Afanasyev Credit - www.spacefacts.de

Personal: Male, Married, Two children. Born in Bryansk, Bryansk, Russia. Soviet Air Force Soviet Air Force Soviet Air Force

Astronaut Career

Astronaut Group: Buran Group 2 - 1985. Inactive Entered space service: 2 September 1985. Left space service: 17 April 2006. Number of Flights: 4.00. Total Time: 555.77 days. Number of EVAs: 7.00. Total EVA Time: 1.61 days.

Buran Test Pilot, 1985-1987. Transferred toTsPK, 1987. Call sign: Derbent (Derbent - Russian city)

• 2 December 1990 Flight: Mir EO-8. Flight Up: Soyuz TM-11. Flight Back: Soyuz TM-11. Flight Time: 175.08 days.

• 8 January 1994 Flight: Mir EO-15. Flight Up: Soyuz TM-18. Flight Back: Soyuz TM-18. Flight Time: 182.02 days.

• 20 February 1999 Flight: Mir EO-27. Flight Up: Soyuz TM-29. Flight Back: Soyuz TM-29. Flight Time: 188.85 days.

• 21 October 2001 Flight: ISS EP-2. Flight Up: Soyuz TM-33. Flight Back: Soyuz TM-32. Flight Time: 9.83 days.

28 June 1971 - Soyuz 11 Day 23. The cosmonauts have to be extremely careful in putting Salyut in storage mode. They go through the checklist together with the ground to make sure no errors are made. The Salyut station is much more comfortable than the Soyuz, but the mission has revealed it needs many improvements, including: a unit for ejecting liquids from the station; solar panels, and scientific instruments, that can be automatically pointed at the sun or their target and stabilised; an improved control section; better crew rest provisions. Only with such improvements will it be possible to make flights of two months or longer. And such flights will take ten years to work up to, not by the end of the year, as Mishin claims. Kamanin thinks it will be possible to prolong flights to 40 to 60 days in 1972, but that this will then be a long-standing record. Any longer would be equivalent to running 100 km but then collapsing and dying - the Soviet Union doesn't need those kind of records!

Mir TM-11 Akiyama and Afanasyev before flight.... Credit- RKK Energia

The bigwigs arrive from Moscow to be in on the landing. But Afanasyev, Keldysh, Mishin, and Karas all remain at the cosmodrome for the investigation into the N1 failure.

The idea of plugging the vent with a finger is absurd. Had they done so, they would have had only 15 to 17 minutes to work the problem before the onset of G-forces. Imagine the real situation - retrofire was normal - the BO module jettisoned - suddenly the depress light on the caution warning panel is on! Dobrovolsky checks the hatch, but it's not the hatch -- and there are only 25 to 30 seconds until they all become unconscious. Volkov and Patsayev undo their straps and turn on the radio. The whistling of the air can only be heard at the commander's seat - where the vent valve is located. Kamanin discontinues diary entries for two years after this date.

Soyuz TM-11 Afanasyev and Manarov walk to launch vehicle.... Credit- RKK Energia

Solovyov handed over command of Mir to EO-25 commander Musabayev, and the Mir EO-24 crew and Eyharts undocked from the forward port of Mir at 05:52 GMT on February 19 aboard the Soyuz TM-26 for their return home. On February 20, the EO-25 crew and Andy Thomas of the NASA-7 mission boarded Soyuz TM-27 and undocked from the Kvant port at 08:48 GMT. They redocked with the forward port on Mir at 09:32 GMT. This freed up the Kvant port for a test redocking of the Progress M-37 cargo ship, parked in a following orbit with Mir during the crew transfer.

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.