. Since then, controllers have run various tests with CMG-3 to better characterize the intermittent vibrations. Engineers have determined it could be put back on line and into normal operation, if needed. Only three CMGs are necessary to properly maintain the station's orientation.

The station crew members will board the Soyuz spacecraft docked at the rear of the Zvezda living quarters module on Tuesday to prepare for the short move. With Soyuz Commander Tyurin at the controls, they will undock from the Zvezda port at 3:14 p.m. and re-dock to the Earth-facing Zarya module port at 3:39 p.m. EDT.

NASA's payload operations team at the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., coordinates U.S. science activities on the station.

Station Commander and NASA Science Officer Mike Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Thomas Reiter boarded their Soyuz spacecraft and flew it from one docking port to another. The relocation was a routine procedure conducted ahead of the launch and arrival of the next Progress supply ship, scheduled for later this month.

With Tyurin at the controls on Tuesday, the Soyuz undocked from the aft position of the Zvezda module at 3:14 p.m. EDT and docked to the Zarya control module's Earth-facing docking port at 3:34 p.m. EDT.

The 23rd Progress vehicle will launch Oct. 23 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will dock to the vacated Zvezda port three days later, delivering supplies to the crew.

More than three weeks into a six-month stay, Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin are settling in to the routine of life in microgravity. They joined Reiter in celebrating his 100th day in space since his launch aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery July 4. Reiter, a European Space Agency astronaut, will return home aboard Discovery in December during the STS-116 mission. Discovery will bring NASA astronaut Suni Williams as Reiter's replacement to the station during that flight.

Oxygen is being supplied in the station cabin by tanks on the outside of the U.S. Quest Airlock while an onboard Russian oxygen-generation system, called the Elektron, is not working. Additional parts to repair the Elektron are expected to be among the supplies arriving late this month on Progress.

The station's orientation is being managed by three of the four electrically driven Control Moment Gyroscopes (CMGs). One gyroscope, designated CMG 3, was shut down after exhibiting intermittently high vibrations early Monday. Three gyros are sufficient to orient the station, and there has been no impact to the safety or operation of the station due to the shut down of CMG 3.

Flight controllers are evaluating plans for CMG 3 and any changes that might be needed to assembly operations during the December mission of Space Shuttle Discovery. During that mission alternating systems on the station will be powered off as the complex is rewired to bring online new supplies of electricity from the recently added solar arrays. Steering jets could be used to control the station's orientation if needed as gyroscopes are powered down during those procedures.

This week the crew also performed routine medical checks and took water samples while loading the docked Progress vehicle with unneeded items. Lopez-Alegria swapped a water separator in the Quest Airlock's Common Cabin Air Assembly to ensure a filter doesn't become clogged. The maintenance procedure was previously performed by the Expedition 5 crew.

Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin practiced using the manual docking system for the Russian Progress cargo ship. They rehearsed rendezvous; fly around maneuvers and approach and docking with an on-board simulator.

During the training, technicians at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan completed preparations for the launch of a Progress cargo craft on Monday, Oct. 23 at 9:40 a.m. EDT. It is scheduled to dock to the complex Thursday, Oct. 26 at 10:28 a.m. EDT.

The Progress is filled with more than two tons of food, fuel and supplies for the station and its crew. Also aboard are new spare parts for the Russian Elektron oxygen-generation system, which has been shut down since last month.

Earlier Friday, Lopez-Alegria replaced equipment in the Carbon Dioxide Removal System, used to remove impurities from the station's atmosphere. Only one of its two systems designed to purge carbon dioxide from the air has been operating due to particulate matter clogging an air valve. Lopez-Alegria installed a new air flow regulator valve and a filter to recover the use of the second of two adsorbent beds in the device.

He also joined Tyurin to inspect and photograph the Zvezda Service Module windows and conducted a video tour of the station for training of future expedition crews.

Lopez-Alegria, who also serves as the NASA science officer, collected his second set of blood and urine samples for the Nutrition Experiment. This is NASA's most comprehensive in-flight study of human physiological changes during long-duration spaceflight. The experiment measures bone metabolism, oxidative damage, nutritional assessments and hormonal changes. It also will help to define nutritional requirements and develop food systems for missions to the moon and Mars.

Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin also completed a medical officer proficiency training session. European Space Agency Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter began the first of three runs of the Analysis of a Novel Sensory Mechanism in Root Phototropism experiment in the European Modular Cultivation System. Seeds will sprout next week in the modular cultivation facility, where plants and other small organisms can grow in variable gravity conditions using a centrifuge.

By sprouting seeds under different levels of partial gravity and different frequencies of light, this study will increase the understanding of the different systems plants use to determine what direction their roots and shoots should grow and which genes are responsible for successful plant growth.

NASA's payload operations team at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., coordinates U.S. science activities on the station. Other science work this week included sessions of the Profilaktika and Urolux Russian experiments.

The station remains under the control of three gyroscopes after one was shut down more than a week ago. On Monday, flight controllers conducted a test of Control Moment Gyro (CMG) 3, which was turned off due to excessive vibrations. Monday's test, looking at the health of the accelerometer, spun the CMG up to 500 rpm and then let it coast down to zero while acceleration data were taken with the Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System to correlate and compare with data from the internal CMG accelerometer. An initial review indicated no unusual vibrations, but engineers continue to analyze the results.

On Monday, flight controllers will begin a five-day checkout of the Thermal Radiator Rotary Joints (TRRJ) on the S1 and P1 trusses that will rotate once the station's upgraded external thermal loops are activated during the STS-116 mission. The TRRJ test will enable the radiators to auto track or revolve when required to dissipate heat from the trusses' avionics equipment.

The new resupply ship lifted off at 9:41 a.m. EDT (7:41 p.m. Baikonur time). It will be the 23rd Progress to visit the station. Less than 10 minutes later, the cargo ship reached orbit, and its solar arrays and navigational antennas were deployed for the three-day trip to the orbital outpost.

Two pre-programmed firings of the Progress' main engine are scheduled Friday to fine-tune the ship's path to the space station. Additional rendezvous maneuvers are planned over the next three days.

Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Thomas Reiter were flying 220 miles over southern Russia, north of the Mongolian border, when the Progress was launched. Carrying almost 2.5 tons of food, water, fuel, oxygen, air, spare parts and other supplies, the Progress is scheduled to automatically dock to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module at 10:28 a.m. EDT Thursday.

The ISS Progress 22 craft that arrived in June remains docked to the Pirs Docking Compartment. That Progress will be used to stow trash and supply oxygen to replenish the station's atmosphere when required. The spacecraft won't be discarded until mid-January.

With almost 2.5 tons of food, fuel and supplies for the station's Expedition 14 crew, the ISS Progress 23 automatically docked to Zvezda at 10:29 a.m. EDT as the spacecraft and the station flew 220 miles above Italy. The 23rd Progress to visit the station was launched Monday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Following the initial docking, the final latching of the Progress craft to the station was delayed by about three and a half hours as Russian flight controllers evaluated potential interference by an antenna on the spacecraft. At the time of docking, flight controllers could not confirm that the antenna used by the Progress' Kurs automated docking system had retracted as commanded. If the antenna had remained extended, it could have interfered with the final latching of the supply ship to the station.

After reviewing data, Mission Control Moscow commanded the Progress' docking probe to slowly retract, pulling the ship firmly into the port and aligning the hooks and latches that hold it secure. Latches for the craft on the station were secured at about 2 p.m. EDT. Flight controllers will command additional latches on the Progress to close Friday. This allows the operation to be completed in a normal manner over Russian communications sites.

During the hours between initial docking and final latching, the station's orientation was allowed to drift to avoid any disturbance of the softly docked cargo ship. The station's drift resulted in lower power generation by the solar arrays. The crew then powered off several pieces of non-critical equipment as outlined in a standard procedure that reduces power consumption. Soon after the latches were closed, however, the station's attitude control was restored and power generation was returned to normal.

Due to the long operations Thursday, Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Thomas Reiter will open the hatch to the supply ship on Friday. Supplies on the Progress include food, fuel, oxygen and air, clothing, experiment hardware and spare parts, as well as personal items from the crew's families. The new Progress joins an older Progress supply ship that arrived at the station's Pirs Docking Compartment in June. Progress 22 will remain docked until mid-January. It will be used to stow trash, and its supply of oxygen will help replenish the station's atmosphere when required.

ISS Progress 23 holds 1,918 pounds of propellant for the Russian thrusters, 110 pounds of oxygen and almost 2,800 pounds of spare parts, experiment hardware and life support components, including parts for the Russian Elektron oxygen-generation system. The system has been inoperable since last month, and Tyurin is expected to resume repairs on the unit next week.

Engineers continue to review data from the station's S-band communications system, which experienced dropouts late last week in the transmission link of one of two redundant channels used for voice and commanding capability. After collecting data last weekend from "string 1" of the S-band system, its transmitter was reactivated Wednesday, but the communications problem occurred once again.

"String 2" of the system is being used for voice and commanding with no impact to station activities. Flight controllers are analyzing the problem to determine if any procedural adjustments must be made for the upcoming flight of Discovery to the station on the STS-116 mission.

In other activities, the crew conducted sound level measurements in the station's modules and installed cables in the Russian segment of the station. They performed regular station maintenance and took time to chat with a reporter from the Orange County Register in California on Tuesday. Reiter continued his work with European plant growth experiments while throughout the week Lopez-Alegria did log entries for a sleep experiment.

In two weeks, the crew will begin preparations for a spacewalk Nov. 22 by Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria in Russian Orlan suits from the Pirs Docking Compartment to replace and retrieve several science experiments from the hull of the Zvezda Service Module. Tyurin also plans to hit a golf ball from a bracket on Pirs as part of a Russian commercial activity.

On Monday, Expedition 14 Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin installed new valves and cables to repair the Elektron oxygen-generation unit which shut down in mid-September. Tyurin re-activated it after installing the new parts, and the Elektron is supplying oxygen for the cabin atmosphere.

The crew unpacked most of the items from the recently arrived Russian Progress cargo ship including the Elektron parts, fresh food and other systems hardware. The rest will be unpacked as needed and as time permits.

Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria worked on robotics proficiency tasks throughout the week. At the start of the week, ground controllers relocated the Mobile Transporter to a different worksite on the station's truss. On Wednesday, Lopez-Alegria maneuvered the Canadarm2 robotic arm over to the transporter and its operating base from the arm's normal home base on the Destiny Lab. The free end of the arm was photographed to help robotics specialists as they evaluate an issue that can cause snares to misalign inside the arm's end effector.

On Thursday, Lopez-Alegria connected the free end of the arm to another grapple fixture on the Mobile Base System and released the opposite end. Friday, the Mobile Transporter was moved by ground controllers to the outermost worksite on the port truss. It will provide support there for the Canadarm2 operations during the next shuttle assembly mission, STS-116. Next week Lopez-Alegria will check out the robotic system for the shuttle flight, which will bring and install a new truss spacer segment to the station.

Lopez-Alegria set up and activated cameras for a session of the Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students, or EarthKAM experiment.

The middle school students study the Earth, then control a special digital camera mounted on the space station to photograph coastlines, mountain ranges and other geographic items from the unique vantage point of space. At the University of California at San Diego, an undergraduate student team manages the image requests and posts the photographs on the Internet for the public and participating classrooms around the world to view. More than 107 schools from 10 countries participated in this session.

The second sample of seeds for the Analysis of a Novel Sensory Mechanism in Root Phototropism was harvested and frozen in the Minus-Eighty Laboratory Freezer, a cold storage unit that maintains experiment samples at temperatures of -80 C, -26 C, or 4 C throughout a mission. Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter worked with the experiment, which will increase the understanding of the different systems plants use to determine the direction their roots and shoots should grow and which genes are responsible for successful plant growth.

Reiter also continued work on a suite of European Space Agency science experiments. One such experiment, called CARD, is helping scientists examine the relationship between salt intake and the cardiovascular system when exposed to the microgravity environment.

Crewmembers typically experience reduced blood pressure in microgravity. To help them readjust to gravity on Earth, they take salt tablets just before returning, which temporarily increases the blood volume. CARD is looking at the effects of ingesting occasional salt supplements throughout the long duration mission. This experiment's results could also help improve treatment of patients on Earth with heart failure.

The crew began gathering tools for a Nov. 22 spacewalk by Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria in Russian Orlan suits from the Pirs Docking Compartment. They will replace and retrieve several science experiments from the hull of the Zvezda Service Module.

Tyurin also plans to hit a golf ball from a bracket on Pirs as part of a Russian commercial activity.

Throughout the week the crew prepared the Pirs docking compartment for the Nov. 22 spacewalk by Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin. The astronauts gathered tools and equipment they will use on the nearly six-hour spacewalk.

Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin next week will prepare the Russian Orlan spacesuits they will wear for the excursion. During the spacewalk they will relocate a communications antenna, install new experiment hardware and photograph a Kurs rendezvous system antenna on the Progress supply ship that docked last month to the Zvezda module's aft docking port. Tyurin also will conduct a Russian commercial demonstration by hitting a golf ball teed up on the exterior of Pirs.

A top priority for Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter this week was packing material destined to return to Earth on the Space Shuttle Discovery in December. Lopez-Alegria completed a routine checkout of the Mobile Servicing System that moves the station's robotic arm up and down the truss, in support of that shuttle assembly flight.

On mission STS-116, targeted to launch Dec. 7, the shuttle crew will deliver another component of the station's girder-like truss structure and perform spacewalks to rewire the station's electrical system. The shuttle crew includes astronaut Suni Williams, who will relieve Reiter on board. Reiter will have spent six months on the complex.

Lopez-Alegria, the NASA International Space Station Science Officer for Expedition 14, collected his third set of blood and urine samples for the Nutritional Status Assessment experiment. This experiment measures physiological indicators of the changes in the human body during spaceflight.

The samples are stored in the Minus-Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer aboard the station. Once returned to Earth the blood and urine samples will be analyzed to understand a wide variety of bodily systems, including hormonal changes and how they relate to stress, bone and muscle metabolism. Scientists will also look at markers to measure bone metabolism, oxidative damage, and vitamin and mineral status.

These findings are expected to give researchers a better understanding of what happens to crewmembers in space and when it happens. It also will help to define nutritional requirements and develop food systems for future missions to the moon and Mars.

Working hundreds of miles away from home didn't stop Lopez-Alegria from participating in this week's general election. Texas law permits residents who happen to be in orbit on Election Day to cast a ballot from space. This was first done by David Wolf from the Mir space station in 1997. Lopez-Alegria made his choices on an encrypted computer ballot that was downlinked to Mission Control and forwarded to the county clerk's office in Houston for tabulation.

Lopez-Alegria, who will make his sixth spacewalk, and Tyurin, with three previous spacewalks to his credit, climbed into Russian Orlan spacesuits Friday to test all systems and communications gear. This ended a week during which the spacewalkers also installed U.S. lights on their suit helmets, reviewed procedures for the extravehicular activity and performed leak checks on the Progress 22 craft currently docked to the Pirs airlock.

The six-hour spacewalk includes a commercial golf demonstration by Tyurin. Under a commercial agreement between the Russian Federal Space Agency and a Canadian golf company, Tyurin will hit a golf ball into space from a spring-mounted tee on the ladder next to the hatch of Pirs. The ball will be tapped over the back of the station's Russian segment so that the ball travels away from the complex. NASA flight controllers have calculated that it will burn up in the atmosphere in about three days. The ball weighs much less than the standard 45 gram golf ball. The ball used for this demonstration weighs three grams, approximately the weight of three paper clips.

During the spacewalk, Tyurin will examine part of the ISS Progress 23 cargo ship. One of the antennas for the Progress' automated docking system may have failed to fold back when the spacecraft approached the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module on Oct. 26. If it's necessary, Tyurin will manually retract that antenna.

Also, Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin will reposition a communications antenna on the aft end of Zvezda associated with next year's docking of the European Automated Transfer Vehicle, check restraining bolts on one of two Russian cargo cranes attached to Pirs and deploy an experiment to measure solar flares.

Wednesday marked the first live high-definition television broadcast from space. It featured Lopez-Alegria, with Reiter serving as camera operator. The broadcasts were conducted by NHK Television in Japan and the Discovery HD Theater. Known as the Space Video Gateway, the HD system onboard transmits high bandwidth digital television signals to the ground through a computer. Previously, high-definition video was recorded and then returned to Earth for viewing.

Flight controllers this week continued to test one of the station's four control moment gyroscopes (CMGs). CMG-3 exhibited high vibrations and electrical currents in the past and was shut down Oct. 9. The recent test results will be compared to a previous series of tests to provide additional data on the state of the gyroscope's accelerometer, lubricant and lubrication of the spin bearings.

CMG-3 is scheduled to be removed and replaced on the STS-118 shuttle mission, targeted for launch in June 2007. The gyroscope will be stowed and returned to Earth on the STS-122 mission next fall. The station continues to function on three healthy CMGs without affecting operations.

Reiter also continued work this week on a suite of European Space Agency science experiments, including one called CASPER. Its objective is to develop ways to help astronauts sleep better during long-duration missions. Alteino Long Term Monitoring of Cosmic Rays or ALTCRISS is another experiment Reiter performed. It is allowing scientists to study the effects of shielding on cosmic rays. The information gained may help engineers better understand the radiation environment and how to provide efficient shielding against it.

With Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter inside to monitor systems, Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin opened the hatch to the Pirs Docking Compartment airlock at 6:17 p.m. CST as the station flew over the Atlantic Ocean near the west coast of Africa. They wore Russian Orlan spacesuits for the 19th spacewalk conducted out of Pirs since it was mated to the Russian segment of the station in September 2001 during Tyurin's first flight as part of Expedition 3.

The start of the spacewalk was delayed more than an hour after Tyurin encountered a problem with a cooling hose for his spacesuit. He climbed out the suit to reposition the hose, and uninterrupted cooling for the suit was restored.

After setting up tools and equipment outside Pirs, Tyurin placed a three-gram golf ball on a spring-mounted tee and clamped it onto the ladder next to the Pirs hatch. Appearing uncomfortable with his feet planted on the ladder, Tyurin used a gold-plated six-iron to tap the golf ball safely away from the aft end of the Zvezda Service Module. Tyurin said he was pleased with his golf shot, and Russian flight controllers chose not to have him hit another ball so the crew could tackle other tasks.

Tyurin's golf shot was part of a demonstration for a commercially sponsored endeavor between a Canadian golf company and the Russian Federal Space Agency. The golf club and three balls were flown to the station on recent Russian Progress cargo ships. NASA's safety analysis showed that the balls will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up in about three days. The balls weigh only about as much as three one-dollar bills.

The two spacewalkers then moved to the end of Zvezda where the recently arrived ISS Progress 23 cargo ship is docked. Tyurin released a latch on one of the antennas for the craft's Kurs automated rendezvous system that failed to retract when the Progress docked on Oct. 26. Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria attempted to move the so-called "orientation" antenna back to its retracted and stowed position with their hands and with a prybar, but the antenna would not budge. Russian flight controllers also sent commands to drive the antenna to its retracted position, but that also failed.

The spacewalkers took a number of pictures to send to Russian engineers, who will evaluate options for freeing the stuck antenna on a future spacewalk. The engineers surmise something may be frozen in the linkage for the antenna's drive mechanism, preventing it from moving.

While at the aft of Zvezda, Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria spent a few minutes removing and repositioning one of several communications antennas previously installed around the module's docking port. This will assist the docking of the European Automated Transfer Vehicle that will be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana next year.

In its previous location, the antenna partially blocked the opening of one of Zvezda's engine covers. The antenna was reinstalled less than a foot from its original position, out of the way of future operations with the engine.

Next, Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin moved to the top of the forward section of Zvezda to install an experiment called "BTN-Neutron" that will measure the volume of neutron particles emitted by solar flares that reach low Earth orbit. The crew wrapped up its work by jettisoning a pair of thermal covers for the experiment that will be tracked by flight controllers to ensure they pose no possibility of hitting the station or the shuttle Discovery that is scheduled for an assembly mission to the station in a few weeks.

It was the 73rd spacewalk in support of station assembly and maintenance totaling 444 hours and 14 minutes of time outside the outpost and the first of four scheduled during Expedition 14. The spacewalk was the sixth in Lopez-Alegria's career and the fourth for Tyurin.

Shuttle Discovery is due to launch at 8:35 p.m. CST Thursday, Dec. 7 on mission STS-116. In addition to work that will bring power online at the station from solar arrays delivered to the complex in September, Discovery also will bring a new crew member to the outpost.

Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Thomas Reiter reviewed the STS-116 mission plans this week. They prepared the station's Quest airlock, spacesuits and tools for three spacewalk planned for the shuttle mission. The crew packed equipment that will return to Earth aboard the shuttle, including Reiter's personal items since he will get a ride home aboard Discovery. STS-116 astronaut Sunita Williams will replace him as an Expedition 14 flight engineer.

Flight controllers worked on two problems aboard the station this week, neither of which is expected to affect Discovery's launch or mission.

An attempted reboost of the space station's altitude was cut short Wednesday. Russian flight controllers suspect that sensitive software detected a slight shift in the orientation of the station as the thrusters were fired. The change in orientation is believed to be normal, but it is new for the station due to the changes in its mass and balance resulting from the addition of the new solar arrays and truss segment in September.

The Progress cargo craft's thrusters fired for 3 minutes, 16 seconds before automatically shutting off. They had planned to fire for 18 minutes, 22 seconds. Russian controllers plan to complete the reboost Monday with a 21-minute firing of the Progress thrusters and a software adjustment. The reboost next Monday, planned for around 3:35 p.m. CST, will optimize Discovery's rendezvous with the station.

Flight controllers are analyzing a problem that occurred during testing of a new software package used to detect and solve problems with the station's giant Solar Alpha Rotary Joint. The joint is used to rotate the new solar arrays, allowing them to track the sun. The new software is designed to automatically realign the teeth of the joint's gears should they become misaligned, rather than requiring controllers to send commands for the realignment.

However, while running through a test of the software on Tuesday, a remote power controller, or station circuit breaker, opened. The circuit breaker was successfully reset on Thursday. Extensive analysis and troubleshooting appears to indicate there is no problem with any equipment aboard the station. Work continues, however, to refine the new software.

Discovery's seven-member crew will link up with the International Space Station on Monday to begin a complex, week-long stay that will rewire the outpost and increase its power supply. During three spacewalks and intricate choreography with ground controllers, the astronauts will bring electrical power on line generated by a giant solar array wing delivered to the station in September.

Aboard Discovery are Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein, and mission specialists Nicholas Patrick, Joan Higginbotham, Bob Curbeam, Sunita Williams and Christer Fuglesang, a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut. Aboard the station awaiting Discovery's arrival are Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Thomas Reiter, also an ESA astronaut.

Williams and Reiter will switch places when Discovery arrives. Williams will begin a six-month stay as a station crew member and Reiter will journey home on Discovery. Reiter has been on the station since July.

After reaching orbit tonight, Discovery's crew began procedures to open the shuttle’s payload bay doors and set up computers and other equipment. They also plan to power up the shuttle's robotic arm to check its operation. They will use the arm on Sunday to inspect Discovery's heat shield. On Monday, Discovery is planned to dock to the station at about 3:47 p.m. CST.

During the mission, Fuglesang and Curbeam will conduct two spacewalks. Williams and Curbeam will perform a third spacewalk. The mission will retract one solar array on the station and begin the rotation of a giant joint on the complex to allow the recently added arrays to track the sun. The astronauts will rearrange the power cabling to a more resilient permanent setup, and they will prepare for the startup of new cooling systems.

Mission Control will power down virtually the entire station at one point or another to prepare it for the crew's work. The results will ready the complex for more solar arrays and laboratories to be added next year.

As Discovery launched, the station was 220 miles above southern England near Southampton. Discovery's crew begins a sleep period at 1:47 a.m. CST Sunday and will awaken for their first full day in space at 9:47 a.m. CST Sunday.

The astronauts will use the shuttle’s robotic arm to unberth the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) for a detailed examination of Discovery’s thermal protection system. Once the reinforced carbon-carbon on the wings’ leading edges and Discovery’s nose have been inspected, they will stow the boom and use the robotic arm to inspect Discovery’s crew cabin and orbital maneuvering system pods on either side of the tail.

In preparation for docking, the astronauts will install a centerline camera and extend the outer ring of the Orbiter Docking System. They also will check out rendezvous tools. Docking is scheduled for a little after 4 p.m. Monday. After hatch opening and welcome, Williams will become a member of the station’s Expedition 14 crew and stay for the first half of Expedition 15. Thomas Reiter, who joined Expedition 13 at its midway point and stayed for the first part of Expedition 14, will come home aboard Discovery.

Discovery’s astronauts also will check out the spacesuits to be used on three spacewalks outside the International Space Station. Curbeam and Fuglesang will do the first two spacewalks, and Williams will join Curbeam for the third. The primary goal of the first spacewalk is to install the P5 segment of the station’s main truss. The two subsequent spacewalks will focus on rewiring of the station’s electrical system, switching it from a temporary configuration to its permanent power grid.

Discovery’s crew was awakened at 9:48 a.m. Sunday with "Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles, played for Polansky. The station crew, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Reiter, got their regular wakeup tone at 9:20 a.m.

Discovery’s crew, Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein and Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Joan Higginbotham, Bob Curbeam, Sunita Williams and Christer Fuglesang, are looking forward to a very busy day. So are members of the station crew, Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Thomas Reiter.

The shuttle crew was awakened at 9:18 a.m. CST with the song "Beep Beep," performed by Louis Prima. It was played for Williams.

Rendezvous operations will begin at about 10:35 a.m. CST. The terminal initiation engine firing by Discovery, a firing that begins the final phase of the rendezvous when the shuttle is about nine miles behind the station, is scheduled for 1:28 p.m. CST.

By 3 p.m. CST, Discovery should be about 600 feet below the station. At that point, Polansky will guide the shuttle through a backflip called the rendezvous pitch maneuver. The maneuver will allow station crew members to photograph Discovery's heat shield. The electronic images will be transmitted to the ground for analysis by engineers.

Shortly after docking, a safety briefing and a welcome ceremony, Williams will transfer her custom seat liner to the Soyuz spacecraft docked to the station. When that happens, she becomes a member of the station crew. At the same time, Reiter becomes a Discovery crew member for his ride home, completing about six months in space.

A little after 7:15 p.m. CST, Discovery’s robotic arm will lift the 4,100-pound P5 truss segment from the shuttle's cargo bay. It will be handed off to the station’s arm, where it will stay during the crews’ sleep period, in preparation for its installation on Tuesday.

To prepare for the mission's first spacewalk, Curbeam and Fuglesang will spend tonight in the station’s airlock, where pressure will be reduced to 10.2 psi, a pressure roughly equal to the atmosphere on Earth at about 10,000 feet above sea level. The airlock "campout" at the lower pressure protects against decompression sickness, commonly called "the bends," as the two go to the even lower pressure of spacesuits on Tuesday.

Discovery’s crew entered the station complex at 5:54 p.m. CST as Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria rang the on-board ship’s bell, a centuries-old naval tradition. Lopez-Alegria and crewmates Mikhail Tyurin and Thomas Reiter greeted Discovery Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein and Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Joan Higginbotham, Bob Curbeam, Sunita Williams and Christer Fuglesang with smiles and hugs. The warm welcome followed a 4:12 p.m. rendezvous and docking.

Before launching into their first joint task of the mission -- extracting the new P5 truss member from Discovery’s cargo hold -- the combined crew was called upon to conduct an impromptu inspection of the tip of Discovery’s port wing using the space station’s robotic arm. The inspection was precipitated by a minor vibration reading on a wing sensor in that area about 4:30 a.m. Monday.

Though the single reading could indicate an on-orbit impact, it was not unusual and mission managers did not expect to find any damage. End-effector camera views will allow imagery analysts in Houston to verify that the reinforced carbon-carbon panels on the wing’s leading edge are unscathed. The imagery analysis team also began to review pictures taken of Discovery’s belly during its approach to the station. Teams will meet overnight to determine if a final inspection of the orbiter’s tiles is needed.

The added task delayed unberthing of the 4,100-pound truss section about an hour. But once the inspection was complete, the crew used the shuttle’s robotic arm to pull the truss section out of the payload bay and hand it to the station arm. The P5 truss will remain suspended over Discovery’s port wing overnight, awaiting installation in the first of three planned spacewalks tomorrow.

Before going to bed, the crews gathered for a thorough review of the plan for tomorrow’s spacewalk. Curbeam and Fuglesang will spend tonight in the station’s airlock, where pressure will be reduced to 10.2 psi. The airlock "campout" will purge the spacewalkers’ bloodstreams of nitrogen bubbles and protect against decompression sickness as the two go to the even lower pressure of spacesuits on Tuesday.

Discovery’s crew is scheduled to awaken at 9:47 a.m. CST Tuesday, and the Expedition 14 crew at 10:17 a.m. The spacewalk is to begin at 2:22 p.m., with truss installation expected at 4:07 p.m.

The six-hour, 10-minute excursion by astronauts Bob Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang is set to begin at 2:42 p.m. CST. Curbeam and Fuglesang spent the night in the station's Quest airlock, from which they will begin the spacewalk. The installation of the new truss section, called the P5 truss, will require intricate teamwork by the astronauts. The spacewalkers will visually guide astronaut Joan Higginbotham as she maneuvers the piece in place from aboard the station using the station's robotic arm. The installation is a tight fit -- at times with only a couple of inches to spare.

Discovery remains in good condition. Mission Control has informed Discovery's crew that engineers analyzing imagery of the shuttle's heat shield likely will not request a focused inspection of heat shield areas during time that could be set aside for that activity tomorrow. Mission managers will review the status of all shuttle systems during their regular meeting this afternoon.

Discovery's crew changed late yesterday. Astronaut Sunita Williams, who launched aboard Discovery, officially became a member of the Expedition 14 station crew at 11 p.m. CST Monday as reported by station commander Michael Lopez-Alegria. At the same time, European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter, who has been on the station since July, became a member of Discovery's crew for a trip home. Williams joins Lopez-Alegria and Expedition 14 Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin aboard the station as she begins a six-month stay.

Discovery’s crew, Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein and Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Curbeam, Fuglesang, Higginbotham and Reiter, were awakened at 9:47 a.m. CST to the song "Waterloo," performed by ABBA. The song was played for Fuglesang.

The installation of the P5 truss is expected to begin about 4:07 p.m. CST, after Curbeam and Fuglesang have removed launch restraints and a arm capture fixture that is no longer needed. Once the segment has been maneuvered into its permanent position, the spacewalkers will bolt it in place and hook up electrical connections. At the end of the spacewalk, they will replace a malfunctioning camera on the starboard side of the station truss.

During the spacewalk, Curbeam will wear a spacesuit with red stripes on the legs. Fuglesang will be in an all-white suit.

Furling of the wing, the left wing of the station's P6 solar arrays that were launched and deployed in December 2000, is the first step as astronauts and Mission Control begin a complex rewiring of the station's power system. The array retraction, performed slowly and in stages, should begin about 12:22 p.m. CST. Within about 40 minutes, the 115-foot long wing should be folded to only a few feet in length. At about 2 p.m. CST, the ground will send commands to power up a giant rotating joint on the station's truss that will begin turning, paddle wheel-style, a new set of solar arrays that were added to the station in September.

The joint, called the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint, will allow the new arrays to track the sun as it rises and sets with each station orbit. If the left P6 solar array wing was not retracted, it would interfere with the rotation of the new set of arrays.

The retraction of the final few feet of the left P6 wing should be completed by 5:17 p.m. CST. The rotation of the new set of arrays, called the P4 arrays, sets the stage for activities beginning tomorrow, during the mission's second spacewalk, to rewire the station. The rewiring will bring power generated by the P4 arrays on line for use by the station's systems and prepare for more arrays to be added next year.

The retraction isn’t the only thing on today’s schedule. The shuttle crewmembers, Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein and Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Bob Curbeam, Christer Fuglesang, Joan Higginbotham and Thomas Reiter, will join their station colleagues in transfer activities, moving equipment and supplies between the two spacecraft.

A total of 4,107 pounds was brought up in the single Spacehab module in Discovery’s cargo bay. An additional 1,107 pounds came up on the shuttle middeck. The shuttle is to take 2,998 pounds from the station back to Earth in Spacehab and 727 pounds on the middeck.

Oefelein, Patrick, Curbeam and Fuglesang will take a break from their work at 7:07 p.m. CST for an interview by CBS Radio, Fox Radio and Space.com.

Discovery’s crew received its wakeup call at 9:17 a.m. CST with the song, "Suavemente," performed by Elvis Crespo, played for Higginbotham. The station crew, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Sunita Williams, got their wakeup tone half an hour later.

Curbeam and Fuglesang spent the night in the station's Quest airlock at a reduced atmospheric pressure of 10.2 psi. The "campout" procedure reduces nitrogen levels in the blood to help avoid decompression sickness as the astronauts go to the even lower pressure of spacesuits.

The spacewalk is planned to last about six hours. The two spacewalkers are scheduled to reconfigure two of the station's four power channels, channels 2 and 3, bringing power on line from the new set of solar arrays added to the station in September. The remaining two power channels, 1 and 4, will be reconfigured in a third spacewalk on Saturday. The changes will convert the station power system to a permanent setup, ready for even more arrays and science modules to be added next year.

At about 11:22 a.m. CST, station flight controllers will be sending commands that will power down roughly half of the station's systems in preparation for the spacewalkers' rewiring job this afternoon. The result will partially power down some communications systems, lighting, ventilation systems and backup computers, among other systems. Once the spacewalkers have completed the new power connections, flight controllers will power all the equipment and systems back on. As changes are made in the power system, additional cooling systems also will need to be brought online as well.

Late last night, half of the new cooling system for the P4 truss was filled with ammonia to be ready to begin circulating today when pumps are activated.

During the spacewalk, Curbeam, who will wear a suit with red stripes on the legs, and Fuglesang, who will wear an all-white suit, also will relocate two small handcarts that run along rails on the station’s main truss. Expedition 14 Flight Engineer Suni Williams and Discovery Mission Specialist Joan Higginbotham will operate the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm in support of the spacewalk.

Managers and engineers continue to evaluate whether further actions will be taken during STS-116 to complete the retraction of the port P6 truss solar array. The array was retracted almost halfway Wednesday, with only 17 bays of its center mast remaining extended. Fully extended, the mast has 31 bays. The array was retracted sufficiently to allow the new P4 solar arrays to begin rotating last night, an operation that was completed without problems. In their current state, the P6 port array and the P4 arrays have more than 16 feet of clearance from one another. Should they remain as they are, the partially retracted arrays pose no issue for the shuttle's undocking or any planned station activities until a Soyuz relocation flight set for April 2007.

A decision on any further action regarding the partially retracted array – including a possible fourth spacewalk during STS-116 for Curbeam and Fuglesang to assist in the retraction -- is not expected before Saturday.

Discovery’s crew was awakened at 9:17 a.m. CST today with the song, "Under Pressure," performed by Queen. It was played for Curbeam. The station crew, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Williams, woke up a half-hour later.

Mission Specialists Bob Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang rewired channels 2 and 3 of the station’s power system in a five-hour spacewalk Thursday. A similar task will be done with the two remaining station power channels, channels 1 and 4, on Saturday. However, for Saturday's spacewalk, Curbeam will be joined by International Space Station Flight Engineer Suni Williams for the outside work while Fuglesang will coordinate activities inside the spacecraft. Once the third spacewalk is complete, power will be fully online from the station’s P4 Truss solar array wings, which were installed in September. At that point, the station's power system will be ready for additional expansion with more arrays and new laboratories to be delivered next year.

Discovery Commander Mark Polansky and his crew—Pilot Bill Oefelein and Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Joan Higginbotham, Thomas Reiter, Curbeam and Fuglesang—were awakened at about 8:52 a.m. CST to the song "Low Rider," performed by War, and played for Oefelein.

Discovery and the station are in good condition. Discovery is currently maintaining the orientation of both the station and shuttle using the shuttle steering jets, a function it began performing during preparations for the spacewalk on Thursday. Control of the station's orientation was transferred to Discovery on Thursday as part of the normal preparations of the station's power system for the rewiring job. The station usually uses its own control moment gyroscopes to maintain its orientation, without having to use fuel.

Originally, control of the station's orientation was to be transferred back to those gyroscopes late Thursday after the spacewalk tasks were completed and station systems powered up. However, problems were experienced as that transfer was attempted. Flight controllers believe the problems were due to a higher than usual amount of atmospheric drag currently experienced by the station due to recent solar activity. They may attempt to transfer control of orientation back to the station again today, although the shuttle thrusters can be used if needed for that purpose through the rest of the mission. If necessary, the station has thrusters that can be used for orientation control as well.

During the first half of their day, the astronauts will transfer supplies and equipment between the station and shuttle. At 1:07 p.m. the two European Space Agency astronauts, Fuglesang of Sweden and Reiter of Germany, will participate in a VIP call from Swedish dignitaries. At 2:47 p.m. all 10 astronauts and cosmonauts on the shuttle/station complex will conduct a news conference with reporters in the U.S. and Europe. The shuttle crewmembers will be off duty the last half of the day.

Station Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin are scheduled for interviews with KNX Radio, Los Angeles, and National Public Radio at 4:27 p.m. CST.

Engineers investigating the difficulties with fully retracting the port-side solar array wing of the station's P6 Truss believe a guide wire may be snagged in a swiveling grommet on one of the array's panels. The snag could be keeping the panels from folding up completely. The array remains almost halfway retracted as it has been since Wednesday. Early this morning, station flight controllers commanded the array through a series of "wiggle" tests, swiveling the wing 10 degrees at a time repeatedly to see if that would help the situation. They are continuing to evaluate the results of those tests and to investigate options for further work with the array, including the potential to add a spacewalk to latter part of this mission. Options also may include some additional troubleshooting commanding that could be performed with the array during the crew's day today.

The final attempt of the day came at 8:04 p.m. CST when Expedition 14 Flight Engineer Sunita Williams deployed the P6 solar array blanket slightly and then retracted it the same distance. This left 14 of the array’s 31 bays in their storage box, the same condition in which they started the day.

After the deployment and retraction technique made no significant progress in clearing the jam, the team briefed the crew on an inspection task that is being planned for use at the end of the mission’s third spacewalk. The task would be added only if the rest of the electrical rewiring activities planned for the excursion go smoothly. Mission managers have not yet decided whether a fourth spacewalk will be attempted, but the inspection task on the third spacewalk could provide information valuable to those making the decision.

Earlier in the day, flight controllers "wiggled" the solar arrays using the beta gimbal assembly, a rotating mechanism on the truss, and the crew worked out vigorously on an a resistive exercise device. Both techniques were attempts to jostle the guide wires and stainless steel grommets that are believed to be the cause of the stalled retraction.

The third spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 1:37 p.m. CST Saturday. During the excursion, Mission Specialist Bob Curbeam and Williams will finish rewiring the station’s power system, stow three Service Module Debris Panel bundles, install an adjustable grapple bar and, if time permits, troubleshoot the problem with the stuck array. The spacewalk will be Williams’ first.

In addition to their troubleshooting activites, the crew shared its experiences in space with both U.S. and European news media during a joint press conference today, and the two European Space Agency astronauts, Christer Fuglesang of Sweden and Thomas Reiter of Germany, participated in a VIP call with Swedish dignitaries.

STS-116 Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein, Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Joan Higginbotham, Curbeam, Reiter and Fuglesang also continued to transfer food, supplies and equipment with the help of Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Williams. The spacefarers also enjoyed some off-duty time together.

Meanwhile, the new Port 4 solar arrays continued to rotate and track the sun, generating power for the station. Flight controllers completed re-powering station systems using the updated electrical grid and power from the new solar arrays delivered in September.

To prepare for the spacewalk, Curbeam and Williams will "camp out" in the Quest airlock starting at 10:57 p.m. Spending the night at a reduced atmospheric pressure of 10.2 psi will purge their bloodstreams of nitrogen bubbles to protect against "the bends." The rest of the crewmembers begin their sleep period at 12:47 a.m. Saturday.

Discovery Mission Specialist Bob Curbeam and station Flight Engineer Sunita Williams will venture outside to finish the job started on Thursday’s spacewalk. Station flight controllers will begin commanding about half of the station's systems to power down at about 10:52 a.m. CST. After Mission Control has cut the power on the two station electrical channels that are the subject of today's work, channels 1 and 4, the spacewalkers will rewire them. Completing that task will put the station power system in its permanent configuration, ready for more solar arrays and laboratories to be added in 2007.

Curbeam and Mission Specialist Christer Fuglesang, a European Space Agency astronaut from Sweden, completed a rewiring job on the other two station power channels, channels 2 and 3, during a spacewalk on Thursday.

Additional tasks for today’s spacewalk include relocating debris shield panels from the station’s interior to a storage point outside. The panels, designed to increase the protection of the station's Zvezda living quarters module, will be installed during a later spacewalk by the station crew. Curbeam and Williams also will install a robotic arm grapple fixture.

Today's spacewalk is planned to be completed at 7:47 p.m. CST, but can go longer if needed. If time allows after all originally planned tasks are completed during the excursion, one or both of the spacewalkers will move up the P6 truss atop the station to the base of its partially retracted port solar wing. From that point, they will push on a blanket box into which the array has been folding to attempt to jiggle apparently misaligned guide wires and grommets into place. The result may allow additional retraction of the array.

Meanwhile, managers are continuing to evaluate a possible fourth spacewalk that would take place on Monday to attempt to fully retract the array. However, no decision has been made regarding whether that spacewalk will be pursued. To prepare for that possibility, the spacewalkers today may bring several tools inside the station that would need to be prepared with insulating tape for use on a fourth spacewalk.

The transfer of equipment and supplies between the two spacecraft continues. Late Friday, the crews were slightly ahead of the transfer schedule.

Inside the station today, station Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin will replace a component of the orbiting laboratory’s carbon dioxide removal system to restore it to full operation.

The orientation of the shuttle and station is again being controlled by the station's control moment gyroscopes. Small shuttle thrusters had been controlling the orientation of the spacecraft since Friday, when an initial attempt to switch to gyroscope control was not successful. A second attempt Saturday worked. Flight controllers believe the difficulty was due to increased atmospheric drag resulting from recent solar activity.

Shuttle crewmembers Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein and Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Curbeam, Fuglesang, Joan Higginbotham and Thomas Reiter, along with Williams in the airlock campout, were awakened at 8:52 a.m. CST to composer Aaron Copeland’s "Fanfare for the Common Man," performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The music was played for Patrick.

Staying behind on the newly rewired space station were Expedition 14 Flight Engineer Sunita Williams, and departing with Discovery’s crew was Thomas Reiter, a European Space Agency astronaut on his way home after a six-month space voyage.

Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin rang the ship’s bell in Navy fashion and saluted the shuttle and crew as they departed. "From the crew of Discovery – we wish you smooth sailing – thank you for the hard work, and we hope you enjoy the new electrical system on the station," STS-116 Commander Mark Polansky radioed back from a distance of 650 feet during a half-lap fly-around.

Pilot Bill Oefelein was at the controls for the fly-around, which gave Discovery’s crew a look at its handiwork, a new P5 spacer truss segment and a fully retracted P6 solar array wing. During 7 days, 23 hours and 58 minutes of docked operations, the combined crew installed the newest piece of the station’s backbone and completely rewired the station’s power grid over the course of four spacewalks.

Before the hatches closed at 1:42 p.m., Mission Specialist Joan Higginbotham and her cargo team had transferred more than two tons of food, water and equipment for use by the Expedition 14 crew and its newest member. They also filled Discovery’s pressurized cargo carrier with equipment and experiment samples returning to Earth.

Discovery fired its orbital maneuvering system engines to finish separation from the station at 6:12 p.m., bound for a landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:56 p.m. Friday, weather permitting.

On Wednesday, Polansky, Oefelein and Mission Specialist Nicholas Patrick will use the shuttle’s robotic arm and the Orbiter Boom Sensor System to inspect Discovery’s heat shield for damage from orbiting debris or micrometeoroids. Spacewalkers Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang will work with Higginbotham and Reiter to stow equipment and supplies used during the mission in preparation for landing.

During their eight days docked to the station, the shuttle crew also dropped off more than two tons of additional equipment and supplies and a new station crew member.

After some final equipment transfers between the two spacecraft, Discovery crew members will bid their station colleagues farewell. Hatch closing is scheduled for 12:57 p.m. CST. Undocking is to occur at 4:09 p.m.

With Pilot Bill Oefelein at the controls, Discovery will slowly move away from the station. A partial fly-around of the station will give the crew a look at the orbiting laboratory, with its new P5 spacer truss segment and the port wing of the P6 solar array fully retracted and firmly secured in its retention box.

Discovery will begin its departure from the area at about 6 p.m. The crew is to begin its scheduled sleep period at 10:47 p.m. Landing is scheduled for 2:56 p.m. CST Friday at Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

Highlights of docked operations include the four spacewalks. Mission Specialist Bob Curbeam participated in all of them, giving him the record for the number of spacewalks during a single shuttle mission. He teamed up with Sunita Williams, the new station crewmember for the third spacewalk, and with Mission Specialist Christer Fuglesang for the other three.

The first spacewalk was for the P5 truss segment installation, the second and third focused on the power reconfiguration, and the fourth was dedicated to completing retraction of the port solar wing of the P6 truss.

The P6 arrays were deployed in late 2000. On Wednesday almost half the port wing was retracted, leaving 17 bays out. Saturday spacewalkers Curbeam and Williams helped retract six more bays. In a dramatic Monday spacewalk, Curbeam and Fuglesang helped complete the retraction.

Discovery crewmembers -- Commander Mark Polansky, Oefelein and Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Curbeam, Fuglesang, Joan Higginbotham and Thomas Reiter, the European Space Agency astronaut from Germany who will be coming home after about six months in space -- were awakened at 7:47 a.m. CST to "The Zamboni Song," performed by the Gear Daddies. The song, dedicated to the entire crew, was requested by the training team who sent a message to Oefelein saying they had arranged for him to fly the shuttle half a lap around the station.

Aboard the station, Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Williams got their wakeup tone at 8:17 a.m.

One hour after removing the sensor-equipped 50-foot Orbiter Boom Sensor System from the payload bay with the shuttle’s robotic arm, Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein and Mission Specialist Nicholas Patrick began to scan the reinforced carbon-carbon surface of Discovery’s wings and its nose cap to ensure the shuttle incurred no micrometeoroid debris damage during its time in space. The six-hour inspection was completed at 4:22 p.m. Imagery and damage assessment teams at the Johnson Space Center immediately began analyzing the data. A report will be offered to mission managers on Thursday.

While the inspection was conducted, Mission Specialists Bob Curbeam, Joan Higginbotham and European Space Agency astronauts Christer Fuglesang and Thomas Reiter began to pack up equipment for Discovery’s scheduled landing Friday at the Kennedy Space Center. With only one wave-off day available on Saturday, backup landing sites at Edwards Air Force Base, CA and the White Sands Space Harbor, NM are being activated for landing support Friday in the event weather diverts the shuttle and its crew from the Florida spaceport. Discovery’s scheduled landing time at the Kennedy Space Center Friday is 2:56 p.m. CST.

Late today, Discovery’s astronauts sent commands to deploy small technology demonstration satellites for the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program.

The crew deployed a pair of coffee cup-sized satellites at 6:19 p.m. CST to demonstrate how a small, low-powered autonomous satellite can observe larger spacecraft. The Micro-Electromechanical System-Based PICOSAT Inspector, known as MEPSI, may one day use on-board imagery to assess spacecraft damage.

The crew then released another pair of small scientific satellites as part of a student experiment sponsored by the United States Naval Academy at 7:58 p.m. CST. The Radar Fence Transponder, or RAFT, experiment is designed to test technology for new spacecraft design.

The last satellite experiment, the Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment, or ANDE, will be deployed from Discovery’s payload bay Thursday afternoon. ANDE consists of two spherical microsatellites that will measure the density and composition of the low Earth orbit atmosphere while being tracked from the ground. The data will be used to better predict the movement of objects in orbit.

Aboard the International Space Station, the newly comprised Expedition 14 crew, Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Suni Williams, enjoyed their first full day together after Discovery’s departure yesterday.

Discovery’s astronauts will begin their sleep period just after 10 p.m. CST and will be awakened Thursday at 6:17 a.m. for a day in which they will check out the shuttle’s aero surfaces and steering jets in preparation for Friday’s landing.

After the inspection, Discovery will deploy two small scientific satellites. A third will be deployed Thursday.

Discovery Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein and Mission Specialist Nicholas Patrick will use the boom and sensor to look at thermal tiles on the shuttle’s underside. They also will inspect the reinforced carbon-carbon that protects the leading edges of the wings and the nose.

The heat shield inspection activities begin at 9:52 a.m. CST with the unberthing of the boom extension. Scanning of the heat shield with the sensor system begins at 10:52 a.m. and should take about five hours. The boom is to be reberthed into its cradle along the right side of the shuttle cargo bay at 4:22 p.m.

During the inspection, other Discovery astronauts will stow equipment in preparation for landing. Mission Specialists Bob Curbeam, Christer Fuglesang, Joan Higginbotham and Thomas Reiter will begin packing up in the shuttle’s cabin and the Spacehab module in its cargo bay.

At about 6:19 p.m. CST, the Microelectromechanical System-Based PICOSAT Inspector (MEPSI) mini-satellite will be released from Discovery's cargo bay. The coffee cup-sized satellite will demonstrate the use of tiny, low-power satellites to observe larger spacecraft. It will test the function of small camera systems and gyroscopes.

At about 7:56 p.m. CST, the Radar Fence Transponder (RAFT) satellite will be released from the cargo bay. The satellite is a student experiment from the United States Naval Academy that uses picosatellites to test the Space Surveillance Radar Fence.

All activities aboard Discovery are aimed toward a landing that would begin with a deorbit engine firing by the shuttle at 1:53 p.m. CST Friday that would lead to a touchdown at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., at 2:56 p.m. CST Friday. Mission Control continues to monitor the weather in Florida, and shuttle landing opportunities at both Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and at White Sands Space Harbor, N.M., also will be considered on Friday.

Fuglesang and Reiter are European Space Agency astronauts. Fuglesang, from Sweden, participated in three of the four spacewalks during Discovery’s stay at the station. Curbeam set a record for spacewalks on a shuttle mission, performing four. Reiter, from Germany, is returning aboard Discovery after six months on the station.

Discovery’s crew was awakened at 6:47 a.m. by "Say You’ll be Mine," performed by Christopher Cross. It was for Reiter.

On the orbiting laboratory, Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Sunita Williams are beginning a light-duty day after eight days of joint operations with Discovery. At 6:30 a.m. CST they were trailing Discovery by about 730 statute miles. The gap was increasing by more than 80 miles with each 91-minute orbit of the Earth.

STS-116 Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein, and Flight Engineer Bob Curbeam started checking out Discovery’s aerodynamic control surfaces at 9:31 a.m. CST, and test firing the shuttle's steering jets at 10:11 a.m. The commander and pilot also practiced landings on a laptop computer trainer, and performed final checks of the communications systems that will be used for landing.

A little later in the day, Mission Specialists Christer Fuglesang and Joan Higginbotham deployed a third small satellite from the shuttle’s cargo bay. The Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment (ANDE) microsatellite, ejected at 12:23 p.m., will gather information on atmospheric drag in low-Earth orbit. The first two microsatellites were deployed Wednesday.

Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick joined the rest of the crew in talking with reporters from CNN and ABC. Oefelein, who considers Anchorage, Alaska, to be his hometown, was the main focus of questions from students at the Challenger Learning Center of Alaska in Kenai.

Throughout the day, the crew took turns securing their gear for landing. The crew will awaken at 6:17 a.m. Friday, and begin final deorbit preparations at 9:48 a.m.

Entry Flight Director Norm Knight said landing sites at Kennedy Space Center, Fla.; Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.; and White Sands Space Harbor, N.M., all will be activated to support landing. The Friday forecast calls for a chance of rain and low clouds at Kennedy; potential strong crosswinds at Edwards; and acceptable landing conditions at White Sands.

Knight said the entry team’s strategy will be to watch weather conditions carefully, focusing – in order – on the first landing opportunity in Florida, the second opportunities in Florida and California, and the third opportunities in California and New Mexico. A fourth California opportunity is available, but may not be used. Saturday landing opportunities are available at all three locations if weather prohibits a Friday landing.

Discovery’s first landing opportunity Friday is to Kennedy, beginning with a deorbit engine firing at 1:49 p.m. CST with wheels touching down at 2:56 p.m. CST. The next opportunity is to Edwards with an engine firing at 3:19 p.m. CST leading to a 4:27 p.m. touchdown. The first opportunity to land at White Sands begins with an engine firing at 3:20 p.m. CST leading to a touchdown in New Mexico at 4:27 p.m.

Opportunities also exist for Discovery to land at Edwards with an engine firing at 4:54 p.m. CST leading to touchdown at 6 p.m. CST. A second opportunity to land at White Sands begins with an engine firing by the shuttle at 4:57 p.m. CST leading to a 6:02 p.m.

touchdown. The final Friday landing opportunity is to Edwards, beginning with an engine firing at 6:32 p.m. CST leading to a touchdown at 7:36 p.m. CST.

Meanwhile, the Expedition 14 crew aboard the International Space Station, is settling back to normal operations with its new member, Flight Engineer Sunita Williams. Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, are about halfway through their six-month increment. Williams, who arrived aboard Discovery, is just beginning her six months on the station. She’ll span the last half of Expedition 14 and the first half of Expedition 15.

The crew, Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein, and mission specialists Bob Curbeam, Nicholas Patrick, Christer Fuglesang, Joan Higginbotham and Thomas Reiter, were awakened at 6:17 a.m. CST to the song "The Road Less Traveled," performed by Joe Sample. It was played for Higginbotham.

The crew began stowing gear away at 8:47 a.m., with all seven crewmembers participating off and on during the day.

Polansky, Oefelein and Curbeam, who serves as flight engineer, checked out flight control surfaces – the wing and body flaps and the rudder – beginning at 9:17 a.m. CST. At 10:27 a.m., they began a test firing of the shuttle's steering jets used during the early portions of descent from orbit.

Fuglesang and Higginbotham will deploy the third of three small satellites from Discovery's cargo bay today. The first two were successfully pushed into space Wednesday. The Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment (ANDE) microsatellite will be deployed at 12:19 p.m. The satellite will gather information on atmospheric drag in low orbit.

After lunch, all seven crewmembers will talk with reporters from CNN and ABC, and with students at the Challenger Learning Center of Alaska in Kenai, Alaska.

The crew will review deorbit procedures at 2:32 p.m. CST. The KU-band antenna, used as the primary method to transmit television to the ground among other communications, will be stowed for landing at 7:17 p.m. CST. The crew begins a sleep period at 10:17 p.m.

Shuttle landing sites at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla.; Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.; and at White Sands Space Harbor, N.M. all will be active for a landing on Friday. The weather forecast currently calls for a chance of rain and low clouds at Kennedy; potential strong crosswinds at Edwards; and acceptable landing conditions at White Sands.

Discovery’s first landing opportunity Friday is to Kennedy, beginning with a deorbit engine firing at 1:49 p.m. CST with wheels touching down at 2:56 p.m. CST. The next opportunity is to Edwards with an engine firing to begin descent at 3:19 p.m. CST leading to a 4:27 p.m. touchdown. The first opportunity to land at White Sands begins with an engine firing at 3:20 p.m. CST leading to a touchdown in New Mexico at 4:32 p.m.

Opportunities also exist for Discovery to land at Edwards with a descent beginning with an engine firing at 4:54 p.m. CST leading to touchdown at 6 p.m. CST. A second opportunity to land at White Sands begins with an engine firing by the shuttle at 4:57 p.m. CST leading to a 6:02 p.m. touchdown.

The final landing opportunity available for Discovery on Friday is to Edwards, beginning with an engine firing at 6:32 p.m. CST leading to a touchdown at 7:36 p.m. CST.

Discovery is now about 2,200 statute miles ahead of the International Space Station. The distance increases by about 92 miles with each orbit.

Two station crew members, Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, are about half way through their six-month increment. The third crewmember, Flight Engineer Sunita Williams, came to the station aboard Discovery and is just beginning her six months on the station with the last half of Expedition 14 and the first half of Expedition 15.

That 6:18 a.m. CST call began a day that the crew and their support teams on the ground hope will see Discovery return to Earth after a successful flight to the International Space Station. After eight docked days and four spacewalks, the shuttle left the station with a new truss segment, a new crew member and a reconfigured power system.

All three U.S. landing sites will be activated today. Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the preferred shuttle landing site, will be the first opportunity, which would see a landing at 2:56 p.m. On the subsequent orbit the focus will be on Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and KSC. On the orbit after that Edwards and White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico would be the centers of attention.

Weather at Kennedy and Edwards is questionable. If the crew does not don its entry suits for the first Kennedy opportunity, a final landing chance of the day at Edwards is available to Discovery. Here are predicted CST times for the deorbit burn and landing times for each opportunity by orbit number and landing site:.

Orbit 202: Kennedy 1:49 p.m. 2:56 p.m.
Orbit 203: Edwards 3:19 p.m. 4:27 p.m.
Orbit 203: White Sands 3:20 p.m. 4:27 p.m.
Orbit 203: Kennedy 3:26 p.m. 4:32 p.m.
Orbit 204: Edwards 4:54 p.m. 6 p.m.
Orbit 204: White Sands 4:57 p.m. 6:02 p.m.
Orbit 205: Edwards 6:32 p.m. 7:36 p.m.

A total of seven landing opportunities scattered among the three sites are available Saturday if the shuttle is not able to land today.

For today’s opportunities, Discovery crew members, Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Bill Oefelein, and mission specialists Bob Curbeam, Nicholas Patrick, Christer Fuglesang, Joan Higginbotham and Thomas Reiter, who is returning home after about six months on the station, will begin deorbit preparations at 9:52 a.m. Payload bay door closing would be at 11:13 a.m. for the first landing opportunity.

Aboard the station, Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Sunita Williams, the new crew member who came up on Discovery, are back to their regular schedule. They got their wakeup tone today at midnight CST (6 a.m. in the GMT kept aboard the orbiting laboratory) and will begin a sleep period at 3:30 p.m.

After a New Year's Day holiday, Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Suni Williams spent most of the week installing the U.S. oxygen generation system activation kit in the Destiny laboratory. The parts had been delivered on shuttle mission STS-121 in July 2006. The new generator will supplement the Russian Elektron oxygen system on the station. The additional oxygen generating capacity will be important as the standard station crew size increases to six as the complex grows. In their work with the new system this week, Lopez-Alegria and Williams installed a hydrogen vent valve and power, data and fluid hoses and cables. The system will be activated and tested later this year.

Meanwhile, Expedition 14 Flight Engineer and cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin worked in the Russian segment of the station, where he upgraded soundproofing of the ventilation system. Tyurin installed new fans, sound-deadening vibration isolators and air ducts with acoustic shields to reduce the noise they create.

This morning, Lopez-Alegria and Williams took time out from their work to share their mission with a group of students in the fifth through eighth grades from the Columbia Explorers Academy. From the Adler Planetarium in Chicago the students asked the astronauts about living in orbit and the goals of their mission.

Also this week, the crew finished unpacking and stowing supplies delivered last month on shuttle mission STS-116, and they marked milestones in two laboratory experiments. On Tuesday, Williams set up the hardware for the Test of Reaction and Adaptation Capabilities, or TRAC investigation. It is a NASA-sponsored experiment jointly managed by scientists from Germany and Canada. Crew members' hand and eye coordination are tested before, during and after missions. For the tests, subjects use a joystick to control a cursor on a computer screen and respond to audio and visual stimuli. The experiment gathers data about how, and to what extent, the brain adapts to weightlessness.

Crew members completed the final operations of a biological experiment on the impact of varying levels of light and gravity on plant root growth. The final images of samples in the European Modular Cultivation System were taken and downlinked, and the samples were stowed in a freezer for eventual return to Earth.

Packed with discarded items no longer needed on the outpost, Progress 22 will undock from the station’s Pirs Docking Compartment next Tuesday at 5:28 p.m. CST. Its engines will be fired three hours later to send it back into the atmosphere, where it will burn up.

The station crew, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Suni Williams, geared up for the docking of ISS Progress 24 at Pirs, which is slated for Friday, Jan. 19 at 9 p.m. CST. Progress 24 will launch on Wednesday, Jan. 17, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 8:12 p.m. CST.

The new Russian cargo ship will bring about 2.5 tons of food, fuel, oxygen and supplies to the complex, including clothing and spacewalk hardware for the next resident crew that will arrive at the station in April.

In preparation for the undocking of Progress 22, Tyurin disassembled and removed the docking mechanism in the hatchway between the cargo craft and the docking compartment. The mechanism will be returned to Earth on Space Shuttle Atlantis' mission to the complex in March.

During the week, the crew worked for several hours in the Zvezda Service Module on a major systems replacement task, trained on the Robotics Onboard Trainer and relocated it to a new rack in the Destiny lab. They also repaired and tested a Russian exercise machine.

Tyurin also performed maintenance on a Russian ergometer and removed the volatile organic analyzer from the Crew Health Care Systems rack to prepare it for routine maintenance. The analyzer is used to identify and quantify a targeted list of organic compounds in the station atmosphere. Tyurin also spent time on two Russian experiments, one that studies locomotor system disorders in weightlessness and one that studies the effect of spaceflight on the growth and development of plants.

Also during the week, Lopez-Alegria completed taking samples and documented his daily diet for his mid-mission session on a renal stone experiment. This experiment examines the risk of renal, or kidney, stone formation in crewmembers pre-flight, in-flight and post-flight. In this study, potassium citrate tablets are administered to astronauts, and multiple urine samples are taken before, during and after spaceflight to evaluate the risk of renal stone formation. Lopez-Alegria is the final subject to complete the experiment.

Lopez-Alegria and Williams took the WinSCAT, a cognitive test battery used during space missions. The WinSCAT helps to assess the effects on performance of behavioral stress induced by workload demands.

The astronauts also tested emergency light power supplies onboard. In addition, Williams swapped power supplies on one of the station’s laptop computers, completed some modifications on the umbilical interface assembly in the Quest airlock, and configured and trained on the station’s Robotic Onboard Trainer. She also worked in the Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for the International Space Station, or MELFI, replacing the desiccant in Dewar 4 -- a desiccant is a material that absorbs water or moisture -- and checked to make sure the nitrogen pressure was within acceptable range.

The new resupply ship lifted off at 8:12 p.m. CST (8:12 a.m. Baikonur time Jan. 18). Less than 10 minutes later, the cargo ship reached orbit, and its solar arrays and navigational antennas were deployed for the three-day trip to the orbital outpost.

Pre-programmed firings of the Progress’ main engine are scheduled over the next two days to fine-tune the ship’s path to the space station as the craft approaches the station for docking.

When the Progress launched, Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Suni Williams were flying 220 miles over the South Atlantic Ocean just off the southeast coast of Argentina.

Carrying more than 2.5 tons of food, fuel, oxygen, air, spare parts and other supplies, the Progress is scheduled to automatically dock to the Pirs Docking Compartment at 9 p.m. CST Friday. NASA TV coverage of the docking will begin Friday at 8 p.m. CST. The inventory aboard the new Progress includes 1,720 pounds of propellent, 110 pounds of oxygen and 3,285 pounds of supplies, spare parts and experiment and environmental system hardware.

The ISS Progress 22 craft, which arrived in June 2006, undocked from Pirs Tuesday to clear the port for the new cargo vehicle.

With more than 2.5 tons of food, fuel and supplies for the station's Expedition 14 crew, the ISS Progress 24 automatically docked to Pirs at 8:59 p.m. CST (5:59 a.m. Moscow time Saturday) as the station flew 220 miles above the South Atlantic off the southeast coast of Uruguay. The 24th Progress to visit the station launched Wednesday night from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Unlike its predecessor, Progress 24 linked up to the station after its automated rendezvous antenna retracted as planned in the final 50 meters prior to docking. On Oct. 26 the automated navigation antenna on the Progress 23 failed to retract. Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin will conduct a spacewalk in late February to manually retract and tie down the antenna before the older Progress undocks from the aft port of the Zvezda service module in early April.

The crew will open the hatch to the new Progress overnight and deactivate the systems of the newly arrived craft before its cargo is unloaded over the next few weeks. Progress 24 holds 1,720 pounds of propellant for the Russian thrusters, 110 pounds of oxygen and almost 3,300 pounds of spare parts, experiment hardware and life support components.

In addition to preparing for the cargo ship’s arrival, the Expedition 14 crew worked this week on a variety of station maintenance tasks and science experiments. Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Suni Williams reported what they ate and drank, and collected blood and urine samples as part of an experiment known as Nutrition. The experiment looks at how the human body processes nutrients in microgravity.

Lopez-Alegria replaced limited-life components in the Volatile Organic Analyzer (VOA), part of the Crew Health Care System. The VOA is a gas analysis system used to assess the levels of organic compounds in the station atmosphere, some of which could become harmful to the crew in high concentrations. The old components will be returned to Earth on the next shuttle mission.

Williams focused on work with lentil seedlings as part of an experiment called Threshold Acceleration for Gravisensing, or “Gravi.” The experiment uses a European Modular Cultivation System centrifuge to document the effects of varying levels of gravity on the development of plant roots with an eye toward growing edible plants for future, long-duration spaceflights.

Tyurin worked with a number of Russian experiments, including an instrumented workout on a stationary bicycle to collect data on ways to limit bone and muscle density loss associated with long-duration spaceflights.

All three crew members also spoke with experts on the ground planning the upcoming Expedition 14 spacewalks. Lopez-Alegria, Tyurin and Williams will begin on-board preparations for those spacewalks along with a fourth to remove the navigation antenna from Progress 23. The first three spacewalks by Lopez-Alegria and Williams are designed to continue outfitting the newly activated cooling systems for the station’s truss and to continue preparations for the relocation of the P6 solar array truss structure.

Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Suni Williams will begin a 6.5-hour spacewalk from the station at about 9 a.m. CST on Wednesday, Jan. 31. It will be the first of a record four spacewalks planned during the next month.

Lopez-Alegria and Williams will conduct other spacewalks on Feb. 4 and Feb. 8. The first three spacewalks will originate from the station's Quest airlock, and the astronauts will use U.S. spacesuits. Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin will use Russian spacesuits for a Feb. 22 spacewalk originating from the station's Pirs airlock.

The three U.S. spacewalks will rearrange the station's cooling system, bringing online new portions of the system that were activated during a shuttle mission in December. The Russian spacewalk will free a stuck antenna on the ISS Progress 23 cargo craft docked to the aft end of the station, ensuring that craft can undock safely in April.

The crew began the week unloading some of the more than 2.5 tons of food, fuel and supplies that were delivered to the station on Jan. 19 by the ISS Progress 24 cargo craft. Supplies aboard the 24th Progress to visit the station included fresh produce, gifts from home, new clothing, spare parts, oxygen and water.

The crew's attention quickly turned to preparations for the upcoming spacewalks. On Monday, the crew began working with the U.S. spacesuits. Batteries for the suits were charged, and the suit cooling systems cleaned.

On Tuesday, Lopez-Alegria and Williams trained using an onboard, laptop computer-based simulation. The training refreshed their skills operating the Simplified Aid For Extravehicular Activity Rescue (SAFER) jetpack that is worn on spacesuits. The SAFER backpack allows spacewalkers to fly themselves back to the station in the event they become untethered and separated from the complex.

On Thursday, ground controllers in Houston commanded the station's robotic arm to maneuver into the position it will occupy for the start of the spacewalk. Aboard the station, the crew set time aside to review the plans for the first spacewalk.

Lopez-Alegria and Williams continued checks of their spacesuits and checks of the SAFER backpacks Friday. The SAFER backpacks are propelled by compressed nitrogen gas, and, during the checkout, the harmless gas was released, depleting the nitrogen in one unit below the usable quantity. Two other usable SAFER backpacks remain onboard, however, and the loss of the third unit does not affect plans for the upcoming spacewalks.

The crew took time out from their work on Monday to speak with television host Martha Stewart. Crew members also took time to field questions from two schools, one in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and another in Winnebago, Neb., by amateur radio.

It was the last in an unprecedented series of three U. S. spacewalks in nine days from the Quest airlock. Major tasks of this spacewalk included removing and jettisoning two large shrouds and installing an attachment for cargo carriers.

Lopez-Alegria and Williams moved from the airlock out to Crew Equipment Transfer Aid (CETA) carts on the rails of the main truss. Pushing one cart with their equipment, including a foot restraint, they moved to the Port 3 truss segment. Their first job was to remove two thermal shrouds, one from each of two Rotary Joint Motor Controllers (RJMC) on P3.

Next, they removed two large shrouds from P3 Bays 18 and 20. The shrouds, larger than king-size bed sheets, provide thermal shading. With the station in its present orientation, they are no longer needed and are being removed to avoid trapping heat.

Each large shroud was packed with one of the smaller RJMC shrouds into a package weighing about 20 pounds. Lopez-Alegria jettisoned them toward the rear of the station. Afterward, an Unpressurized Cargo Carrier Assembly Attachment System (UCCAS) on the upper face of the P3 truss was deployed. That was done in preparation for attachment of a cargo platform on the STS-118 mission to the ISS later this year.

While Lopez-Alegria finished work on the UCCAS, Williams moved to the end of the P5 truss to remove two launch locks in preparation for the relocation of the P6 truss to that segment.

The final scheduled task of the spacewalk was connecting the final four cables of the Station to Shuttle Power Transfer System (SSPTS) to Pressurized Mating Adapter-2 (PMA-2) at the forward end of the Destiny laboratory where shuttles dock. The SSPTS will allow visiting shuttles to derive power from the station to extend their missions.

Work began on the system during the Jan. 31 spacewalk, and two of the cables were routed and connected to PMA-2 on the Feb. 4 spacewalk. The astronauts completed one get-ahead task to photograph a suspect connector on the outboard end of PMA-2. It carries station shuttle communications when the shuttle is docked but hatches are closed. Communications have been intermittent during recent shuttle missions.

Approximately 3 hours, 50 minutes into his ninth spacewalk, Lopez-Alegria set a record Thursday for cumulative spacewalk time by a U.S. astronaut. Jerry Ross previously held the title with 58 hours, 32 minutes accumulated during nine spacewalks. Lopez-Alegria completed the spacewalk with 61 hours, 22 minutes of spacewalking time.

The three spacewalks from the Quest airlock in U.S. spacesuits and a Russian spacewalk on Feb. 22 are the most ever done by station crew members during such a short period and will mark five spacewalks in all for Exp. 14, a record for any expedition. Starting from scratch, it takes crew members about 100 hours to prepare for a spacewalk. By doing the U.S. spacewalks just a few days apart, considerable crew time can be saved by not having to repeat some of the preparation.

Thursday's spacewalk was the 80th for station assembly and maintenance. It was the 52nd from the station and the 32nd from Quest. It was the fourth for Williams, the most for any woman.

During the final spacewalk on Feb. 22, Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin will wear Russian Orlan suits to work on an antenna on the Progress 23 cargo ship docked at the aft port of the Zvezda service module. The antenna did not properly retract when that spacecraft docked in October. The spacewalkers will try to secure or remove the antenna to avoid any interference with the undocking of a Progress in April. The spacewalk will be the 10th for Lopez-Alegria, a new record for a U. S. astronaut.

The first indications of a problem came with the loss of communications between the station and mission control just after midnight CST Sunday when an electrical switching unit experienced a brief malfunction that appropriately caused a breaker to trip, which protects the electrical system of the station much like a circuit breaker protects electrical systems and equipment in a home.

Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Suni Williams – awake since mid evening Saturday – took immediate action and followed procedures on board to recover the communications link with mission control, Houston, at about 1:35 a.m. CST.

During the remainder of Sunday and through early Monday, restoration of systems continued. The systems affected included:
One of two redundant communications systems
One of four gyroscopes used to maintain the station’s position, or orientation
Several scientific facilities, including the freezer containing experiment samples
The Ku Band high data rate and television system
Several smoke detectors and various heaters that maintain a thermal balance of external components, including the robotic arm and its mobile base

None of these systems was permanently affected and the equipment’s temporary shut down did not impact research work or upcoming planned activities.

In addition to the recovery from the power outage, the crew also began early preparations for the next spacewalk by Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria. During that spacewalk scheduled for Feb. 22, the two will free a stuck antenna on the ISS Progress 23 supply craft and survey navigation systems for the European Automated Transfer Vehicle’s docking capability to the Zvezda Service Module. They will try to secure or remove the antenna to preclude any interference during undocking in April. The spacewalk will be the 10th for Lopez-Alegria, which will be a U. S. astronaut record. The two will wear Russian Orlan suits for the excursion out of the Pirs docking compartment.

As Atlantis was moved to the launch pad this week, station Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Mikhail Tyurin conducted leak checks of the Russian Orlan spacesuits they will wear for their venture outside Feb. 22. They also installed some additional equipment on the suits, including lights that will assist in their tasks.

Today they verified the suits are in good condition by conducting telemetry and communications checks with flight controllers in Russia at the Mission Control Center in Korolev.

The spacewalk will be the fifth by the Expedition 14 crew – a record for ISS crews. It will be the fourth spacewalk conducted from the station in the past three weeks. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at approximately 4 a.m. CST and last six hours. It will be broadcast live on NASA Television beginning at 3 a.m. CST.

The spacewalkers will attempt to free a stuck antenna on the ISS Progress 23 cargo craft docked at the aft end of the station. They also will survey docking navigation systems for the European Automated Transfer Vehicle, a cargo craft planned to make its maiden voyage this summer.

Securing or removing the antenna will ensure it will not interfere with the Progress ship’s undocking in April. The spacewalk will be the 10th for Lopez-Alegria, a record for a U.S. astronaut.

Also this week, robotics ground controllers in Houston commanded the station's mobile transporter rail car to move to the starboard side of the station's truss in preparation for the arrival of Atlantis. Atlantis will bring a new, school bus-sized truss segment with a third set of U.S. solar arrays for the complex plus batteries and other electronics. The crew will spend Monday training on the operation of the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm from a work station inside the Destiny laboratory.

On Oct. 26, the antenna did not properly retract when the Progress vehicle docked to the station's Zvezda Service Module. Moving the antenna was necessary to ensure it would not interfere with the Progress undocking in April.

Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin had planned to release the antenna latch with a punch and a hammer. When clearance issues prevented that, they cut struts supporting the antenna. That enabled them to partly retract the antenna and secure it with wire ties. They reported it had about six inches of clearance from Zvezda, adequate for undocking.

Early in the spacewalk, Tyurin had problems with his spacesuit's cooling system, which caused his visor to fog up. But he and Lopez-Alegria were able to complete a number of other tasks. They began the spacewalk by photographing a Russian satellite navigation antenna and changing out a Russian materials experiment. They also inspected and photographed an antenna for the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV). The European cargo craft has more capacity than the Progress and is scheduled to make its first trip to the station later this year. The spacewalkers also photographed ATV docking targets.

They photographed a German robotics experiment, inspected, remated and photographed hardware connectors and inspected retention mechanisms and bolted joints on a hand-operated Strela crane that helps transport people and equipment outside Pirs. They also stowed two foot restraints on a ladder at Pirs before ending the spacewalk.

The spacewalk from the Pirs docking compartment was conducted in Russian Orlan spacesuits. It was the 81st for station assembly and maintenance, the 53rd from the station, the 20th from Pirs and the fifth for this station crew. This was the 10th spacewalk for Lopez-Alegria, a U.S. record, and the fifth for Tyurin.

An altitude reboost engine firing planned for Friday was postponed following the launch delay of Space Shuttle Atlantis earlier this week. The STS-117 mission had been targeted for liftoff on March 15, but was put on hold following a hail storm Monday resulting in damage requiring repair to the external fuel tank's foam.

Russian flight controllers now plan two engine firings on March 16 and 28 to increase the station's altitude, which will place the station in the desired orbit for arrival of a Soyuz spacecraft set to launch April 7. The Soyuz will bring Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov and spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi to the station. Docking to the station is April 9. Expedition 14 Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin and Simonyi plan to land in Kazakhstan April 19.

Space station managers are reviewing the work planned aboard the station for the remaining weeks of Expedition 14 and for Expedition 15 in light of the shuttle launch delay. The review seeks to optimize use of the crews' time due to the shuttle's delay.

Thursday, the station crew was awakened briefly by a caution signal when the starboard Thermal Radiator Rotary Joint (TRRJ) experienced a dropout in commands from the Rotary Joint Motor Controller. The TRRJ automatically defaulted to another command link, and there was no impact to operations. Engineers are analyzing what may have caused the problem. The rotary joint turns the radiator to provide the best possible cooling.

Flight Engineer Suni Williams practiced on a laptop computer simulation Wednesday to maintain her skill in using the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm. She also joined her fellow crewmates in the Test of Reaction and Adaptation Capabilities experiment to gather hand-eye coordination data before, during and after their mission. TRAC Principal Investigator Dr. Otmar Bock of the German Sport University in Cologne, Germany, hopes to better understand how the brain adapts during spaceflight. The experiment will be performed during both Expedition 14 and Expedition 15.

Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Suni Williams completed the last of the internal assembly tasks for the startup later this year of the new Oxygen Generation System (OGS) in the Destiny laboratory. The astronauts installed sound-deadening equipment and an electrical cable and reconnected a wastewater hose for the hardware that was delivered last summer on space shuttle mission STS-121. OGS, which will be required once the station crew size expands to six people, is slated for activation during Expedition 15. It will function initially as another backup to the Russian Elektron system.

Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin spent time this week in maintenance of systems in the Russian segment of the station and in long-range preparations for arrival of the first of the European Space Agency’s cargo-carrying Automated Transfer Vehicles. Tyurin set up equipment in the Zvezda module for a ground-operated test of the satellite navigation system to be used during autonomous docking of the ATV to the Zvezda module’s aft port. He also pressurized and stowed a spare liquids unit for the Elektron, which supplies oxygen for the station's crew, and installed a new liquid crystal display for the TORU system, the manual docking system for Progress unpiloted supply ships.

Expedition 14 crew members used their brains this week for scientific experiments. Lopez-Alegria and Williams conducted another session with the Anomalous Long-Term Effects in Astronauts' Central Nervous System (ALTEA) experiment. It measures exposure to cosmic radiation.

For 90 minutes, each crew member wore an instrumented helmet containing six different particle detectors which measured radiation exposure, brain electrical activity and visual perception. ALTEA will further understanding of radiation impact on the human central nervous and visual systems, especially the phenomenon of crew members seeing flashes of light while in orbit.

Crew members also tested their hand-eye coordination during the Test of Reaction and Adaptation Capabilities, or TRAC, experiment. TRAC studies the theory that while the brain is adapting to space, it is unable to provide the resources necessary to perform normal motor skills such as hand-eye coordination.

They used a laptop and a joystick to control the position of a cursor, and a reaction time box to measure their response to audio and visual cues. Understanding how the brain adapts to microgravity could lead to improved procedures for activities requiring precise motor skills.

U.S. and Russian station officials reached agreement this week on a plan to have the Expedition 14 crew relocate the Soyuz TMA-9 craft on March 29 from the Earth-facing port of the Zarya module to the aft port of the Zvezda module. This will alleviate the next station resident crew from having to perform the maneuver to reach Zarya as its final destination for the Expedition 15 increment.

The ISS Progress 23 cargo ship currently docked to Zvezda, will be cast off on March 27 to make room for the Soyuz.

Both sides also agreed this week to conduct a reboost of the station on March 15 using the Progress 23 engines to place the station at the correct altitude for the launch of the Expedition 15 crew in the Soyuz TMA-10 capsule on April 7. They will dock to Zarya on April 9. The Expedition 14 crew will now return to Earth on April 20.

The new window was installed on Wednesday on the port side hatch of the Unity node. It is fitted with a berthing camera system that includes target markings on the outside of the hatch. This will help robotic operators align and dock the station’s new elements.

The window’s installation was part of the crew’s work to ready the station’s Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 (PMA-3) for its relocation later this year to Unity’s Earth-facing port. This was the second hatch window installed by an Expedition crew. A similar window was installed by Expedition 6 crew members on Unity’s starboard hatch.

Additionally, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Suni Williams temporarily relocated a “wall” of collapsible water bags to allow them access to PMA-3 and provide access to some of the station’s computer cables, allowing Williams and Lopez-Alegria to install new, upgraded cabling.

Lopez-Alegria and Williams emptied all the items stowed in PMA-3 except for a spare Bearing Motor and Roll Ring Module, which was tied down for the adapter’s robotic relocation later this year. The apparatus is used to help the solar arrays swivel, or gimbal, to point to the sun for the generation of electricity.

Additional work included preparations for the April 9 arrival of the Expedition 15 crew and U.S. spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi aboard Soyuz TMA-10. The ISS Progress 23 thrusters were fired on Thursday for 12 minutes, 32 seconds to lift the station into the correct orbit for rendezvous and docking of the Soyuz. This orbital boost also provided the correct trajectory for landing of the Expedition 14 crew members and Simonyi aboard Soyuz TMA-9 on April 20.

Other tasks included preparation for the March 29 relocation of the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft from the Earth-facing port of the Zarya module to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module. As a result, the Soyuz TMA-10 will not need to perform the maneuver to reach Zarya as its final destination.

Also, the crew prepared for the undocking and discarding of the ISS Progress 23 cargo ship, the station’s giant trash can, on March 27.

To ready the station for the STS-117 mission, Williams began photography practice for space shuttle Atlantis' Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver. She and her new Expedition 15 crewmates will take photos of Atlantis’ heat shield as it performs the slow, 360-degree nose-forward back flip 600 feet below the station.

Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin this week completed photographic observations of Earth as part of the Russian “Uragan” Earth-imaging investigation, and monitored radiation inside the station for another set of experiments. He tracks data on three different experiments that monitor cosmic rays and background radiation.

Next week, Lopez-Alegria and Williams will conduct some of the work required to install the station’s new integrated station computer network. This new system is ten times faster than the station’s current local area network (LAN) system. It will use Ethernet connectivity over a router through either cable or wireless equipment, thus eliminating drag-through cables from the U.S. segment into the Russian segment. Installation of the LAN originally was planned for the Expedition 15 crew. However, the STS-117 launch delay prompted station managers to advance the LAN work to save time during Expedition 15.

Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Suni Williams spent time working with experiments that may hold the key to several aspects of long-duration space flight as NASA looks forward to missions back to the moon and on to Mars or other destinations.

Each served as test subject and operator for the Anomalous Long Term Effects in Astronauts' Central Nervous System experiment that examines how cosmic radiation affects brain waves. As test subjects, they wore an electroencephalograph cap that records readings of their brain functions, and over that, a special helmet with Italian-designed instruments that records the amount and types of cosmic rays passing through the station. Since cosmic radiation is even more prevalent at greater distances from Earth, the research could lead to countermeasures important to the safety and productivity of future explorers.

Lopez-Alegria and Williams also worked with the Nutritional Status Assessment experiment tracking how their bodies process nutrients in space and how food supplies are affected by storage in that environment.

Additionally, Lopez-Alegria provided the final samples associated with the Renal Stone Risk during Spaceflight: Assessment and Countermeasure Validation investigation, which is looking at the space effectiveness of a drug used on Earth to prevent kidney stones.

Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin worked with three Russian experiments that monitor cosmic rays and background radiation as they relate to long-duration flights and documented the condition of the Earth below from the unique vantage point of the station.

The crew worked on an upgrade to the laptop computer network. The new, integrated station computer network will be 10 times faster than the current network, using Ethernet connectivity over a router and either cables or wireless equipment. This will eliminate drag-through cables from the U.S. segment into the Russian segment. The work was accelerated because of the STS-117 launch delay.

They also continued preparations for the undocking and discarding of the ISS Progress 23 cargo ship, which will be full of trash when it departs Tuesday, March 27. Russian flight controllers sent commands Friday that piped the last of the Progress 23 oxygen supplies into the station, and vented the Progress' propellant and oxidizer lines overboard to ensure a safe departure. The Progress is scheduled to undock at 1:11 p.m. CDT next Tuesday.

The station traffic schedule includes next Thursday's relocation of the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft from the Earth-facing port of the Zarya module to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module. All three crew members will undock the Soyuz at 5:25 p.m. and redock at 5:53 p.m. This will make room for the arrival of the Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft carrying the Expedition 15 crew and U.S. spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi. The new crew is scheduled to launch from the Baikanour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan April 7 at 12:31 p.m. and dock with the station April 9 at 2:15 p.m.

Following a week of joint operations, Lopez-Alegria, Tyurin and Simonyi will climb into Soyuz TMA-9 and head for home April 20. They will leave Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov on board with Williams to start Expedition 15.

Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin guided the Soyuz away from the Earth-facing port of the station's Zarya module and docked it to the aft port of the Zvezda module. The move frees the Zarya port for the arrival of the Expedition 15 crew aboard the Soyuz TMA-10, scheduled to dock to the station on April 9.

Tyurin undocked the Soyuz from Zarya at 5:30 p.m. CDT and redocked to the Zvezda port at 5:54 p.m. CDT as the station and the Soyuz flew 210 miles above the east coast of South America. Minutes later, hooks and latches engaged between the Soyuz' docking probe and Zvezda's docking port to attach the craft firmly to the station. During the time from undocking to redocking, the crew traveled about a third of the way around the world.

To prepare for Thursday's undocking and relocation, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Tyurin and Sunita Williams shut down key station systems and configured the complex for autonomous operations in the unlikely event they would not be able to redock.

Prior to undocking, Tyurin activated the Soyuz’ backup battery as a precaution when the prime spacecraft battery indicated a slightly lower voltage reading. It was quickly determined that the voltage drop was due to the activation of some Soyuz systems, and the prime battery soon returned to its normal voltage output.

Late Thursday into early Friday, the crew will open the hatch to the Soyuz, re-enter the station and reactivate systems for regular activity. Friday will be an off-duty day for the crew as they readjust their sleep cycles, which were changed to accommodate the Soyuz move.

Further preparation for the Soyuz relocation included the undocking and discarding of the ISS Progress 23 cargo craft from the aft Zvezda port on Tuesday, March 27, making room for the Soyuz to redock. That activity went smoothly; the ISS Progress undocked at 1:11 p.m. CDT and re-entered Earth's atmosphere at 5:44 p.m.

Additional work for the crew this week included a first for the Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) experiment. The experiment uses 8-inch diameter spherical satellites that fly within the station cabin. The satellites test the basics of formation flight and autonomous docking that could be used in future spacecraft. The battery-powered satellites use carbon dioxide to fuel 12 thrusters as they fly in the cabin. During a weekend "Saturday Science" session, Williams conducted a SPHERES experiment run. This was the first time three satellites flew together in tests. Investigators for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, deemed the experiment highly successful.

Back on Earth, Expedition 15 cosmonauts Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov, along with spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi, a U.S. businessman, prepared for their April 7 launch at the Baikonur Cosomodrome, Kazakhstan.

Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin, Expedition 15 commander, and Oleg Kotov, Expedition 15 flight engineer, and spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi, a U.S. businessman, are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan about 12:30 p.m. CDT Saturday. Their Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the station about 2:12 p.m. Monday.

The Expedition 14 crew, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, will return to Earth with Simonyi on April 20. In preparation for their departure, Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin reviewed descent procedures.

Flight Engineer Suni Williams, who joined Expedition 14 in progress, will remain on the station as an Expedition 15 crew member for the first part of its increment. The two crews held a space-to-ground conference on Wednesday discussing upcoming mission activities.

On Monday, Lopez-Alegria set a new U.S. single-mission spaceflight record, passing the 196-day mark previously set by station crew members Dan Bursch and Carl Walz in 2001 and 2002.

The Expedition 14 crew performed periodic fitness evaluations this week. Additionally, they worked on a video tape recorder and on a faulty light of an ophthalmoscope that was used during a health check. They downloaded information from the Internal Wireless Instrumentation System, or IWIS, which monitors the health of the station's systems.

The crew continued scientific activities aboard the station. Williams tested a bacteria detection instrument developed by researchers at Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and industry partners. The device, Lab-On-a-Chip Application Development Portable Test System (LOCAD-PTS) is a portable bacteria detection system small enough to fit into a compact ice cooler. Four more sessions with LOCAD-PTS are planned for upcoming weekend science sessions.

Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin tested their hand-eye coordination by completing their sixth sessions with the Test of Reaction and Adaptation Capability (TRAC) experiment. The experiment studies whether the decline of motor skills during spaceflight is a result of the brain adapting to space. The hand-eye coordination test is performed before, during and after the mission.

The crew also continued their work with the Anomalous Long-Term Effects in Astronauts' Central Nervous System (ALTEA) experiment. Using an instrumented helmet, the experiment measures the cosmic radiation that passes through a crew member's head, brain activity and visual perception. The experiment should help researchers better understand what levels of cosmic radiation crew members are exposed to and develop countermeasures for future long-duration spaceflights.

Less than 10 minutes after launch their spacecraft reached orbit and its antennas and solar arrays deployed. The Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft is scheduled to dock at the station at a little after 2 p.m. Monday.

Once they arrive at the station, Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin, Expedition 15 commander, and Oleg Kotov, Expedition 15 flight engineer, and spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi, a U.S. businessman, will be greeted by the station’s current crew, Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Suni Williams.

Simonyi, flying under contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency, will return to Earth on April 20 with Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin, who have been aboard the station since September 2006.

Williams, who has served as an Expedition 14 crew member since December, will remain on the station joining the Expedition 15 crew. She is scheduled to return home aboard space shuttle Endeavour this summer.

After hatch opening, scheduled for a little before 4 p.m., Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov, and Spaceflight Participant Charles Simonyi, a U.S. businessman, will be greeted by the station’s current crew, Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Suni Williams.

Williams, who has served as an Expedition 14 crew member since December, will remain on the station providing Expedition 15 with an experienced flight engineer for the early part of its mission. She is scheduled to return home aboard space shuttle Endeavour this summer.

Yurchikhin is making his second flight into space. He was crew member on space shuttle Atlantis’ STS-112 mission to the station in October 2002. He holds a Ph.D. in economics and was named a cosmonaut-candidate in 1997. Kotov is making his first spaceflight. He graduated from the Moscow Medical Academy in 1988, and was named a cosmonaut-candidate in 1996.

Astronaut Clay Anderson is scheduled to replace Williams during Expedition 15. Two Expedition 16 crew members are expected to arrive next fall to replace Yurchikhin and Kotov.

Simonyi, flying under contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency, will return to Earth on April 20 with Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin, who have been aboard the station since September 2006.

E15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov arrived at the station Monday after a Saturday launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. With them on their Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft was Spaceflight Participant Charles Simonyi, a U.S. businessman flying under a contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency.

Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin are scheduled to return home in their Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft April 20. Simonyi will return with them after about 11 days on the orbiting laboratory.

Lopez-Alegria, who came to the station with Tyurin last September, continuously sets new U.S. single spaceflight duration records. Williams is likely to break Lopez-Alegria's record with her return tentatively planned for August after serving as an E15 crew member for the early part of that increment.

This week, in addition to handover, both crews got in their regular exercise sessions – especially important for Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin as their return to Earth approaches. Crews did required station maintenance and still managed to spend considerable time on science activities. Those activities began with time-critical transfer of several experiments from the newly arrived Soyuz to the station and station power.

Among experiments getting crew attention were Bioemulsion, a Russian effort to develop technology to produce microorganisms safely for bacterial, fermental and medical preparations. Tyurin worked with that experiment Tuesday.

On Wednesday Kotov set up the European Exhaled Nitric Oxide-2 experiment. It measures nitric oxide exhaled by spacewalkers before and after their excursions. The idea is to better understand the potential for decompression sickness.

Meanwhile, Tyurin worked with the Russian Pilot experiment. It is designed to measure during long-duration spaceflight changes in a crew member's ability to pilot a spacecraft.

On Thursday, Lopez-Alegria spent more than three hours resizing U.S. spacesuits for future users. The suits were the ones they used on an unprecedented series of three station spacewalks in a nine-day period beginning Jan. 31.

Throughout much of the week, beginning with the crew news conference on Tuesday, crew members took breaks to talk with news media representatives. U.S. organizations whose reporters interviewed them included ABC News, Space.com, CNN, and CBS.

E14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, accompanied by Spaceflight Participant Charles Simonyi, will touch down in central Kazakhstan in their Soyuz spacecraft about 7:30 a.m. CDT Saturday, a day later than planned.

The primary landing site will be too wet for landing operations due to the spring thaw. The one-day delay in landing will allow for touchdown in a more southerly landing zone.

The landing will conclude a 215-day flight for Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin, and mark the longest single flight by an American astronaut. Live coverage of the landing operations will begin on NASA-TV Saturday at 12:30 a.m. for hatch closing, then will return at 3:45 a.m. for undocking, and resume at 6:15 a.m. monitoring the deorbit burn and landing.

Crew members held a ceremony Tuesday afternoon marking the change of command of the station from Lopez-Alegria to Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin. Yurchikhin and flight engineers Oleg Kotov and Suni Williams are now officially entrenched on board the station. Williams, who served as an Expedition 14 crew member since December, will provide Expedition 15 with an experienced flight engineer for the early part of its mission.

On Monday, Williams became the first person to run a marathon in space. Williams, an accomplished marathoner, was an official entrant in the Boston Marathon and ran the 26.2 mile race on a station treadmill in the Zvezda module, circling Earth at least twice in the process. Williams’ run coincided with the tens of thousands on the ground. She completed her marathon with an official time of 4:23:10.

Russian specialists are preparing plans to repair the Condensate Feed Unit in the Russian system that processes condensate recovered in the U.S. segment of the station into potable water. Since the unit failed over the weekend, the supply of drinking water has been decreasing faster than the replenishment rate. Even if they are unable to repair the unit, there is enough water already onboard to last until the ISS Progress 25 cargo vehicle docks in mid-May, providing a new supply of water.

For about 90 minutes, Lopez-Alegria completed his final session with the Anomalous Long-Term Effects in Astronauts' Center Nervous System (ALTEA) experiment, which investigates the phenomenon of crew members seeing flashes of light while in orbit. Using an instrumented helmet, the experiment measures the cosmic radiation that passes through a crew member's head, brain activity and visual perception. ALTEA should help researchers better understand what levels of cosmic radiation crew members are exposed to and develop countermeasures for future long-duration spaceflights.

Lopez-Alegria and Williams also worked on an Education Payload Operations activity linked to the International Polar Year. The crew members videotaped their Earth photography activities and their observations of sea ice and auroras. These images will later be used in NASA education videos sent to classrooms around the world.

Education Payload Operations include curriculum-based activities that demonstrate basic principles of science, mathematics, technology, engineering and geography. They are designed to support the NASA mission of inspiring the next generation of explorers.

The Expedition 14 mission included many highlights during its seven-month duration, including the setting of several records. Lopez-Alegria completed five spacewalks, which gave him a total of 10 for his career. This set a U.S. record for not only number of spacewalks, but also cumulative spacewalk time, 57 hours, 40 minutes. He also set a U.S. record for a single spaceflight's duration with more than 215 days. This tops the 196-day mark, set by station crew members Dan Bursch and Carl Walz in 2001 and 2002.

During the mission Flight Engineer Sunita Williams set the record for number of space walks and total time spent on spacewalks by a woman. She participated in four space walks for a total of 29 hours and 17 minutes. Williams will remain on the station for the first part of Expedition 14.

Three of the crew's spacewalks were conducted over the course of nine days, an unprecedented schedule for a station crew. Starting from scratch, it takes about 100 crew-member hours to prepare for a spacewalk. By doing them a few days apart, considerable crew time can be saved by not having to repeat some of those preparatory steps.

Before closing the Soyuz-station hatches at 1:03 a.m. Saturday, Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin said farewell to the Expedition 15 crew, Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, flight engineers Oleg Kotov and Williams. The new crew and Simonyi launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 7 and arrived at the station on April 9. Simonyi, a U.S. businessman, spent 12 days aboard the station under a contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency.

Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin will now spend several weeks in Star City, near Moscow, for debriefing and medical examinations. Their return to Earth was originally scheduled for Friday, April 20, but was delayed due to wet ground conditions, which could have precluded helicopter operations. The one-day change allowed for landing farther to the south.

Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineers Oleg Kotov and Suni Williams began the week with a couple light duty days after the busy handover operations with the former crew. Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, accompanied by Spaceflight Participant Charles Simonyi, returned to Earth on Saturday and are at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, for several weeks of post mission debriefing and rehabilitation.

Additionally this week, the station crew participated in several drills to maintain medical and emergency proficiency skills. Yurchikhin and Kotov began sessions throughout the first two weeks of their residence to orient themselves with the station’s operating systems. Williams, who served as an Expedition 14 crew member, is aiding Expedition 15 with their station orientation.

On Thursday, Williams was told that she will return to Earth aboard space shuttle Atlantis, targeted for launch June 8. That shuttle mission, STS-117, will carry astronaut Clay Anderson to the station to join Expedition 15 in progress. Their rotation was originally planned for STS-118, targeted for launch Aug. 8.

NASA managers approved the crew rotation after a more detailed review determined it would not impact station operations or future shuttle mission objectives. Since an earlier crew rotation was possible, they decided it would be prudent to return Williams and deliver Anderson sooner rather than later. Upon Williams' return, she will have accumulated more time in space than any other woman.

Williams spent some of her off-duty time completing additional test runs for the Capillary Flow Experiment. Capillary flow is the key process used to move fluids in a microgravity environment. It uses the low-gravity environment provided by the station to understand the special dynamics of capillary flow and will aid in the design of fluid transport systems on future spacecraft.

On Monday, Williams set up and activated cameras for the Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students, or EarthKAM, education experiment. Middle school students program a digital camera on the station to photograph a variety of geographical targets from the unique vantage point of space. Undergraduate teams at the University of California at San Diego manage the images and post them on the Web for the public and participating classrooms around the world to view. Nearly 4,000 students from 66 schools in seven countries are participating in this run.

On Friday, Williams performed a series of test flights with small free-flying satellites for the Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) experiment. The experiment uses 8-inch diameter spherical satellites that fly within the station cabin. The satellites test the basics of formation flight and autonomous docking that could be used in future spacecraft. The battery-powered satellites use carbon dioxide to fuel 12 thrusters as they fly in the cabin.

In addition to general station orientation, Yurchikhin and Kotov also performed maintenance work on life support hardware in the Russian segment. The water separator in the air conditioning system was replaced. The separator dispositions condensate water and air collected from the station’s atmosphere that forms through the air conditioner, maintaining optimum humidity levels onboard.

Flight controllers and mission managers test fired the two main engines on the Zvezda Service Module in a Wednesday reboost, raising the station’s altitude. It was the first time the engines had been fired since initial arrival of Zvezda in 2000. Another reboost using ISS Progress 24 engines is scheduled for Saturday in order to finish placing the station in its correct position for the arrival of the ISS Progress 25 cargo vehicle May 15 and the space shuttle Atlantis in June.