Tokarev Credit - www.spacefacts.de

Personal: Male, Married, Two children. Born in Kapustin Yar, Astrakhan, Russia.

Astronaut Career

Astronaut Group: Buran Group 3 - 1989, Chkalov Group 4 - 1993, Air Force Group 12 - 1997. Inactive Entered space service: 25 January 1989. Left space service: 1 April 1991. Number of Flights: 2.00. Total Time: 199.63 days. Number of EVAs: 2.00. Total EVA Time: 0.46 days.

NAME: Valery Ivanovich Tokarev (Colonel, Russian Air Force)

Test Cosmonaut at the Yu.A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center

PERSONAL DATA:

Born October 29, 1952 at the town of Kap-Yar, Astrakhan Region. Resides at Star City, Moscow Region. His wife, Irina Nikolaevna (Tokareva), was born February 25, 1955. They have two children: a daughter, Olya, and a son, Ivan. His mother, Lidiya Nikolaevna (Tokareva), lives in the city of Rostov, Yaroslavl Region. His father, Ivan Pavlovich, died in an auto accident in 1972. Valery Tokarev enjoys nature, automobiles, airplanes, and game sports.

EDUCATION:

Master's degree in State Administration from the National Economy Academy affiliated with the Russian Federation Government in Moscow.

EXPERIENCE:

In 1973, Valery Tokarev graduated from the Stavropol Higher Military School of Fighter Pilots. In 1982, he graduated from the Test Pilot Training Center (with honors). Valery Tokarev graduated from Yuri .A. Gagarin Air Force Academy in the town of Monino, Moscow Region, the National Economy Academy affiliated with the Russian Federation Government in Moscow. He is an officer with a military college degree and has a Master's degree in State Administration.

He is a 1st class Air Force pilot, and a 1st class test pilot. He has participated in the tests of 44 types of aircraft (airplanes and helicopters).

In 1987, Valery Tokarev was selected to join the cosmonaut corps to fly the Buran spacecraft. Since 1994, he has served as commander of a group of cosmonauts of aerospace systems and, since 1997, as a test cosmonaut for the Yuri A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

• 27 May 1999 Flight: STS-96. Flight Up: STS-96. Flight Back: STS-96. Flight Time: 9.80 days.

• 1 October 2005 Flight: ISS EO-12. Flight Up: Soyuz TMA-7. Flight Back: Soyuz TMA-7. Flight Time: 189.83 days.

10 March 1999 - ISS Status Report: ISS 99-10. As the International Space Station completed its 1,700th orbit of Earth, flight control teams in Houston and Moscow reported its systems continued to operate well this week with no problems seen that would interfere with its flight.

Controllers in Houston did note an apparent problem, late last week, with one of the two antennas mounted on the exterior of the Unity module used by the U.S. Early Communications system. Controllers noted that the ability of the starboard antenna was impeded when the station is in certain orientations, amounting to about a 15 percent reduction in the total capability of the U.S. communications system to recieve signals. When the change in performance was seen on Friday, flight controllers switched off the starboard antenna and continued using the port antenna only.

Most of the U.S. system's communications is information that is transmitted from the station to the ground, called downlink communications. These communication sessions routinely use only 1 antenna anyway, so day-to-day operations of the station are virtually unaffected. Flight controllers are continuing to analyze the problem and will switch back to the starboard antenna periodically this week for troubleshooting. Plans also are in work to use a television camera mounted on the exterior of the Zarya module to attempt to inspect the antenna. The U.S. communications system, installed on Shuttle mission STS-88 last year, is one of two complementary communications systems on the station, including a Russian communications system onboard Zarya that is used for the primary command and control of the station from a control center in Korolev, Russia.

Also this week, station managers decided to ship 18 small Charge-Discharge Integrated Current units from the Khrunichev Space Center, Moscow to the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., to prepare to replace the units during Space Shuttle mission STS-96 in May. The units, also known by the Russian acronym MIRT, are believed to be responsible for a less than optimum performance of the Zarya batteries that was noted earlier this year. The small, cellular phone-sized units, are part of a system that indicates the level of charge for each of Zarya's six batteries and in turn dictate when the onboard charging system believes the batteries to be fully charged and begins to taper off its supply of power.

Flight controllers have worked around the problem by deep-cycling - fully charging and then fully discharging -- each of the six batteries every week, a procedure that resets the charge indication and maintains the batteries at peak performance. Replacing the units, however, may reduce the need for such frequent cycling and provide better performance from the batteries over long durations as well as providing additional backup equipment capabilities for the station.

STS-96 mission specialists Julie Payette and Valery Tokarev plan to visit the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, Star City, Russia, for several days later this month for training to replace the units in the Zarya module simulator. The units, three for each battery, are located under the floor panels of Zarya and measure 2.5 by 3 by 6 inches.

The International Space Station is in an orbit with a high point of 256 statute miles and a low point of 242 statute miles, circling the Earth once every 92 minutes, 24 seconds.

The STS-96 payload bay manifest:

• Bay 1-2: Orbiter Docking System/External Airlock
• Bay 3-4: Tunnel Adapter S/N 001
• Bay 5-7: Spacehab Tunnel
• Bay 5: Keel Yoke Device (KYD) and Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC)
• Bay 8-12: Spacehab Logistics Double Module
• Bay 13 Port: Adapter Beam (ABA) with IVHM
• Bay 13 Stbd: Adapter Beam (ABA) with SVF/Starshine
• Sill: RMS Arm S/N 303

On May 30 at 02:56 GMT Tammy Jernigan and Dan Barry entered the payload bay of Discovery from the tunnel adapter hatch, and made a 7 hr 55 min space walk, transferring equipment to the exterior of the station.

On May 31 at 01:15 GMT the hatch to Unity was opened and the crew began several days of cargo transfers to the station. Battery units and communications equipment were replaced and sound insulation was added to Zarya. Discovery undocked from ISS at 22:39 GMT on June 3 into a 385 x 399 km x 51.6 degree orbit, leaving the station without a crew aboard. On June 5 the Starshine satellite was ejected from the payload bay. The payload bay doors were closed at around 02:15 GMT on June 6 and the deorbit burn was at 04:54 GMT. Discovery landed on runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center at 06:02 GMT.

Commander Kent Rominger, Pilot Rick Husband and Mission Specialists Ellen Ochoa, Dan Barry, Julie Payette, Valery Tokarev and Jernigan will spend much of the day checking out orbiter systems and spacewalking equipment, while continuing to slowly close in on the station through a series of calculated rendezvous maneuvers.

The crew will examine and prepare the tools required to support rendezvous and docking operations, and later will spend a number of hours checking and testing the extravehicular mobility units, or space suits, that will be used during the planned spacewalk Saturday night into Sunday morning. Both suits are checked far enough ahead of the spacewalk to ensure good working condition in plenty of time to allow for any required troubleshooting work by the specialists on the ground.

Also tonight and into tomorrow, Canadian astronaut Payette will assist Ochoa in testing the mechanical arm, checking its operation while conducting a video survey of the payload bay. This procedure will make certain the arm is functioning properly to support the spacewalk. Just before the pre-sleep period, Tokarev, a Russian cosmonaut will move some logistics transfer items stored on the shuttle's middeck, into the Spacehab module to provide more room for the spacesuit checkout activities.

Discovery currently is orbiting at an altitude of about 200 nautical miles. At about 7 o'clock this evening, Central time, the shuttle was 775 nautical miles behind the station, closing in at a rate of about 60 nautical miles every 90 minutes.

The only problem of any significance on the orbiter is the apparent failure of one of the four corner cameras in Discovery's payload bay. This poses no problem with the flight as there are various other cameras available to document activities related to docking, the spacewalk and deploy later in the flight of STARSHINE.

Commander Kent Rominger, Pilot Rick Husband and Mission Specialists Tammy Jernigan, Ellen Ochoa, Dan Barry, Julie Payette and Valery Tokarev lifted off at 5:50 a.m. Central time following a flawless countdown. Less than nine minutes later, they reached orbit to begin their pursuit of the station.

At the time of launch, the ISS's two modules, Zarya and Unity, were traveling due east of the outer banks of the Carolinas northwest of Bermuda at an altitude of about 210 nautical miles. Discovery will catch up to the ISS late tomorrow night for the first docking of a Shuttle to the new orbital outpost. That will mark the start of six days of docked activities in which the astronauts plan to transfer almost two tons of supplies to the station and conduct a spacewalk to continue outfitting the fledgling facility.

Once on orbit, the astronauts began to activate shuttle systems and conducted early work in advance of their rendezvous with the ISS, which will begin early Friday evening. Having launched late in their workday, the astronauts are scheduled to begin an eight hour sleep period at 10:50 a.m. Central time. They will be awakened this evening about 6:50 p.m. Central time for the start of their second day in space - a day which will be highlighted by ongoing preparations for both the docking of Discovery to the station Friday night and the scheduled spacewalk by Jernigan and Barry late Saturday night.

Discovery is orbiting at altitude of about 170 nautical miles, with all of its systems functioning in good shape.

In preparation for Saturday's spacewalk, astronauts Tammy Jernigan and Dan Barry, assisted by Payette and Pilot Rick Husband, successfully tested three spacesuits aboard Discovery. All of the equipment was found to be in excellent condition and ready for the spacewalk, during which Jernigan and Barry will install both U.S. and Russian-built cranes to the station for use by future astronaut construction crews.

Ochoa and Payette also tested the Shuttle's 50-foot robot arm and used it to conduct a television survey of Discovery's payload bay. Jernigan and Ochoa extended the outer ring of Discovery's Orbiter Docking System in a successful test of the mechanism which will make the first contact with and capture a similar mechanism in the Pressurized Mating Adapter affixed to the ISS's Unity.

Before beginning their presleep period, the astronauts lowered Discovery's cabin pressure as a precursor to Jernigan and Barry breathing pure oxygen tomorrow night in advance of their spacewalk. This protocol helps to purge nitrogen from their bloodstreams, preventing any adverse effects from the vacuum of space during their excursion into Discovery's payload bay.

The crew will begin an abbreviated 7 ½ hour sleep period at 8:50 a.m. Central time today and will be awakened at 4:20 p.m. to begin preparations for rendezvous and docking.

Discovery is orbiting at an altitude of 230 statute miles, with all of its systems operating normally.

Commander Kent Rominger completed a textbook rendezvous and docking with the station that Mission Control said would set the standard for future ISS assembly flights. Contact between Discovery and the station occurred right on time at 11:24 p.m. Central time Friday.

Once the two spacecraft were solidly mated together at 11:39 p.m., the astronauts performed leak and pressurization checks, then opened the hatch to Pressurized Mating Adapter 2, attached to the Unity module. Mission Specialists Ellen Ochoa and Valery Tokarev temporarily stowed docking targets and lights and checked hatch seals in the narrow passageway.

Rominger and Pilot Rick Husband removed and stowed four electronics boxes used to supply power to the docking ports around the Unity module, clearing the sides of the passageway into Unity for easy transfer of some 3,600 pounds of equipment and supplies. The briefcase-sized boxes will be kept in storage until the end of the next station assembly flight on STS-101 in December, when they will be reinstalled to prepare for the arrival of the U.S. Laboratory module, Destiny, next spring.

Mission Specialists Tammy Jernigan and Dan Barry spent the rest of the morning checking the tools they will use on their space walk, which is scheduled to begin shortly after 10 p.m. Central time. They also checked out their emergency rescue backpacks and reviewed their space walk procedures one last time.

The astronauts will be awakened at 4:50 p.m. today to begin final preparations for the 6 ½ hour excursion into Discovery's cargo bay. With Mission Specialist Ellen Ochoa operating the shuttle's robot arm to maneuver Jernigan up toward the space station modules, and Julie Payette acting as the spacewalk choreographer from Discovery's aft flight deck, Barry and Jernigan will move the two cranes from a payload bay cargo support structure to locations on the outside of the station. One crane is U.S.-built and the other is Russian-built to help move large modular components from one module to another during ISS assembly. Next, they will move two portable foot restraints from the cargo carrier to the mating adapter to which the Zarya and Unity modules are attached. Then, they'll move three bags containing handrails and tools for future space walkers to the outside of Unity. If time permits, the space walkers also will install a thermal cover on a Unity trunnion pin, inspect some peeling paint on Zarya, and survey one of two Early Communications System antennas on the starboard side of Unity.

The space walkers are scheduled to reenter the hatch about 4 a.m. Central time Sunday.

Meanwhile, all systems aboard the Discovery / ISS space complex continue to work well as the two craft orbit 240 statute miles above the Earth's surface.

The crew is scheduled to climb inside the Unity and Zarya modules mid evening to begin transferring nearly 3,000 pounds of equipment to be used by future crews on the ISS. In and around transferring operations, some maintenance tasks will be conducted - one inside Zarya and one inside Unity.

After wakeup to the notes of the US Coast Guard Band playing "Morning Colors," the crew reviewed procedures for the entry activities with both Mission Control Centers in Houston and Moscow.

Canadian astronaut Julie Payette and Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev will travel to the Zarya module and begin maintenance activities on the storage batteries located under the floor board. The Zarya has six such batteries, which have been experiencing a slight loss in charging capacity during recharge. Each battery has three "charge controllers" for a total of 18 that will be changed during this procedure. Later, Mission Specialist Dan Barry and Tokarev will install some acoustic insulation around some fans inside Zarya to reduce noise levels in the module.

Meanwhile, in the Unity module, Mission Specialist Tammy Jernigan and Pilot Rick Husband will install shelving in 2 soft stowage racks. The racks themselves were launched with Unity in December 1998 for use in supporting logistics transfer activities. Later, Husband and Barry will conduct troubleshooting and maintenance activities on the Early Communications System.

In the afternoon, the third major task of the flight begins - transfer of logistics items. Ochoa will coordinate this activity and will direct and document all transfers leaving the shuttle. On the ISS side, Payette will receive the items and, along with Tokarev, will document and stow items aboard the ISS. Discovery's astronauts are scheduled to transfer almost 2,900 pounds of supplies and equipment during the next three days.

Today, most of the crew will be involved in logistics transfer activities within the Discovery/ISS orbiting complex. Husband and Mission Specialists Ellen Ochoa, Tammy Jernigan and Dan Barry have a significant portion of their day dedicated to moving transfer bags of different sizes and shapes from the Spacehab module in Discovery's cargo bay to resting places inside the International Space Station. Some 2,900 pounds of logistics items and water will be transferred before the crew bids goodbye to its orbiting work site on Thursday.

Discovery's crew will also complete maintenance activities in support of the station. Early in the workday, Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev and Canadian astronaut Julie Payette will change out the last battery recharge controller modules attached to two of Zarya's storage batteries. These recharging units, also known as microelectronic charge/discharge current integrator units, determine the battery charge level. Since mid-April, flight controllers had been monitoring a slight decrease in this level, and the on-orbit maintenance work is expected to allow the batteries to charge fully once again.

Later, Barry and Tokarev will put the remaining sound mufflers inside the Zarya module. Ambient noise from air circulating fans and equipment could be somewhat distracting to crew members spending time on orbit, so mufflers are being installed to dampen the noise. After the install, Barry will measure sound levels at different positions inside the module.

At 12:20 a.m. Tuesday, Commander Kent Rominger and Tokarev will conduct a news conference with Russian media located at the Mission Control Center in Moscow.

The day will end with a logistics transfer briefing conducted by Payette. The crew is scheduled to turn in at about 8 a.m. CDT Tuesday.

Discovery and the International Space Station are in excellent health orbiting 240 miles above the Earth.

Mission Specialists Tammy Jernigan and Russian Space Agency cosmonaut Valery Tokarev opened the hatch into the Unity module at 8:14 p.m. CDT Sunday, then continued through Pressurized Mating Adapter 1 into the Zarya module at 9:07 p.m. Commander Kent Rominger and the rest of the crew - Pilot Rick Husband and Mission Specialists Ellen Ochoa, Dan Barry and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette - soon followed.

After inspecting their expanded living quarters, the crew began transferring supplies, equipment and water that will be left aboard, an effort that was coordinated by Ochoa. The bulk of the supplies and equipment were shipped up in a double Spacehab module carried in Discovery's cargo bay.

Payette and Tokarev replaced 12 of 18 battery recharge controllers in the Russian-built Zarya module. Zarya has six batteries, which have been experiencing a slight loss in capacity during recharge. Each battery has three "charge controllers," known by the Russian acronym MIRTS. The astronauts replaced controllers for four of the batteries, and are scheduled to replace the recharge controllers for the other two later today. The work was carefully coordinated with flight controllers in the Russian Mission Control Center outside Moscow, who issued commands to turn the battery systems on and off via ground-based communication stations. Barry and Tokarev also installed a series of "mufflers" over fans inside Zarya to reduce noise levels in that module.

Barry and Husband replaced a power distribution unit and transceiver for the Early Communications System in the Unity module, restoring that system to its full capability. This supplemental communications system enables flight controllers to send commands to the station from the Mission Control complex in Houston.

Near the end of their workday, Rominger, Jernigan and Barry discussed the progress of their mission, including Jernigan and Barry's space walk and last night's entry into the International Space Station, with NBC's "Today," show, CBS "This Morning" and CNN.

The crew is scheduled to begin its sleep period at 8:20 a.m. CDT, and will awaken at 4:20 p.m. to continue their work in the ISS.

Mission Specialist Ellen Ochoa, the "load master" of this resupply mission, radioed to Mission Control that many of the larger items to be transferred to the new station, such as laptop computers and clothing, had made their way from Discovery to the ISS. At the time the astronauts prepared to go to sleep, well over 50 per cent of all planned transfers were complete.

Early in the crew's workday, Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev and Canadian astronaut Julie Payette changed out the final six battery recharge controller units for two of Zarya's power-producing batteries. The new recharging units are expected to allow the batteries to charge and discharge properly once again. They had experienced difficulty soon after Zarya's launch last November. Twelve of the units were replaced late Sunday.

Dan Barry and Tokarev continued the installation of mufflers inside Zarya to help dampen sound levels in the Russian module. Commander Kent Rominger sent down a video inspection of the mufflers installed on portions of the air circulating duct work, explaining that the mufflers are causing some of the flexible ductwork to collapse. Flight controllers believe that humidity levels inside Zarya are at an acceptable level even though they are a bit higher than predicted because of some restriction to air flow in the module. Additional muffler and humidity reduction work likely will be conducted by the astronauts late tonight.

Rominger and Tokarev took time out to answer questions regarding the progress of the flight from Russian reporters located at the Russian Mission Control Center outside Moscow.

The astronauts will begin an eight-hour sleep period at 7:50 a.m. Central time, with a wake-up call scheduled for 3:50 p.m. to begin their seventh day of work in space.

Discovery and the International Space Station are in excellent health orbiting 240 miles above the Earth.

The crew was awakened at 3:50 this afternoon by the Russian song "Vasha Blagarodye" followed by "The Charleston." The tunes were played for cosmonaut Valery Tokarev and Mission Specialist Ellen Ochoa.

The early part of the evening includes the completion of transfer activities. By day's end, the crew will have transferred a total of 115 items totaling 3,718 pounds of equipment both inside and outside the space station. Those numbers include seven containers of water totaling about 84 gallons for use by future station crews.

Ochoa and Canadian astronaut Julie Payette will use the shuttle's robot arm one last time this evening to conduct a survey of the port side antenna for the Early Communications System on Unity. This survey will complete robotic arm tasks scheduled earlier in the flight.

Once that is completed, the crew will begin closing the hatches that were opened after Discovery docked with the station earlier this week. The crew will climb out of Zarya at about 12:30 a.m. central time Thursday and will move out of the Unity module at about 2:50 a.m., closing the final hatch at about 3:30 a.m.

Commander Kent Rominger and Pilot Rick Husband will begin boosting the station's altitude at about 4:30 tomorrow morning using the Reaction Control System thrusters on the orbiter. The 40-minute activity will raise the complex's altitude by about 6 miles (statute). Undocking from the International Space Station is not scheduled until late Thursday afternoon at about 5:40 p.m.

Discovery undocked from ISS at 5:39 p.m. central time yesterday, having delivered more than two tons of water, supplies and equipment to the space station.

As Discovery departed from the station, Mission Specialists Tammy Jernigan and Dan Barry packed away the space suit gear they used during their spacewalk early in the mission, while Commander Kent Rominger and Pilot Rick Husband practiced landings on a laptop computer program. Mission Specialists Julie Payette and Valery Tokarev helped to stow gear and repressurized the shuttle's cabin to its standard 14.7 pounds per square inch.

Once they are awakened at 3:50 this afternoon, the astronauts will focus on preparing for a Sunday landing at the Kennedy Space Center. Rominger, Husband and Mission Specialist Ellen Ochoa will conduct a test to verify the performance of Discovery's steering jets. They also will activate one of three hydraulic power units to move the various aerosurfaces that will be used to control Discovery during its reentry and landing. The crew also will prepare to deploy a small, student-built payload called STARSHINE. The Student Tracked Atmospheric Research Satellite for Heuristic International Networking Equipment satellite will be ejected from a canister in Discovery's payload bay at 2:10 a.m. Saturday by Payette. STARSHINE is a 19-inch hollow sphere covered by about 800 aluminum mirrors polished to a high shine by students around the world. International student observers will visually track the reflective spacecraft during the early morning and twilight hours for several months, measuring the atmosphere's density based on the rate at which STARSHINE's orbit decays.

Discovery has two Sunday landing opportunities on Kennedy Space Center's Runway 15. The first would begin with a deorbit burn at 11:54 p.m. CDT Saturday, and end with a landing at 1:03 a.m. Sunday. The second calls for a deorbit burn at 1:30 a.m. CDT Sunday, with landing at 2:38 a.m. The weather forecast calls for generally acceptable conditions.

Weather permitting, Discovery's computers will ignite the twin breaking rockets on the tail just before midnight to slow the vehicle toward a descent through the atmosphere high above the Pacific Ocean. The ground track shows the orbiter navigating its way to its seaside home at the Kennedy Space Center from the south after crossing Costa Rica, Cuba, the Florida Everglades, and East of Lake Okechobee.

The forecast for landing still shows a chance of rain within 30 miles of the runway and a possibility of crosswind violations on the 3-mile-long concrete Shuttle Landing Facility. The runway of choice for tonight's landing is Runway 15. The final turn to align the shuttle with the runway would be out over the water with landing from the northwest to the southeast. If landing is delayed one orbit, touchdown one orbit later at 2:38 a.m. CDT.

Following crew wakeup at 4 p.m. today, the astronauts began the final preparations for landing, including closing the hatches to the Spacehab module, which has served as the cargo transfer compartment throughout the flight. The wakeup music was "The Longest Day," to commemorate what spacecraft communicator in Mission Control Mario Runco called a "landing of a different kind." His reference was to the 55th anniversary of the Allied troop landing on the beaches of Normandy during World War II that occurred on June 6, 1944.

If all goes as planned, Discovery's cargo bay doors will swing shut at 9:18 p.m., after which the astronauts will climb into their launch and entry suits and strap into their seats. Commander Kent Rominger, Pilot Rick Husband and Flight Engineer Ellen Ochoa will be joined on the flight deck for entry by Mission Specialist Julie Payette. Tammy Jernigan, Dan Barry and Valery Tokarev will be seated down on the middeck for entry.

If landing occurs on the first opportunity, Discovery will have covered 3.8 million miles during the mission. STS-96 will be the 11th shuttle mission to end in darkness. Five previous flights have ended at Edwards AFB in California and five at KSC.

Discovery swooped out of darkness as Commander Kent Rominger set the shuttle and his crewmates down on Runway 15 at the Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida to successfully complete the first shuttle mission of the year.

Rominger and Pilot Rick Husband fired Discovery's orbital maneuvering system engines just before midnight Saturday over Thailand to enable the spaceship to drop out of orbit for its high speed return to Earth.

Traveling in an almost due northerly ground track, Discovery crossed over Costa Rica, the southern Caribbean, northwest Cuba, and the Florida Everglades before honing in on the Kennedy Space Center for the 18th consecutive landing at the Florida spaceport.

Rominger and Husband were joined on the flight deck for entry and landing by Flight Engineer Ellen Ochoa and Mission Specialist Julie Payette, while Mission Specialists Tammy Jernigan, Dan Barry and Valery Tokarev were seated down in the middeck.

After landing, Discovery's astronauts were scheduled to undergo routine medical exams and be reunited with their families before spending the rest of the day relaxing in Florida.

The crew is expected to return to Houston early Monday afternoon, with their crew arrival at Ellington Field planned for about 1:30 p.m. The STS-96 crew's return to Ellington is open to the public.

The crewmembers were inside Zvezda monitoring the automated docking as ISS flew 220 statute miles above Central Asia near northern Kazakhstan at the time of contact and capture. Once leak checks are completed, Krikalev and Phillips will open the hatch to Progress later today and will begin to unload its contents on Sunday.

The supplies include food, fuel, oxygen and air, clothing, experiment hardware, and Russian spacesuit components. The more than 2,700 pounds of dry cargo contained in this supply ship also include a new water circulation device called a liquids unit for the Station's Elektron, the primary system for supplying oxygen for the crew to breathe and spare parts for the Vozdukh carbon dioxide removal system. Time is set aside in the crew's schedule Sept. 15 for installation of the new liquids unit to attempt to bring Elektron back into service, months after it failed.

The remainder of the Progress payload includes 1,763 pounds of propellant for the Russian thrusters, 242 pounds of oxygen and air in tanks as a backup supply for the oxygen generated by Elektron and 463 pounds of water to augment the supplies left by The Space Shuttle Discovery during the recent STS-114 mission.

Some of the clothing and personal effects delivered to the Station today include items for the next resident crew of the Station, Expedition 12 Commander and NASA Science Officer Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev. They are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Oct. 1 on the Soyuz TMA-7 capsule.

A Soyuz spacecraft carried Expedition 12 Commander and NASA Science Officer William McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev to orbit. Gregory Olsen rode with them, beginning a 10-day space mission as part of a commercial contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency.

The Soyuz launched at 10:55 p.m. CDT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. At the time, the station was flying in a southeasterly direction about 230 miles above the South Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Chile. With Tokarev at the controls, the Soyuz is on course to catch up and dock with the station at 12:32 a.m. Monday, Oct. 3.

The hatches between the arriving Soyuz spacecraft and the station will be opened at about 3:25 a.m. Monday. Live NASA Television coverage of the docking will begin at 11 p.m. Sunday.

Tokarev and McArthur will stay aboard the station until the spring, while Olsen will spend eight days there conducting experiments.

Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev and Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer John Phillips have been doing research and maintaining station systems since April. With Olsen, they will undock from the station and return to Earth Oct. 10.

Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev and NASA Science Officer John Phillips also spent some time packing up for their own return home, readying their launch and entry suits. They checked out the Soyuz spacecraft that brought them to the station April 16 to make sure it is ready to take them back to Earth.

The 12th crew of the station, Commander and NASA Science Officer William McArthur and Valery Tokarev, flight engineer and Soyuz commander, are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan tonight at about 10:55 p.m. CDT. NASA Television coverage of the launch will begin at 10 p.m.

The new crew is scheduled to dock with the station a little after 12:30 a.m. on Monday. NASA Television coverage of the docking will begin at 11p.m. Sunday.

With the Expedition 12 crew will be spaceflight participant Gregory Olsen, an American businessman traveling to the station under a contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency. He will spend about eight days on the station and return to Earth with Krikalev and Phillips. Their landing is scheduled for about 8:10 p.m. CDT Oct. 10 on the steppes of Kazakhstan.

Thursday managers at Mission Control Moscow said launch preparations were moving along flawlessly. Managers at Mission Control Houston said the station was ready to receive the new crew.

McArthur and Tokarev will spend the eight days they will share with their predecessors aboard the station in intensive handover briefings, learning about the spacecraft's systems, processes, procedures, scientific experiments, the location of equipment and supplies. In short, they will be trying to learn all they still need to know before they begin their months in orbit alone.

Krikalev and Phillips began the week with NASA flight controllers in Moscow exercising primary mission control. Mission Control Houston and the rest of Johnson Space Center were closed because of the threat of Hurricane Rita. Houston flight controllers resumed normal operations at 9 a.m. Monday.

On Tuesday Krikalev and Phillips each spent more than an hour familiarizing themselves with Olsen's scientific experiments. On Wednesday they continued preparations for arrival of the new crew, and on Thursday did predocking tests and more preparation for their own departure. Phillips regenerated METOX carbon dioxide absorbing cartridges for U.S. spacesuits. McArthur and Tokarev have a spacewalk scheduled in those suits in November.

Today's schedule includes maintenance of the Elektron oxygen generating system, functioning again after Krikalev replaced its liquids unit two weeks ago.

With Expedition 12 Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander Valery Tokarev at the controls, the Soyuz TMA-7 spacecraft automatically linked up to the Pirs Docking Compartment at 12:27 a.m. CDT as the Soyuz and the station flew over eastern Asia. Within minutes, hooks and latches between the two vehicles joined together to form a hard mate.

Aboard the Soyuz with Tokarev were NASA Expedition 12 Commander and Science Officer Bill McArthur and U.S. Spaceflight Participant Gregory Olsen, who will spend eight days on the complex under a commercial agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency.

After two orbits worth of systems checks, hatches between the Soyuz and the station were opened at 3:36 a.m. CDT. Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev and NASA Flight Engineer and Science Officer John Phillips greeted their colleagues with handshakes and hugs and the traditional offering of bread and salt. The first activity scheduled for the five crewmembers was a safety briefing to familiarize the newly arrived trio with emergency escape procedures. For Krikalev and Phillips, today marked their 171st day in space and their 169th day on the station since they arrived in April.

McArthur and Tokarev will remain on board the station until April 2006. Olsen will return to Earth next week after eight days of scientific and photography experiments with Krikalev and Phillips in the Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft that is docked to the Zarya module. The new crew launched Saturday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for its two-day journey to the outpost.

McArthur and Tokarev are scheduled to relocate the new Soyuz from Pirs to Zarya on Nov. 18.

Among the NASA officials on hand for the docking activities at the Russian Mission Control Center outside Moscow were William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for space operations, and Bob Cabana, the deputy director of the Johnson Space Center.

Later today, before beginning an extended sleep period, the new crewmembers will transfer Olsen's custom-made Soyuz seatliner to the older Soyuz he will ride home in as well as cargo carried aloft on the new Soyuz for the complex. In addition, initial briefings on the handover from the current residents to their replacements will be conducted and the new Soyuz' systems will be deactivated.

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

McArthur, Tokarev and Olsen arrived at the space station at 12:27 a.m. CDT Monday, Oct. 3, and entered the orbital laboratory at 3:36 a.m. For McArthur and Tokarev, the station will serve as home for the next six months.

The crews began joint activities with safety briefings and a review of emergency escape procedures. The remainder of the first day together for the two crews included initial handover briefings, deactivation of the Soyuz spacecraft and drying and stowage of the Russian Sokol spacesuits worn during launch.

Handover activities continued throughout the week. On Tuesday, Expedition 11 Flight Engineer John Phillips and McArthur reviewed robotic arm software that provides graphical depictions of the station's exterior to aid in arm operations. The following day, the two performed several maneuvers using the Canadarm2 to acquaint the new crew with how the robotic arm behaves in the space environment.

The crews also conducted experiments. The studies included the Intercellular Interactions experiment, a Russian study of the effect of microgravity on cell surfaces and intercellular interactions, and an experiment that studies the process of genetic material transmission in bacteria. Other experiment work included a study of the growth and development of higher plants in space, a study of changes in the human cardiovascular system in orbit and an investigation designed to help researchers understand the effect of radiation exposure on human organs.

The crews also fielded questions from media during a news conference and several interviews and received a special phone call from Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. Fradkov congratulated the crews on their work and discussed his country's commitment to the international space station program.

Also this week, the crews installed radiation monitors and temperature sensor switching units, inspected U.S. emergency power supplies and smoke detectors, and replaced a laptop computer.

The crews will have some brief off-duty time this weekend, but will focus on completing handover and preparations for Expedition 11's return home. Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev and Phillips are scheduled to undock from the station at 4:43 p.m. CDT and land at 8:09 p.m. CDT on Monday in Kazakhstan.

NASA Television coverage of the crew's farewells will begin at 1 p.m. CDT Monday as they say their goodbyes and close the hatches between the station and the Soyuz spacecraft. NASA TV coverage of the undocking will begin at 4 p.m. CDT. Coverage of the deorbit burn will begin at 6:45 p.m. and continue through landing. The deorbit burn is scheduled for 7:19 p.m.

The Soyuz spacecraft with Krikalev, Phillips and Olsen landed in north-central Kazakhstan, about 53 miles (85 kilometers) northeast of Arkalyk, at 8:09 p.m. CDT. The crew's families will greet them at Star City, Russia, near Moscow, early tomorrow. Krikalev and Phillips will remain in Star City for post-flight debriefings before returning to Houston in late October. Krikalev and Phillips launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, April 14. They spent 179 days, 23 minutes in space. During their mission, they welcomed the Space Shuttle Discovery crew as it returned the shuttle to flight on STS-114.

While on the station, Krikalev amassed more time in space than any human. He is a veteran of six spaceflights, including two to the Russian space station Mir, two shuttle flights, and the first international space station expedition. Krikalev has 803 days, 9 hours and 39 minutes of time in space. On Aug. 16, he surpassed the previous record set by Cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev of 747 days, 14 hours and 14 minutes.

The new station crew, Expedition 12 Commander and NASA Science Officer Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev, will have light duty for the next few days as they rest from a busy handover. They will remain in orbit six months, during which they are planned to perform at least two spacewalks. The first spacewalk will occur in early November.

McArthur and Tokarev, veterans of shorter space shuttle flights, began familiarizing themselves with the nuances of a longer on orbit life. While becoming acquainted with their new microgravity home and laboratory, they did some routine maintenance work, exercised and conducted early experiment work. The crew also reviewed emergency procedures for departing the station, swapped a battery in the Zarya module and rearranged some stowage items in the Unity connecting node.

During McArthur and Tokarev's six months in orbit, they expect to perform at least two spacewalks, the first in early November. Before that, they will relocate their Soyuz spacecraft from the Russian Pirs docking port so it can be used for the spacewalks. In December, the Expedition 12 crew members expect to oversee the arrival of a new supply ship, the 20th Progress vehicle.

This week, McArthur set up a camera for a session of the Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students, or EarthKAM experiment. Using the Internet, students can control the special digital camera mounted on the space station to photograph coastlines, mountain ranges and other geographic items of interest. Thousands of students from 119 schools around the world are participating in the 20th session of this NASA education program.

Expedition 12 Commander and NASA Station Science Officer Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev this week began reviewing procedures for the extravehicular activity, or spacewalk, they will make on Nov. 7 using U.S. spacesuits and the Joint Quest airlock. The two priority tasks for the 5½-hour spacewalk are installation of a new video camera on the far end of the station's P1 (port) truss structure and removal of a probe that measured the electrical potential around the station from the top of its P6 truss element.

The station's atmosphere was repressurized with oxygen from storage tanks on the Progress supply ship today as Russian specialists prepare a troubleshooting plan to recover the Elektron, the primary oxygen generation system on the space station. The Elektron, which creates oxygen by breaking down water into its oxygen and hydrogen components, stopped working late last week when its supply of water was depleted sooner than was expected.

A Russian commission of technical specialists is looking into the cause of the abort of a planned altitude reboost Tuesday using Progress fuel and thrusters. Mission managers believe Russian navigation computers properly shut down the thrusters when they lost information on how those thrusters were actually performing. A test firing of the thrusters in question is planned for next Wednesday to gather more data for Russian engineers troubleshooting the issue.

This week McArthur checked out a new device to analyze exhaled gases inside the station. After more than eight years of design, development and testing on Earth by U.S. and European Space Agency (ESA) scientists, the Pulmonary Function System - originally slated to be launched to the station inside ESA's science laboratory Columbus - was delivered by space shuttle Discovery in July integrated into the second Human Research Facility (HRF). The first HRF was launched inside Destiny in February 2001.

McArthur and Tokarev conducted the first of three sessions with the Renal Stone experiment by collecting urine samples for later return to Earth and logging all of their food and drink consumed during a 24-hour period. This ongoing experiment investigates whether potassium citrate - proven to minimize kidney stone development on Earth - can be used to reduce the risk of kidney stone formation for crewmembers in space.

Because urine calcium levels are typically much higher in space, space travelers are susceptible to an increased risk of developing kidney stones. An understanding of the crew's diet during the urine collection timeframes will help researchers determine if the excess calcium in the urine is due to diet or a response to the microgravity environment.

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

McArthur and Tokarev will be in orbit for six months conducting experiments, at least two spacewalks and overseeing arrival of the next Progress supply vehicle in December. They also will relocate their Soyuz crew module to free the Russian Pirs docking port for a later spacewalk. Pirs doubles as an airlock and docking module.

McArthur and Tokarev will mark five years of continuous human presence on the International Space Station Nov. 2. They are the 12th station crew. The first station crew, Commander Bill Shepherd, Flight Engineers Sergei Krikalev and Soyuz Commander Yuri Gidzenko, arrived at the fledgling complex Nov. 2, 2000. The size of an efficiency apartment at that time, the station has grown to a volume larger than the average three-bedroom house with the most sophisticated laboratory ever to fly in space.

McArthur and Tokarev sent an anniversary greeting this week to crews that have flown before and to the thousands that support the station in 16 nations around the world.

The crew devoted most of their attention to spacewalk preparations during the week. On Tuesday, they performed a checkout of the spacesuits they will wear. The spacewalk will be the first from the station to use U.S. spacesuits and originate from the Quest Airlock since April 2003. During their work outside, they will install a television camera important for future assembly work on the station's port side truss. They also plan to remove an experiment from the station's highest point, the top of the P6 truss, that measured the electrical environment around the exterior of the station.

On Wednesday, the crewmembers reviewed the procedures they will use to put on and take off the spacesuits, reviewed plans for the spacewalk and conferred with spacewalk specialists on the ground. On Thursday, they suited up and rehearsed the activities inside the station that they will perform outside the station Nov. 7. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin about 9:30 a.m. EDT.

All station systems are operating well. The Elektron oxygen-generating system, one of several methods of replenishing oxygen in the station cabin atmosphere, is functioning. It was restored to operation Saturday when Tokarev performed a maintenance procedure to purge air bubbles from its systems. Russian flight controllers completed a test firing of thrusters on the Progress cargo craft on Wednesday, thrusters that shut off early last week during a planned reboost of the complex. The thrusters were fired using a different manifold as Russian controllers continued to evaluate a loss of data from the system they had seen during the aborted reboost. During the test firing, the engines operated normally. They are planned to be used next for a reboost of the complex Nov. 10.

NASA’s payload operations team at the Marshall Space Flight Center coordinates U.S. science activities on the space station.

Following a review by station program management last week, managers Thursday gave the green light for the first station-based spacewalk using U.S. space suits since 2003. Station Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev reviewed procedures and prepared tools for the spacewalk. It will begin at 9:30 a.m. EST Monday.

During the 5½-hour spacewalk, McArthur and Tokarev will install a TV camera on the station's port truss. The camera will be an important aid during future assembly work to add additional truss segments on the port side of the complex. They also plan to remove an old experiment from the top of the P6 truss, the station's highest point. The experiment measured the electrical environment around the station.

During interviews with reporters from ABC and CBS News Wednesday, McArthur and Tokarev discussed their upcoming spacewalk and marked the fifth anniversary of the start of a permanent human presence on the outpost. The first station crew, Commander Bill Shepherd and cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko, arrived at the complex on Nov. 2, 2000.

During the first half of this week, McArthur and Tokarev focused on the maintenance of hardware. Monday they disassembled and measured air flow in the Trace Contaminant Control System. The hardware keeps a clean, healthy atmosphere by filtering out contaminants in the air. Engineers noticed a reduction in the air flow, and after the crew examined its components, determined that replacement hardware may need to be delivered on a future supply ship. After reassembling the device, the system is running at a slightly reduced capacity, complemented by a fully operational and complementary system in the Russian segment.

McArthur and Tokarev also replaced a faulty pump in a thermal control loop and smoke detectors in the Zvezda Service Module and cleaned ventilation filters in the Zarya module.

Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev began their spacewalk from the Quest Airlock at 9:32 a.m. CST as they placed their suits on internal battery power. The spacewalk lasted 5 hours and 22 minutes. The spacewalk started about an hour later than planned. The crew had to repressurize the Quest airlock to open a misaligned valve in the interior portion of the two-chambered module. With the valve properly positioned, they again depressurized the outer chamber to begin their work outside.

Once out the door, McArthur and Tokarev made up the time easily and completed all of their primary tasks as well as some get-ahead jobs. They installed a television camera on the outboard end of the port truss segment. The camera will be an important aid during future assembly work when additional truss segments are added to the port side of the complex. The camera installation job had originally been planned to be performed during the STS-114 space shuttle mission of Discovery in August. It was not performed during that mission, however, when a job to remove gap fillers from the shuttle heat shield was added in its place.

McArthur and Tokarev first retrieved the camera’s stanchion from an external tool platform attached to Quest, brought the equipment out to the port truss, installed the camera on top of the stanchion and installed the hardware. The camera was powered up and provided its first views from space just before 12 p.m. Central time.

Next, flight controllers asked the spacewalkers to complete a get-ahead task by removing a failed electronics box called a Rotary Joint Motor Controller (RJMC). The RJMC will be returned on the next shuttle mission so engineers can determine why it failed. The analysis will be used to evaluate future similar hardware to be shipped to the station

The pair then moved hand over hand to the highest point of the station, the P6 truss, about 50 feet above the U.S. Destiny Lab. There, McArthur removed an old experiment called the Floating Potential Probe from its stand and pushed it away from the station. It floated up and behind the station. It is expected to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere in about 100 days.

The experiment was installed during a station assembly mission in 2000 to characterize the electrical environment around the station’s solar arrays. Imagery from STS-114 showed that pieces of the experiment were missing or backing out of place. Since it was no longer used, managers decided to remove the unit and discard it.

The crewmembers then received approval to move ahead with the final get-ahead task before calling it a day. They quickly removed a failed circuit breaker from the Mobile Transporter (MT) and installed a new one. Called a Remote Power Control Module, the breaker provides power for redundant heating on the transporter. The transporter is a type of space rail car that can moves along the station's truss structure.

With all tasks completed, McArthur and Tokarev entered the airlock and began repressurizing it at 2:54 p.m. CST. It was the 63rd spacewalk in support of station assembly and maintenance, the 35th staged from the station and the 18th staged from Quest. It was the third spacewalk for McArthur and the first for Tokarev.

Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev will get a special musical wakeup call this weekend as Paul McCartney connects with them live from a concert in Anaheim, Calif. The call will take place at 11:55 p.m. CST Saturday and will be broadcast live on NASA Television.

The McCartney wakeup music for McArthur and Tokarev is a follow-up to a tribute he paid to the crew of Space Shuttle Discovery during the STS-114 mission in August, when the Beatles’ classic "Good Day Sunshine" was played as a wakeup call for Discovery’s crew on the day weather conditions became favorable for landing.

McArthur and Tokarev spent the week servicing the spacesuits they wore Monday for a 5 hour, 22 minute excursion outside the station. During the spacewalk, they installed a television camera, jettisoned an inactive science experiment and removed and replaced other equipment on the truss system of the complex.

The crew's second spacewalk is planned for Dec. 7. McArthur and Tokarev will don Russian Orlan spacesuits and exit the Pirs Docking Compartment airlock for that excursion. During the spacewalk, they will move a cargo crane adapter, collect science experiments from the hull of the Zvezda Service Module and manually launch an expired Russian spacesuit equipped with amateur radio equipment. Called SuitSat, the experiment is designed to see if ham radio contacts can be made with a free-flying transmitter.

To prepare for that spacewalk, McArthur and Tokarev will relocate their Soyuz spacecraft from the Pirs docking port to the nadir docking port of the Zarya module on Nov. 18, briefly leaving the station unoccupied.

Earlier today, four thruster engines on the ISS Progress 19 resupply craft were fired for more than 33 minutes in two separate reboost maneuvers to raise the altitude of the outpost. The station is now in a near circular orbit of 219 statute miles to accommodate the launch and docking of the next Progress cargo ship in December. The reboost was the longest ever completed using Progress engines.

On Wednesday, Tokarev replaced a control panel for the station’s toilet in Zvezda that had malfunctioned earlier in the week. The temporary loss of the use of the device's liquid disposal component had no impact on station operations. Following the troubleshooting, the toilet is now operating normally.

McArthur and Tokarev left the station unoccupied for about half an hour as they relocated the Soyuz TMA-7. Tokarev unodocked the Soyuz at 2:46 a.m. CST while the station orbited 225 miles above the south Atlantic just east of South America. They redocked to the Earth-facing port of the nearby Zarya module at 3:05 a.m. As they docked, the station was over the Sahara Desert as the recently installed Port 1 Truss television camera provided dramatic views of the operation.

The Soyuz move will allow the Pirs Docking Compartment to be used as an airlock for an upcoming Russian spacewalk. That spacewalk, to be the second of three possible spacewalks during their mission, currently is scheduled for Dec. 7. However, managers are reviewing the schedule and the spacewalk may be delayed to early next year to ease the crew's workload. McArthur and Tokarev must finish unpacking the ISS Progress 19 cargo ship now docked to the complex, prepare it for undocking and get ready for the Dec. 23 arrival of the next Progress supply ship.

Today, Tokarev, in the center seat of the Soyuz, disengaged hooks and latches holding the craft to Pirs and backed it about 80 feet away from the complex. With McArthur seated to his left, Tokarev piloted the Soyuz forward along the station about 45 feet. He then rotated the capsule to align it with Zarya’s docking port. A few minutes after the Soyuz linked up to Zarya, hooks and latches engaged, establishing a firm connection. The crew is scheduled to re-enter the station just before 9 a.m., after a series of leak checks are completed.

The Soyuz will be the crew's ride home at the end of its six-month stay on the orbiting laboratory. It also serves as a lifeboat in the event the crew must evacuate the station.

Earlier this week, McArthur spent several hours photographing samples of colloids that had been undisturbed in the station’s microgravity environment for more than a year. The work is part of an experiment called the Binary Colloidal Alloy Test. The behavior of these supercritical fluids is important because they combine the properties of liquids and gases. A better understanding of their reaction in the weightless environment of space could help in the development of new drugs, cleaner power and interplanetary transportation.

The crew will begin an extended sleep period at about 11:30 a.m. and will awaken about midnight Saturday to begin a weekend of light duty.

A Progress spacecraft launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1:38 p.m. EST, Dec. 21. The 20th supply ship to visit the station will arrive at the Pirs docking compartment Dec. 23 at 2:54 p.m. EST.

Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev brushed up on operating a backup, manual docking system in case the standard automated one fails. The Progress will deliver 3,097 pounds of food, clothing, experiment hardware, spare parts and gifts; 1,940 pounds of propellant; 463 pounds of water; 183 pounds of oxygen and air. The Progress docked to the station will remain for several months along with the new craft.

The crew also performed biomedical experiments to study the impact of long-duration missions in space. Maintenance work this week included upgrading software on equipment racks in the Destiny laboratory; restoring the air conditioner in the crew health care system to full operation; and reactivating an air monitoring system.

McArthur completed refresher training with the station's Canadian-built robotic arm. He also videotaped a lesson on how station crews recycle supplies. The video demonstrates basic scientific principles and will be part of NASA educational products made available to schools across the country.

The 20th supply ship to visit the station lifted off at 1:38 p.m. EST. Less than 10 minutes later, the spacecraft reached orbit and successfully deployed its solar arrays and navigational antennas for the two-day trip.

Two pre-programmed firings of the craft's main engine later today will fine-tune the ship's path to the station. Additional rendezvous maneuvers are planned Thursday and Friday.

At launch time, Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev were flying 220 miles over the south Pacific, west of Chile. Flight controllers informed them of the launch as the Progress reached orbit.

The craft is carrying nearly three tons of food, water, fuel, oxygen, air, spare parts and holiday presents. It is scheduled to automatically dock to the station's Pirs Docking Compartment at 2:54 p.m. EST, Friday.

The Progress docked to the station's Zvezda Service Module's aft port will remain there until early March. The crew will stow trash in the Progress and use its oxygen supply to replenish station cabin atmosphere.

Engineers are studying data to learn what may have caused last Friday's severing of a cable that provides power, command and video connections to the Mobile Transporter rail car. Two redundant cable reels support the Mobile Transporter and Mobile Base System, a movable platform that allows the station's robotic arm to move back and forth along the truss during construction and maintenance work.

The Trailing Umbilical System 2 cable appears to have been cut by the system designed to sever it if it ever became snarled or tangled. Video down linked from station cameras confirmed the cable was cut. The Trailing Umbilical System 1 was not affected.

The inadvertent severing of the cable tripped one of two redundant circuit breakers on the S0 Truss, which provides power to the Mobile Transporter. The transporter is not scheduled to be used in the near future, but the severed Trailing Umbilical System 2 cable can be replaced through a spacewalk to provide the required redundancy.

An unpiloted Russian Progress cargo craft linked up automatically to the station's Pirs Docking Compartment at approximately 2:46 p.m. EST. The Progress was launched Wednesday from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev will open the hatch to Progress, when leak checks are completed later today. The crew begins unloading cargo this weekend.

The Progress holds 1,940 pounds of propellant for the station's Russian thrusters; 183 pounds of back up oxygen and air for the Russian Elektron system; and 463 pounds of water to augment onboard supplies. More than 3,000 pounds of spare parts, experiment hardware, life support components and holiday gifts round out the cargo.

The Progress that arrived Sept. 10 will remain docked until early March. The crew will stow trash in it, and on Dec. 31, use the remaining 43 kilograms (94.6 pounds) of oxygen in the craft's tanks to replenish station cabin pressure.

On Saturday, McArthur and Tokarev plan to document various experiments in both the U.S. and Russian station modules. They will celebrate Christmas talking with their families, viewing Earth from orbit and dining on packaged Russian foods. The meal includes fish, meat dishes, vegetables and pastries.

Earlier in the week, McArthur and Tokarev conducted routine servicing of environmental systems and filters and continued biomedical experiments. McArthur inspected seals around the hatches of the U.S. modules and down linked educational videos.

The videos explained the differences between U.S. and Russian spacesuits; demonstrated how materials are recycled on orbit; and how the principles of Newton's Laws of Motion affect life and work in the absence of gravity.

McArthur also operated the Capillary Flow-Contact Line and Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3 (BCAT-3) experiments. Capillary flow is the key process used to move fluids in a microgravity environment. The Contact Line portion examines the interface between the liquid and solid surface of the container. The experiment investigates capillary and fluid flows in containers with complex shapes. Results could be used by designers of low gravity fluid systems in future spacecraft. BCAT-3 examines the behavior of particles suspended in liquids in microgravity with potential future commercial applications.

The Elektron oxygen-generation system in the Zvezda module remains up and running on its primary pump. It will be shut down on Dec. 28, and the crew will burn solid fuel oxygen generation candles for two days to recertify the system.

McArthur discussed life and work on the station with newspaper reporters from his home state of North Carolina. He also spoke about his mission with students from the Carman Park Elementary School in Flint, Mich.

On Christmas Day, Tokarev will have a ham radio discussion with operators at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. The purpose is to honor cosmonaut Gennady Strekalov, who died on Christmas Day one year ago at age 64. Strekalov was a veteran of five spaceflights.

On Sunday, Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev spoke with their families, friends and co-workers. They also feasted on a meal including Russian soup, bread and fish.

They opened gifts, including a Russian Santa Claus matryoshka doll, and chocolates. The gifts arrived last Friday in a recent cargo shipment. The crew took Monday off in observance of Christmas and will take next Monday off for New Year's. They plan to ring in 2006 with another Russian meal.

This week, the crew unloaded almost three tons of equipment and supplies from the Progress. The crew also logged their food intake and collected urine samples as part of a medical study to understand ways to prevent kidney stones in weightlessness.

There were no problems with station operations. The Elektron oxygen generation system was intentionally shut down to deplete the oxygen in the Progress supply ship that arrived in September. The crew had several special audio/visual linkups in observance of the holidays. They had a news conference with Russian media and a conversation with Grandfather Frost, Russia's version of Santa Claus who delivers presents to children on New Year's.

Sunday is the crew's 100th day in space.

Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur conducted ham radio contacts with schools during the week, and the crew unloaded cargo from the Progress spacecraft that docked to the Pirs Docking Compartment Dec. 23. The Progress that arrived in September is docked at the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module. The crew uses its oxygen to replenish the station's atmosphere. The Elektron oxygen generation system will be activated next week after being deliberately shut off in mid-December.

McArthur engaged in computer training for the Foot/Ground Reaction Forces during Space Flight experiment this week. It measures activity and pressure on the legs and feet of crew members while in microgravity. Results will help scientists determine how long-duration missions contribute to bone and muscle loss.

McArthur did a dry run to calibrate the experiment on Wednesday. He also reconfigured power supplies to the station's computers. On Thursday, he worked with the Binary Colloidal Alloy experiment, which looks at the behavior of fine particles suspended in a liquid in microgravity. Paint, milk and ink are common examples of colloids.

Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev worked much of the week setting up the "Matryoshka" radiation detection experiment. It measures crew radiation level exposure. He set up detectors around the station and spent time with a companion "Phantom" torso experiment, placing about 370 radiation detectors around the horizontally-sliced replica of the upper part of a human body. He mounted the dummy torso in the Pirs for data collection.

Throughout the week, the crew performed additional scientific experiments, installed batteries in the U.S. spacesuits, exercised and performed station maintenance.

The assembly will conserve station oxygen during spacewalk preparations when the space shuttle is docked to the complex. It allows the crew to breathe oxygen from the shuttle rather than use oxygen from station tanks, as they prepare for the spacewalk. The crew must breathe pure oxygen for an extended period before beginning a spacewalk to prevent decompression sickness. The new system will be used during the next shuttle mission.

McArthur wore customized Lycra cycling tights for a session of the Foot/Ground Reaction Forces during Spaceflight (FOOT) experiment. FOOT investigates the differences between use of the body's lower extremities on Earth and in space. McArthur wore the instrumented garb to measure joint angles, muscle activity, and forces on his feet during daily activities.

On Thursday, McArthur maneuvered the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm to provide TV images of an interface umbilical assembly. The assembly houses a contingency cable cutter for a line that provides power, data and video to the station's Mobile Transporter. The transporter is a rail car that travels along the station's truss. A second identical assembly on the other side of the transporter inadvertently cut a backup cable for the system last month. The camera views allowed engineers to survey the remaining intact assembly and cable. The crew will install a safety bolt in the intact system during a Feb. 2 spacewalk.

McArthur also maneuvered the arm, positioning cameras to survey a station port seal where shuttle cargo modules dock. Engineers used the view to inspect the Common Berthing Mechanism on the Unity module for possible debris, and then the arm was positioned to provide views of the upcoming spacewalk.

The Elektron oxygen-generation system was activated by Tokarev after being deliberately shut off in mid-December. The Elektron was turned off to use the oxygen supplies aboard the first of two Progress cargo carriers docked to the station. Tokarev also worked on a number of Russian science projects throughout the week.

McArthur answered student questions from Peterson Elementary School in his hometown of Red Springs, N.C. and from St. Albert the Great School in North Royalton, Ohio via ham radio. He also talked with high school students in Hiroshima, Japan.

As he ran 220 miles above the Earth on board the station, the runners circled Houston.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, McArthur, Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev and ground flight control teams rehearsed procedures for a rapid cabin air leak requiring station evacuation. Similar emergency procedures are regularly practiced by all station crews.

The crew is preparing for their second spacewalk. On Thursday, mission managers decided to delay the spacewalk from Feb. 2 to Feb. 3 to ease the crew's preparation schedule. Mission Control sent the crew detailed procedures for the spacewalk this week, and they reviewed them with experts on the ground. The crew began charging batteries and preparing the Pirs Docking Compartment airlock for the excursion. For the spacewalk, they will wear Russian Orlan-M spacesuits.

During the spacewalk, the crew will move a cargo boom adapter from one module to another; install a safety bolt into a cable cutter on the Mobile Transporter truss rail car; and deploy SuitSat, an old Orlan space suit equipped with an active amateur radio transmitter. SuitSat will remain in orbit for several weeks and allow contact with amateur radio operators on the ground.

Science operations this week included powering on the European Space Agency Protein Crystal Growth Monitoring by Digital Holographic Microscope for the International Space Station (PROMISS-4) experiment.

McArthur spent several hours setting up the Microgravity Science Glovebox and other support equipment early in the week. He began sample processing for the PROMISS experiment in the glove box on Thursday. The experiment will investigate the growth processes of proteins during weightless conditions using advanced imaging methods such as digital holography.

McArthur and Tokarev took time out from their duties on Friday to answer questions from students at the Kuss Middle School in Fall River, Mass.

Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev reviewed procedures, gathered tools and outfitted equipment for their Feb. 3 spacewalk.

The walk may last up to six hours. It begins at 5:20 p.m. EST. During the walk, the crew will release the unusual SuitSat satellite. It's an old Russian Orlan spacesuit outfitted with amateur radio equipment. It will fly freely for several weeks of scientific research and amateur radio tracking. Eventually, SuitSat will burn up in the atmosphere.

The crew will also install a safety bolt in an emergency cable cutting system on the station's mobile transporter rail car. The transporter is used to move a platform containing the station's robotic arm along the truss of the complex. Other spacewalk tasks include relocation of an adaptor for the Russian Strela boom. The crane-like Strela is used to move spacewalkers and cargo.

Managers decided to extend Expedition 12's mission and delay launch of Expedition 13 by one week. Expedition 13 is planned to launch on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on March 29. It will dock on April 1. Expedition 12 is scheduled to return home April 8. The additional time will be used to prepare the Expedition 13 Soyuz spacecraft for flight.

The Protein Crystal Growth Monitoring by Digital Holographic Microscope for the International Space Station experiment operated on the station this week. The experiment uses diagnostic equipment to monitor the exact growth conditions of protein crystals. The experiment was activated Jan. 19. It operates for 15 days inside the Destiny Laboratory's Microgravity Science Glovebox. A better understanding of protein crystals may aid in the development of new medicines.

The ground-commanded Binary Colloidal Alloy Test captured time-lapse photography of its sixth sample using camera equipment borrowed from a student photography experiment called EarthKAM. The experiment studies the physics of the Earth's surface crystallization and fluids at their critical point. The payload operations team at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., coordinates U.S. science activities on the station. As part of NASA's education programs, McArthur also videotaped a description of how astronauts stay oriented in weightlessness. The video will be used in classrooms and NASA educational products.

Called SuitSat, it faintly transmitted recorded voices of school children to amateur radio operators worldwide for a brief period before it ceased sending signals.

Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev ventured outside for a five-hour, 43-minute spacewalk to release SuitSat, conduct preventative maintenance to a cable-cutting device, retrieve experiments and photograph the station's exterior. Clad in Russian Orlan spacesuits, McArthur and Tokarev opened the hatch to begin the spacewalk at 5:44 p.m. EST. It was the fourth career spacewalk for McArthur and the second for Tokarev.

After setting up tools and equipment, they positioned the unneeded Orlan spacesuit on a ladder by the station's Pirs airlock hatch. The suit reached the end of its operational life for spacewalks in August 2004. It was outfitted by the crew with three batteries, internal sensors and a radio transmitter for this experiment.

The SuitSat provided recorded greetings in six languages to ham radio operators for about two orbits of the Earth before it stopped transmitting, perhaps due to its batteries failing in the cold environment of space, according to amateur radio coordinators affiliated with the station program. The suit will enter the atmosphere and burn up in a few weeks.

Tokarev pushed the suit away toward the aft end of the station as the complex flew 225 miles above the south central Pacific Ocean. The suit initially drifted away at a rate of about a half meter per second, slowly floating out of view below the Zvezda Service Module and its attached Progress cargo craft. The suit is now separating from the station at a rate of about six kilometers every 90 minutes.

McArthur and Tokarev then moved from Pirs to the Zarya module where they removed a hubcap-shaped grapple fixture adapter for the Strela crane. They moved the adapter to Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 on the Unity module. The Strela fixture was moved to prepare Zarya for the future temporary stowage of debris shields.

McArthur and Tokarev made their way to the center truss segment of the station, where they tried and failed to securely install a safety bolt in a contingency cutting device for one of two cables that provide power, data and video to the Mobile Transporter rail car. The transporter moves along the truss to correctly position the Canadarm2 robotic arm for assembly work. The Trailing Umbilical System cable on the nadir, or Earth-facing side of the transporter was inadvertently severed by its cutter on Dec. 16.

After several attempts to drive the bolt with a high-tech screwdriver, McArthur wire-tied the cable to a handrail instead. That left the cable out of its cutting mechanism, disabling the Transporter from further movement on the station's rail system for the time being. The Transporter is not needed for assembly work until the STS-115 mission to install additional truss segments.

The severed cable reel mechanism will be replaced during one of the three spacewalks by Discovery crewmembers Piers Sellers and Mike Fossum during the STS-121 space shuttle mission later this year.

McArthur and Tokarev moved back to Pirs. Once at the Russian airlock, they retrieved an experiment to study the effect of the space environment on microorganisms.

As their final spacewalk task, the crew photographed the exterior of Zvezda, including Russian sensors that measure micrometeoroid impacts, handrails, propulsion systems and a ham radio antenna. McArthur and Tokarev then returned to the Pirs airlock and closed the hatch at 11:27 p.m. EST. It was the 64th spacewalk in support of station assembly and maintenance, the 36th staged from the station, and the 17th conducted from Pirs. In all, station spacewalkers have accumulated 384 hours and 23 minutes outside the facility since December 1998.

Meanwhile in Russia, final preparations were made this week to ship the next Soyuz spacecraft from Moscow to the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch site in Kazakhstan. The spacecraft is scheduled to depart Monday and will launch the 13th station crew in late March.

During the week, the station was maneuvered through a new procedure using guidance and navigation computers in the Destiny laboratory to request firings of the thrusters on the Zvezda module while maintaining overall attitude control through the Control Moment Gyroscopes.

Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev spent several days replacing worn components, inspecting and cleaning other parts of the treadmill. The Treadmill Vibration Isolation System floats in a pit in the floor of the station's Zvezda living- quarters module. A complex system prevents crew treadmill running from shaking the station's structure and experiments.

Following a final test run and inspection on Wednesday, the crew began normal use of the treadmill. The treadmill is one of several exercise options available on the station. Other equipment includes a stationary bicycle and a resistive exercise device that uses tension to simulate weights. Exercise is important to counteract the physical effects of long duration weightlessness.

A special activity is planned next week to test procedures that could shorten the preparation time required for future spacewalks. The crew and Mission Control call it a "camp out" since McArthur and Tokarev will shut themselves in the Quest Airlock overnight. They will lower the air pressure to 10.2 pounds per square inch (psi). That is approximately equal to the air pressure found at the 10,000 foot elevation level on Earth. The station is kept at 14.7 psi, which is near Earth sea-level pressure.

Spending the night at the lower air pressure helps flush nitrogen from the body faster, preventing decompression sickness. The new procedure can reduce the amount of time crew must breathe pure oxygen before a spacewalk to complete the purge. For the test, the crew will follow many of the same measures as if performing a spacewalk, but they will not don their spacesuits. The crew will enter the airlock around the start of its sleep period Thursday afternoon. They will return to the main station modules early Friday morning.

In preparation for the camp out, McArthur worked in the Destiny Laboratory to replace a faulty component in the device that can measure the composition of the station's air. On Thursday, he installed a new spectrometer in the mass constituent analyzer. An attempt by Mission Control to power up the unit early Friday was unsuccessful, and McArthur was asked to do more troubleshooting. The problem may be the device's electrical connectors are not seating properly. Engineers are analyzing the problem, and McArthur may do more troubleshooting this weekend.

In science work this week, the EarthKam experiment completed its most recent session on Saturday. EarthKam uses a camera to take photos of Earth through the station's window of locations selected by students on Earth. More than 1,900 students from 118 schools participated in the session.

Schools participated from: the United States, Canada, Argentina, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, Belgium, Japan, and, for the first time, New Zealand. The images will be used in a wide-range of studies, including coastline erosion, deforestation and environmental impacts. Approximately 1,000 schools have participated in EarthKAM, with students taking nearly 20,000 photos.

Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev spent the weekend restoring the station to its normal layout after the spacewalk. They dried their spacesuits to be ready for future spacewalks and reconfigured station systems.

The crew had off-duty time on Monday and Tuesday, and they completed post-spacewalk conferences with flight controllers and engineers. Other work included standard ground communications' checks with sites at White Sands, N.M., and Wallops Island, Va. Tuesday, McArthur transmitted a narrated video tour of the station, offering viewers a look at the interior, equipment and stowed supplies.

On Wednesday, Tokarev prepared the Progress cargo spacecraft docked to the station's Pirs Docking Compartment for a thruster test. Tokarev checked the Progress's attachments for leaks to ensure they were properly sealed. The Progress thrusters will be used to reboost the station's altitude tomorrow. This test will be the first time thrusters of a Progress docked to Pirs are used for a reboost.

The station's Elektron oxygen generator was reactivated yesterday. The unit was shut down for the spacewalk, and the station used oxygen from tanks in the Progress. Today, McArthur gathered data for the Foot/Ground Reaction Forces During Spaceflight experiment. It's designed to help develop ways to counteract lower body muscle and bone loss during long spaceflights. He wore cycling tights outfitted with 20 sensors, which measure hip, leg and ankle joint angles and lower extremity pressures during the experiment. It's conducted on four separate days evenly spaced through the six-month mission.

Managers decided to postpone the planned station "campout" this week until next month. It will test procedures to shorten the preparation required for spacewalks. It was delayed after a device called the Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) could not be activated following maintenance work by the crew. The device measures the composition of the station's air.

McArthur replaced a major component of the MCA last week, the mass spectrometer, but attempts to activate the unit were unsuccessful. McArthur continued troubleshooting the device Saturday. Engineers suspect the problem may be damaged electrical connectors and are evaluating ways to fix them.

The crew began preparations for the next shuttle mission, STS-121, targeted for launch to the station no earlier than May. McArthur made room in the storage racks inside the Destiny lab for new equipment scheduled to arrive on Space Shuttle Discovery.

He cleared space in EXPRESS Rack 3 for a European Space Agency experiment facility called the European Modular Cultivation System. The facility will house biological experiments dealing with the effects of gravity on plant cells, roots and physiology.

Tokarev and McArthur also continued packing the station's Progress 19 cargo spacecraft with trash, readying it to undock March 3. The supply craft's thrusters were used a final time to reboost the station Wednesday, increasing the altitude by eight miles.

McArthur continued science work, performing his third session with an experiment called Foot/Ground Reaction Forces During Spaceflight. The experiment investigates how muscles and joints of the legs and feet are used differently in space than on Earth. To gather data, McArthur wore the instrumented Lower Extremity Monitoring Suit, which measures joint angles, muscle activity and forces on the feet as he exercised. The experiment measures the musculoskeletal system and may lead to a better understanding of bone loss during long-duration missions.

The SuitSat experiment, an unneeded Russian Orlan spacesuit-turned-satellite, has stopped sending signals. SuitSat was released by Tokarev during a spacewalk Feb. 3. It transmitted recorded voices of school children to amateur radio operators as it orbited the Earth. Hundreds of reports from individuals receiving the faint signal from all over the world were logged at the project's Web site.

Filled with trash and items no longer needed, the Progress 19 vehicle undocked from the Zvezda living quarters module at 5:06 a.m. EST. Three hours later, Russian flight controllers commanded its engines to fire to put it on course to plunge into the atmosphere and burn up over the Pacific Ocean. The cargo ship was docked to the station since September 2005.

The station's Progress 20 cargo vessel, which arrived in December 2005, remains attached to the Pirs Docking Compartment.

Also this week, McArthur replaced the trace contaminant control system in the Destiny Laboratory. The system removes impurities from the cabin air. It experienced a slightly degraded performance over the past few months, but is operating normally.

On Monday, McArthur will attempt to reconnect and activate the major constituent analyzer in Destiny. It is a mass spectrometer that measures compounds in the station's atmosphere. Efforts to activate the system two weeks ago were unsuccessful due to what is believed to be damaged or bent electrical connectors.

Once the device is activated, plans can resume for a crew "campout" in the Quest Airlock to test streamlined spacewalk preparation procedures. The new procedures will shorten the time needed to cleanse nitrogen from spacewalkers' bodies to prevent decompression sickness. For the test, the crew will spend the night in Quest at a reduced pressure, lessening the time needed to breathe pure oxygen in advance of a spacewalk.

The "campout" technique will be used for the first time for spacewalks on the STS-115 shuttle mission later this year. If the major constituent analyzer is successfully activated, the campout test will be scheduled around March 23.

McArthur continued preparations for the arrival of the next shuttle mission. Discovery is targeted for launch no earlier than May on that flight, designated STS-121. This week, McArthur put unneeded items in racks earmarked for return to Earth aboard Discovery.

McArthur and Tokarev will soon begin preparations for a short trip from the station. Managers have agreed on a tentative schedule on March 20 for the crew to relocate their Soyuz TMA-7 spacecraft from the Earth-facing docking port of the Zarya module to the aft docking port of Zvezda. McArthur and Tokarev will undock from Zarya and conduct a 37-minute flight to re-dock at Zvezda. The move will clear the Zarya port for the April 1 arrival of the Soyuz carrying the next station crew, Expedition 13.

Expedition 13 is commanded by Pavel Vinogradov. Jeff Williams is NASA Flight Engineer. Brazilian astronaut Marcos Pontes will fly with them to the station for a short stay, returning to Earth a week later with McArthur and Tokarev.

Next week, McArthur will brush up on his robotics skills, operating the Canadarm2 for engineering tests. The arm also will be remotely commanded by flight controllers in Houston. They will operate the arm to survey one of two integrated umbilical assembly mechanisms on the mobile transporter rail car. The assembly's cutting blade system malfunctioned Dec. 16, severing one of two umbilicals on the transporter. The assembly will be replaced on the second of the three spacewalks planned for Discovery's mission. Controllers also will use the arm to survey a vent port for the carbon dioxide removal assembly on the Destiny Laboratory.

Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev repaired a cabin air analyzer. They also completed a scientific study of the effects of weightlessness on the muscles, joints and bones of the lower body.

For the first time, Mission Control, Houston, moved the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm by remote control from the ground for normal station operations. Previous remote operations of the arm were done only as capability tests, but this week controllers used it to survey several exterior station components.

On Thursday and Friday, controllers used the arm's TV cameras to view one of two integrated umbilical assembly mechanisms on the station's mobile transporter rail car. One umbilical was cut when an assembly malfunctioned in December. They also checked a Destiny laboratory vent for contamination. Initial reports indicate the vent, used to dump carbon dioxide overboard, is clean. McArthur operated the arm for in-flight proficiency training on Wednesday.

McArthur repaired electrical connectors in the major constituent analyzer, restoring the device to operation. It is one of several systems used to monitor the composition of station air, and it is needed for an upcoming test of new spacewalk preparation procedures. With the successful repair, managers plan to conduct the "camp out" test of spacewalk preparations in early April. The test may occur during handover from the crew to the Expedition 13 crew scheduled to arrive April 1.

This week, McArthur wore specially instrumented cycling tights for a final session with the Foot/Ground Reaction Forces during Space Flight experiment, which began on Expedition 6. The experiment investigates the differences between use of the lower extremities on Earth and in space. For this session, McArthur wore the instrumented Lower Extremity Monitoring Suit, which measured his joint angles, muscle activity and forces on the feet during his exercise routines on the cycle ergometer and the resistive exercise devices.

The data provided valuable information on the exact loads crew members experience on their lower extremities in spaceflight. This will aid in understanding bone loss during long duration space missions. The experiment may help in developing methods to counteract that effect. NASA's payload operations team at the Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., coordinates U.S. science activities on the station.

Tokarev performed a test associated with the automatic docking system for the European Automated Transfer Vehicle. The European Space Agency unpiloted cargo carrier, set to launch next year, will have twice the capacity of the Russian Progress cargo craft. This week's test involved transmitting docking radio signals from the station to ground stations located in the Canary Islands and near Madrid, Spain.

Also this week, McArthur videotaped a demonstration of sleeping on the station and a typical morning routine for use in NASA educational products.

The crew will soon begin preparing for a short trip away from their orbiting home. They plan to relocate their Soyuz capsule from the Earth-facing docking port of the station's Zarya module to an aft port on the Zvezda module. The flight will take approximately 30 minutes on March 20. It will clear the Zarya port for the Expedition 13 arrival.

If all goes as planned, the flight will take less than 40 minutes. Undocking is scheduled for 1:49 a.m. EST; with docking scheduled for 2:23 a.m. EST.

This move will clear the Zarya port for the March 31 arrival of the Expedition 13 crew and a Brazilian Space Agency astronaut on another Soyuz vehicle.

Preparations included testing Soyuz systems and thrusters and reviewing trip procedures. On Sunday, the crew will configure station and Soyuz systems. The configuration is to ensure the station could operate without the crew onboard; in the unlikely event the Soyuz could not successfully re-dock.

This week, Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams completed final training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia.

The crew will travel Saturday to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for final launch preparations, along with Brazilian astronaut Marcos Pontes. Pontes will fly to the station with Expedition 13 on a 10-day mission, returning to Earth with Expedition 12. Launch is scheduled for March 29 at 9:30 p.m. EST.

NASA's payload operations team at the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., worked with McArthur to test an experiment facility on the station. The thermal and pressure sensors inside the microgravity science glovebox are checked annually to keep it certified for experiments. McArthur completed inspection and cleaning of the facility.

McArthur also dedicated some of his free time last weekend to research work. On Saturday morning, he conducted an experiment that aims to improve future experiments that involve mixing fluids.

The cellular biotechnology operations support systems fluid dynamics investigation is a series of experiments to improve fluid mixing techniques and control bubble distribution for cell culture in orbit.

If all goes as planned, the flight will take less than 40 minutes. Undocking is scheduled for 12:49 a.m. CST with docking scheduled for 1:23 a.m. CST.

This move will clear the Zarya port for the March 31 arrival of the Expedition 13 crew and a Brazilian Space Agency astronaut on another Soyuz vehicle.

Preparations included testing Soyuz systems and thrusters and reviewing trip procedures. On Sunday, the crew will configure station and Soyuz systems. The configuration is to ensure the station could operate without the crew onboard; in the unlikely event the Soyuz could not successfully re-dock.

This week, Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams completed final training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia.

The crew will travel Saturday to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for final launch preparations, along with Brazilian astronaut Marcos Pontes. Pontes will fly to the station with Expedition 13 on a 10-day mission, returning to Earth with Expedition 12. Launch is scheduled for March 29 at 8:30 p.m. CST.

NASA's payload operations team at the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., worked with McArthur to test an experiment facility on the station. The thermal and pressure sensors inside the microgravity science glovebox are checked annually to keep it certified for experiments. McArthur completed inspection and cleaning of the facility.

McArthur also dedicated some of his free time last weekend to research work. On Saturday morning, he conducted an experiment that aims to improve future experiments that involve mixing fluids.

The cellular biotechnology operations support systems fluid dynamics investigation is a series of experiments to improve fluid mixing techniques and control bubble distribution for cell culture in orbit.

Soyuz Commander Valery Tokarev and Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur moved their Soyuz spacecraft from the Zarya module to the Zvezda living quarters module early Monday. They will use the same vehicle to return to Earth April 8. This week's move opened the Zarya docking port for the arrival of the Expedition 13 crew.

The Expedition 13 crew, Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams, are in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, awaiting launch. They are scheduled to lift off at 9:30 p.m. EST Wednesday, March 29.

Managers reviewed preparations for the mission and approved moving forward with launch at the Soyuz Flight Readiness Review on Thursday. Although no spacewalk is planned from the station until July, managers also reviewed issues with spacewalking capability. They approved a temporary solution to allow a spacewalk if needed.

The concern with U.S. spacewalks surfaced when engineers found blisters on handrail bars during production work on the ground. The finding led to an ongoing evaluation to ensure the handrails' strength is sufficient. The evaluation is expected to be completed by the end of April. Meanwhile, the approved procedure for spacewalks, if one were to be needed, involves attaching crew safety tethers at the base of the handrails rather than on the bar of the rails.

Tokarev and McArthur also are continuing to look for Russian lithium hydroxide canisters on the station. The canisters are used to scrub carbon dioxide from Russian Orlan spacesuits and would be used if a spacewalk required using those suits. Regardless of the outcome of their search, a new supply of canisters will be carried to the station on a Progress cargo vehicle in April, and the next spacewalk planned using Russian spacesuits is set for August.

Vinogradov and Williams are planned to dock to the station at 11:19 p.m. EST next Friday. They will be joined by Brazil's first astronaut, Marcos Pontes, for launch. Pontes will spend eight days on the station under a commercial agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency and return home with McArthur and Tokarev.

After a day of light duty and rest Tuesday, McArthur and Tokarev resumed normal operations, focusing on packing and preparing for the trip home. They packed personal items as well as hardware and science supplies that will return with them.

They also continued several science experiments that study plants in weightlessness and crystal growth in space. The studies included work with the Russian Matroshka and PLANT experiments and two Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency experiments, the Granada Crystallization Facility and the Photon Crystals Growth Facility. McArthur disassembled and stowed components from the U.S. Foot/Ground Reaction Forces During Spaceflight experiment. The crew recently completed that study which investigated the effects of weightlessness on the legs and feet.

McArthur took time to talk with students during two amateur radio sessions, one with the Sir James Lougheed Elementary School in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and a second with more than a thousand students in Rutigliano, Italy. McArthur has conducted 34 such sessions with students during his six months in orbit, more than any other station crew member.

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

The 162-foot tall Soyuz rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 9:30 p.m. EST. About 10 minutes later, the Soyuz was in orbit with its solar arrays and antennae extended. Docking is planned for 11:19 p.m. EST Friday.

Vinogradov, Williams and Pontes will open hatches at about 12:30 a.m. EST Saturday to join Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev inside the space complex.

The five space fliers will be available for a crew news conference at 10:55 a.m. EST Monday. Reporters at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, Kennedy Space Center, Fla., and the Russian Mission Control Center in Korolev, Russia, may ask questions.

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

Earlier this week, McArthur found a supply of lithium hydroxide canisters used to scrub carbon dioxide from the air in Russian space suits during a spacewalk. The find ensures Russian suits can be used if a spacewalk is needed.

With Expedition 13 and Soyuz Commander Pavel Vinogradov at the controls, the Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft automatically linked up to the Earth-facing port on the station's Zarya module at 11:19 p.m. EST Friday. The spacecraft were above China near the Russian, Kazakh and Mongolian borders at the time.

Aboard the Soyuz with Vinogradov were NASA Flight Engineer and Science Officer Jeff Williams and Brazilian Space Agency astronaut Marcos Pontes. Pontes will spend eight days on the complex under a commercial agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency.

After systems checks, hatches between the Soyuz and the station were opened at 12:59 a.m. EST Saturday. Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev, nearing the end of their six-month mission on the station, greeted their colleagues with handshakes and hugs and offered the traditional bread and salt. Russian, American and Brazilian dignitaries viewed the docking from the Russian Mission Control Center in Korolev, outside Moscow, and congratulated the crews after hatch opening.

The new crew will now transfer cargo from the Soyuz to the station, deactivate the new Soyuz' systems and stow their launch and entry suits. Pontes will move his custom-made seatliner into the older Soyuz TMA-7 spacecraft that will bring him home, and he will begin several experiments. The two station crews will continue handover activities throughout the week, including robotics training with the station arm and detailed briefings on scientific experiments. Vinogradov and Williams will remain on board the station until September.

All five astronauts and cosmonauts will participate in a news conference at 10:55 a.m. EDT Monday. NASA Television will broadcast this event live.

Monday night, McArthur and Williams will "camp out" in the Quest airlock. They will sleep in the airlock, isolated from Tokarev, Vinogradov and Pontes, to test a new procedure that may reduce the preparation time for spacewalks. The new procedure will have spacewalkers stay in the airlock overnight at a lower air pressure to help purge nitrogen from their bodies to prevent decompression sickness. McArthur and Williams will begin their airlock stay at about 6:20 p.m. EDT Monday and finish at 3:30 a.m. EDT Tuesday.

McArthur, Tokarev and Pontes will leave the station aboard the Soyuz TMA-7 and land April 8.

Aboard the complex, one crew prepared for a return to Earth while another focused on taking the helm in orbit.

Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur, Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev and Brazilian astronaut Marcos Pontes head home Saturday, closing hatches as they leave the station at 1:35 p.m. EDT. They will undock their Soyuz spacecraft at 4:28 p.m. EDT. That sets the stage for a deorbit burn at 6:58 p.m. EDT to drop the 15,000-pound spacecraft out of orbit. The Soyuz will parachute to a landing at 7:48 p.m. EDT on the steppes of Kazakhstan.

Expedition 12's homecoming preparations began in earnest after last week's arrival of the 13th station crew, Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams, who arrived with Pontes, Brazil's first astronaut. Pontes will have spent eight days on the station conducting experiments as part of a commercial agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency.

This week began with a partially completed "campout" by McArthur and Williams in the Quest Airlock. The planned overnight stay in the airlock tested procedures that can shorten the time needed to prepare for future spacewalks.

Quest was sealed off from the rest of the station at 6:45 p.m. EDT Monday with McArthur and Williams inside, and its air pressure was later lowered to 10.2 pounds per square inch. The rest of the station remained at the normal air pressure of 14.7 pounds per square inch. An overnight stay at the lower air pressure helps purge nitrogen from the body, a necessary step to avoid decompression sickness. McArthur and Williams were awakened four hours into their sleep in the airlock by an error tone.

The tone was generated by software that monitors the composition of air on the station. Flight controllers opted to end the campout test Tuesday at 12:43 a.m. EDT, open the airlock hatch to the station, and allow the crew to go back to sleep. Despite the glitch, all of the test objectives were achieved. Engineers are reviewing data to determine whether changes are needed to use the technique during the STS-115 shuttle mission later this year. Engineers could decide to repeat the test at another time.

On Wednesday, Williams trained with the station's robot arm, Canadarm2. Late this week, McArthur briefed Williams on payload operations in the Destiny laboratory while Tokarev, the Soyuz commander, stowed equipment and payloads in the Soyuz for the trip home. Tokarev also reviewed procedures for the undocking, entry and landing with flight controllers at the Russian Mission Control Center outside Moscow.

With them was Marcos Pontes, Brazil's first astronaut.

The Soyuz spacecraft with McArthur, Tokarev and Pontes landed in central Kazakhstan, about 30 miles northeast of Arkalyk, at 7:48 p.m. EDT, Saturday. The crew's families will greet them at Star City, Russia, near Moscow, early Monday. McArthur and Tokarev will remain in Star City for post-flight debriefings before returning to Houston later this month. McArthur and Tokarev launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Sept. 30, 2005.

They spent 189 days, 18 hours and 51 minutes in space. During their mission, they conducted two spacewalks and relocated their Soyuz spacecraft twice, becoming the first ISS crew to dock to every Russian docking port on the complex. They also became the first two-person station crew to conduct a spacewalk in both Russian and U.S. spacesuits. Pontes flew to the station with the Expedition 13 crew last week as part of a commercial agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos. He spent eight days on the station conducting experiments.

The new station crew, Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams, will have light duty for the next few days as they rest from a busy handover. They will remain in orbit for six months. The crew plans to perform two spacewalks and greet two space shuttle crews during their expedition.

Joining them during their stay on the station will be Thomas Reiter, a European Space Agency astronaut from Germany, also flying under a commercial agreement with Roscosmos. Reiter is scheduled to come to the station on the Space Shuttle Discovery's STS-121 mission, targeted for a July launch.

Reiter will be the first non-Russian, non-U.S. long-duration crew member on the station. His arrival will bring the station crew size to three for the first time since May 2003, when the crew size was reduced to conserve supplies in the wake of the Columbia accident.

Shuttle Atlantis' STS-115 mission is also scheduled during Expedition 13 and will resume major assembly of the station. The shuttle and station crews will work together to add another set of batteries and solar arrays to the complex.