Williams Jeffrey Credit - www.spacefacts.de

Personal: Male, Married, Two children. Born in Superior, Wisconsin, USA. US Army US Army

Astronaut Career

Astronaut Group: NASA Group 16 - 1996. Active Entered space service: 1 May 1996. Number of Flights: 2.00. Total Time: 192.79 days. Number of EVAs: 3.00. Total EVA Time: 0.82 days.

NAME: Jeffrey N. Williams (Lieutenant Colonel, USA)

NASA Astronaut Candidate (Mission Specialist)

PERSONAL DATA:

Born, January 18, 1958 in Superior, Wisconsin, but considers Winter, Wisconsin to be his hometown. Married to the former Anna-Marie Moore of Newburgh, New York. They have two children. Enjoys running, fishing, camping, skiing, scuba diving and woodworking. As a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy competed on the West Point sport parachute team and also held ratings of sport parachute jumpmaster and instructor. His parents, Lloyd D. and Eunice A. Williams, reside in Winter, Wisconsin. Her mother, Gloria M. Moore, resides in Modena, New York. Her father, S. Stevens Moore, is deceased.

EDUCATION:

Graduated from Winter High School, Winter, Wisconsin, in 1976; received a bachelor of science degree in applied science and engineering from the U.S. Military Academy in 1980, a master of science degree in aeronautical engineering and the degree of aeronautical engineer from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, both in 1987, and a master of arts degree in National security and strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College in 1996.

ORGANIZATIONS:

Society of Experimental Test Pilots, American Helicopter Society, Army Aviation Association of America, Order of Daedalians, Officer Christian Fellowship.

SPECIAL HONORS:

Distinguished graduate of U.S. Naval Test Pilot School class 103; 1988 Admiral William Adger Moffett Award for Excellence in Aeronautical Engineering, Naval Postgraduate School; 1985 Daedalian Foundation Fellowship Award for Graduate Study in Aeronautics. Awarded 2 Meritorious Service Medals, the Army Commendation Medal, and various other service awards. Master Army Aviator and Parachutist badges.

EXPERIENCE:

Williams received his commission as a second lieutenant from the U.S. Military Academy in May 1980 and was designated an Army aviator in September 1981. He then completed a three-year assignment in Germany where he served as an Aeroscout Platoon Leader and Operations Officer in the 3rd Armored Division's aviation battalion. Following his return to the United States, Williams completed a graduate program in aeronautical engineering, and was subsequently selected for an Army assignment at the Johnson Space Center, where he served for over 4 years. In 1992, Williams was selected for the Naval Test Pilot School. After graduation in June 1993, he served as an experimental test pilot and Flight Test Division Chief in the Army's Airworthiness Qualification Test Directorate at Edwards Air Force Base, California. In 1995, he was selected for attendance at the Naval War College command and staff course as an Army exchange officer.

Williams has logged approximately 2,000 hours in more than 50 different aircraft.

NASA EXPERIENCE:

Williams was selected for an Army assignment at Johnson Space Center in 1987. Until his transfer in 1992, he served as a Shuttle launch and landing operations engineer, a pilot in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory, and chief of the Operations Development Office, Flight Crew Operations Directorate. Selected by NASA in May 1996, Williams again reported to Johnson Space Center in August 1996, to begin two years of training and evaluation. Successful completion of this initial training will qualify him for various technical assignments leading to selection as a mission specialist on a Space Shuttle flight crew.

• 19 May 2000 Flight: STS-101. Flight Up: STS-101. Flight Back: STS-101. Flight Time: 9.84 days.

• 30 March 2006 Flight: ISS EO-13. Flight Up: Soyuz TMA-8. Flight Back: Soyuz TMA-8. Flight Time: 182.95 days.

24 February 2000 - ISS Status Report: ISS 00-08. The International Space Station continues to orbit quietly without any significant problems hampering its operation as it awaits the arrival of a Space Shuttle crew to perform maintenance tasks while delivering logistics and supplies for use by future astronaut crews.

The next Shuttle crew to visit the ISS was finalized last week and includes Jim Voss, Susan Helms and Yuri Usachev - the second crew that will live aboard the ISS next year. They now will take an early 'peak' at their home during the STS-101 mission that will be commanded by Jim Halsell and piloted by Scott Horowitz. Rounding out the crew will be Mission Specialists Mary Ellen Weber and Jeff Williams. Atlantis is being readied at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the launch scheduled for no earlier than April 13.

While vehicle processing continues, mission planners are working on stowage and maintenance tasks that will be carried out on the 11-day flight. A spacewalk by Williams and Voss will include checking the position of a small crane mounted outside Zarya in addition to other tasks. The crane was installed during a spacewalk on the most recent Shuttle visit to the ISS. Plans call for Williams and Voss to ensure the crane is properly secured in its mounting socket.

Meanwhile, battery cycling continues on orbit with two of the six batteries currently in restoration mode, which is a procedure periodically carried out to maintain the life and capacity of each unit. At present, three batteries are supplying all the electrical needs of Station equipment.

STS-101 is designed to not only supply the Station with more logistics for use by future crews, but also to replace some of Zarya's aging batteries and other equipment in preparation for the arrival of the Zvezda service module in July. Presently, Zvezda is being readied for a launch between July 8-14.

Station managers plan to hold a meeting with the International Partners in the next week or two to finalize updates to the assembly sequence that will include launch target dates for the remainder of this year. That schedule will include Russian supply launches using the Progress resupply vehicles in addition to Shuttle logistics and assembly missions.

The first shuttle flight after the arrival of the Zvezda was approved to take place within a month after the service module's arrival. That STS-106 crew will be commanded by Terry Wilcutt with Scott Altman serving as pilot. Mission specialists include Dan Burbank, Rick Mastracchio, Ed Lu, Yuri Malenchenko, and Boris Morukov.

The International Space Station is in an orbit of 237 by 226 statute miles. Since the launch of Zarya in 1998, the ISS has completed more than 7,227 orbits. S

While it has been determined that the crane cannot float out of its housing, and thus does not pose a safety issue to the ISS, the desire is to attempt to seat the crane properly in its housing, called a worksite interface. During the next visit of a shuttle crew to the ISS, astronauts Jim Voss and Jeff Williams will reseat the crane in its housing before moving on to other tasks.

Battery cycling on Zarya continues with power levels well within workable ranges. Currently, the Unity module power levels are 430 watts.

Meanwhile, Atlantis is nearing completion of processing for its first flight in a year and a half after undergoing significant upgrades. The orbiter's payload bay doors are scheduled to be closed Monday with rollover to the Vehicle Assembly Building set for March 13. Launch remains targeted for no earlier than April 13.

While vehicle processing continues, mission planners continue to work timelines for the crew that will perform stowage and maintenance tasks that will be carried out during the flight.

The International Space Station is in an orbit of 235 by 226 statute miles. Since the launch of Zarya in 1998, the ISS has completed more than 7,320 orbits.

Atlantis' STS-101 mission not only provides an early look by three of its crew members at their future home, but also sets the stage for the arrival of the Zvezda service module set to launch on a Russian Proton rocket in mid July from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Susan Helms, Jim Voss and cosmonaut Yuri Usachev will oversee maintenance tasks to restore the Zarya module's electrical power system to full capacity.

The three crew members were added to this mission for their unique abilities to step in on short notice to accomplish tasks for which they have already been training as the second crew to live alone next year on the ISS. Voss will join fellow crew member Jeff Williams in a space walk to replace a malfunctioning antenna on the Unity module and deliver additional components of a Russian crane to the outside of the station. The two astronauts also will check the current location of a small U.S. crane to ensure it is seated properly in its housing.

On orbit, the two components making up the International Space Station continue to operate in good health with electrical power management serving as the primary focus of flight controller attention. Zarya's automatic docking system that will be used to rendezvous and dock with Zvezda has been verified to be in good working condition following several tests over the course of the last few months. Kurs, as it's called, has two redundant systems and plans are being finalized as to which will serve as primary for the rendezvous and docking phase. Specific procedures are being developed as to the management of the station's power and communications systems during the final stages of the docking activities.

Earlier today in the California desert, an experimental spacecraft that is being considered for use as an emergency crew return vehicle from the ISS was tested for the fourth time. The X-38 was dropped from the wing of NASA's B-52 and touched down under the shadow of a huge parafoil. The next test of the craft at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center is scheduled this summer.

The ISS continues to operate with no major systems failures as it circles the Earth every 92 minutes in an orbit of 232 by 217 miles. The station has completed more than 7,760 orbits since Zarya was launched in November 1998.

Launch is set to occur at about 4:15 p.m. Eastern time to perform life-extension maintenance tasks on the Zarya module, and to deliver supplies to the inside and outside of the Station for use by future crews.

Commander Jim Halsell has resumed full training activities after spraining his ankle a couple weeks ago and practiced landings in the Shuttle Training Aircraft last night. Joining Halsell on the mission are Pilot Scott Horowitz and Mission Specialists Mary Ellen Weber, Jeff Williams, Jim Voss, Susan Helms and Yuri Usachev. The latter three will focus their attention during the docked phase of the flight on repairing some equipment inside their future home.

Awaiting Atlantis' arrival, the International Space Station continues to operate with no major systems problems. Its electrical power system is being strategically managed to maximize the power required by operating systems inside the Zarya and Unity modules.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, the second and third stage engines have been delivered for final inspection and installation into the Proton rocket that will carry the next component of the ISS - the Zvezda service module - to orbit. Zvezda's launch remains slated between July 8 and 14 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The current orbit of the ISS is 232 by 215 miles. The average decay of the Station's orbit is about 1-1 ½ miles per week. The altitude can be raised by using Zarya's thrusters, but will be unnecessary if Atlantis arrives later this month since the orbiter will perform an altitude reboost of the ISS before departing near the end of the flight. The ISS now has completed more than 7,860 orbits since Zarya was launched in November 1998.

Workers at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida have completed a swap-out of the power drive unit on the orbiter and will spend the next few days completing retests to verify the borrowed unit from Columbia is in good working order. At present there is no anticipated schedule impact to the April 24 launch.

Meanwhile, halfway around the world in Russia and Kazakhstan, work continues in preparation for Zvezda's launch atop a Proton launch vehicle. The Proton that will carry Zvezda into space currently is being assembled at its manufacturing plant at the Krunichev Space Center in Moscow. Its assembly is scheduled to be completed in mid May with delivery to the Baikonur Cosmodrome scheduled about two weeks later.

Awaiting the Proton's arrival at the launch site is the Zvezda service module, which will house life support systems, serve as the living quarters, and provide the ISS with command and control and reboost capability through the early assembly sequence. Zvezda's launch remains targeted to occur between July 8 and 14.

STS-101 will be commanded by Jim Halsell and piloted by Scott Horowitz. Joining them are Mission Specialists Mary Ellen Weber, Jeff Williams, Jim Voss, Susan Helms and Yuri Usachev. The seven-member crew will undergo their final physicals and wrap up training activities at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, this week prior to entering quarantine on Monday. The crew will fly to Florida next Friday, April 21, for the final three days of preparations prior to launch.

The current orbit of the ISS is 231 by 214 miles (372 x 344 kilometers). The average decay of the Station's orbit is about 1-1½ miles per week. While docked, Atlantis' reaction control system thrusters will be used to raise the orbit of the station by as much as 19 miles (about 30 kilometers). The actual orbit raising distance is calculated to 'place' the ISS at an altitude conducive to the rendezvous with Zvezda in late July. As of midday today, the station has circled the Earth more than 7,970 times since November 1998.

Final processing of the Shuttle is underway with the seven-member scheduled to arrive in Florida tomorrow at 3 p.m. East Coast time. Their arrival will be shown live on NASA Television.

The countdown begins tomorrow at 7 p.m. EDT leading toward a launch at the opening of a five-minute window at 4:15 p.m. Eastern.

Meanwhile, the on orbit Station is completing the final battery cycling of its four usable systems and will be in a good configuration for docking by the Shuttle next Wednesday. All systems are in good shape to support the rendezvous, docking and maintenance work scheduled throughout the STS-101 mission.

In addition to completing battery cycling, controllers will warm up the Unity module's shell so that it will be at the proper temperature when the Shuttle arrives. That activity should be completed before Monday's Shuttle launch.

At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, workers have completed electrical testing of the Zvezda service module, which is the next component of the ISS. Zvezda will be launched atop a Proton rocket in mid July. The ISS will dock with Zvezda about two weeks later near the end of July.

STS-101 will be commanded by Jim Halsell. Joining him on the crew are Pilot Scott Horowitz and Mission Specialists Mary Ellen Weber, Jeff Williams, Jim Voss, Susan Helms and Yuri Usachev.

The current orbit of the ISS is 229 by 213 miles (368 x 342 kilometers). The average decay of the Station's orbit is about 1-1½ miles per week. While docked, Atlantis' reaction control system thrusters will be used to raise the orbit of the Station by as much as 19 miles (about 30 kilometers). The actual orbit raising distance is calculated to position the ISS at the desired rendezvous altitude with Zvezda. As of midday today, the Station has circled the Earth more than 8,095 times since November 1998.

On May 22 mission specialists Jeff Williams and James carried out external maintenance work on the ISS.

On May 23 at 00:03 GMT the Atlantis crew opened the first hatch to PMA-2 and entered the Station. The crew replaced a set of batteries in Zarya, installed fans and ducting to improve airflow, and delivered supplies and equipment. Three hour-long orbit raising burns on May 24 and 25 by the RCS engines on Atlantis raised the station to a 372 x 380 km x 51.6 deg orbit.

The STS-101 crew left the station on May 26, closing the PMA-2 hatch at 08:08 GMT and undocking at 23:03 GMT. Atlantis performed a 180 degree flyaround of the station and departed the vicinity around 23:44 GMT.

Atlantis closed its payload bay doors around 02:30 GMT on May 29 and fired the OMS engines for deorbit at 05:12 GMT. The vehicle landed on RW15 at Kennedy Space Center at 06:20 GMT. Atlantis was to be turned around for the next ISS shuttle flight, STS-106.

Left in orbit was the renovated International Space Station, equipped with an upgraded electrical system, new fans, filters, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and communications gear.

Riding aboard the upgraded and refurbished space Shuttle Atlantis, Commander Jim Halsell, Pilot Scott Horowitz and Mission Specialists Mary Ellen Weber, Jeff Williams, Jim Voss, Susan Helms and Yury Usachev rocketed away from their Florida launch site at 5:11 a.m. Central time, a pre-dawn launch by Shuttle standards. Atlantis quickly rose into daylight as it raced up the Eastern seaboard in pursuit of the 76-foot long, 35-ton international station, which was flying over the Ukraine, southwest of Kiev.

The launch was Atlantis' first since September 1997. Atlantis recently underwent major modifications, including the introduction of a state-of-the-art, hi-tech glass cockpit filled with computer displays to replace the old cockpit dials and switches.

Atlantis launched on time after three delays last month caused by high winds at the launch site and at overseas emergency landing strips. Today, conditions were perfect. Atlantis is scheduled to link up to the space station at 11:31 p.m. Central time Saturday night (12:31 a.m. Eastern time Sunday morning).

Once on orbit, Atlantis' crew began to set up shuttle systems for the planned 10-day mission, preparing to open the ship's cargo bay doors, which will be followed by the activation of the double Spacehab module housed in the rear of the cargo bay, containing more than a ton of supplies the crew will transfer to the station.

The astronauts will begin their first eight-hour sleep period just five hours after liftoff, at 10:11 a.m. Central time, and will be awakened at 6:11 p.m. this evening to begin their first full day in orbit. Prior to the start of that sleep period, Halsell and Horowitz will fire Atlantis' maneuvering jets in the first of a series of maneuvers designed to put the shuttle on a precise course to the International Space Station.

After the first rendezvous maneuver, Atlantis will be circling the Earth in a slightly elliptical orbit of about 201 by 124 statute miles, inclined 51.6 degrees to either side of the equator.

Commander Jim Halsell, Pilot Scott Horowitz and Mission Specialists Mary Ellen Weber, Jeff Williams, Jim Voss, Susan Helms and Yury Usachev will spend much of the day checking out orbiter systems and space walking 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 as well as perform checks of the extravehicular mobility units, or space suits, that will be used by Williams and Voss during the planned space walk Sunday night into Monday morning. Both suits are checked far enough ahead of the space walk 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, Halsell will assist Weber in testing Atlantis' 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 space walk

Atlantis is currently in a highly elliptical orbit of 199 x 98 statute miles. At about 7 o'clock this evening, Central time, the shuttle was a little over 2,700 s.m. behind the station, closing in at a rate of about 546 s.m. every 90 minutes.

As of about 6:30 p.m. this evening, the Shuttle trailed the station by about 70 nautical miles and was closing in by about 14 nautical miles with each orbit of Earth. The final phase of rendezvous will begin when Atlantis reaches a point about eight nautical miles directly behind the station and fires its engines in a terminal phase initiation burn at 8:39 p.m. Central.

The TI burn, as it is called, will put the Shuttle on a course directly toward the station during the next orbit of Earth. As Atlantis moves within about a half-mile of the station, Halsell will take over manual control of the Shuttle's approach, flying the Shuttle from controls in the aft cockpit. Atlantis will arrive at a point about 600 feet directly below the station about 10:09 p.m. Central, and Halsell then will begin a half-circle of the orbiting outpost. Atlantis will pass about 350 feet in front of the station and then move to a point about 250 feet directly above it about 10:34 p.m. Central.

Halsell will then begin to descend toward the station and, at about 10:38 p.m. Central, hold position at a point about 170 feet away. Halsell will maintain that distance for about 20 minutes to allow the station to move within range of Russian ground communications stations before continuing the approach. At 11:20 p.m., Halsell will hold position again briefly at a point about 30 feet from the station to ensure the Shuttle and station docking mechanisms are precisely aligned. Docking is expected about 11 minutes later with the Shuttle contacting the station at a slow rate of about a tenth of a foot per second.

During the rendezvous, Pilot Scott Horowitz will assist Halsell in controlling Atlantis' approach. Mission Specialists Susan Helms and Yury Usachev also will assist with the rendezvous and docking, with Mary Ellen Weber and Jeff Williams operating the Shuttle's docking mechanism.

After docking, a hatch leak check will be performed and the astronauts will review plans for Sunday night's scheduled space walk by Williams and Jim Voss. Atlantis' crew will not open the hatch to the Unity module and enter the station until Monday evening, 24 hours after the space walk is completed.

Atlantis' Commander Jim Halsell and Pilot Scott Horowitz tested the navigation equipment and flight controls they will use late tonight to rendezvous with and then dock to the station. They also fired Atlantis' engines periodically to adjust the rate at which the Shuttle is closing in on the station. Atlantis is 430 statute miles behind the station now, closing in 30 statute miles with each orbit of Earth. Atlantis will continue that closing rate throughout the day while the crew sleeps.

During an engine firing Friday evening using both large orbital maneuvering system (OMS) engines on Atlantis, flight controllers saw an indication that one of two propellant valves for the left OMS engine may have failed to close. The engine's backup valve did operate normally, and the engine remains in good operating condition. However, as a precaution, the left engine will not be used again until Atlantis is ready to deorbit at the completion of the flight. Controllers are continuing to analyze the information and are uncertain if the valve actually did not operate properly or whether the indication may have been an errant sensor reading. The right OMS engine alone can be used for large rendezvous engine firings with no impact on the mission.

Astronauts Jeff Williams and Jim Voss checked the spacesuits and equipment they will use during the upcoming spacewalk, finding them in good shape. Three suits -- one for Williams, one for Voss and a spare, which could be used by either -- were checked out aboard Atlantis. Williams and Voss were assisted in the checks by Horowitz, who will coordinate the spacewalk activities from within the cabin. Later, fellow crew member Mary Ellen Weber successfully tested the Shuttle's robotic arm. Weber will operate the arm during the spacewalk to maneuver Williams and Voss between Atlantis and the station. Weber uncradled the arm this morning and used it to survey the Shuttle's payload bay. Later, Weber powered on the docking system Atlantis will use to attach to the station and extended the system's docking ring. The ring latches onto the station when the Shuttle makes contact and is then retracted to secure the two spacecraft together.

The crew will begin a sleep period at 8:11 a.m. and awaken at 4:11 p.m.. At 8:39 p.m., with Atlantis trailing the International Space Station by about 50,000 feet, Halsell will fire the Shuttle's engines to initiate the final phase of the rendezvous. Just before 10 p.m., as Atlantis reaches a point about a half-mile below the station, Halsell will take over manual control of the approach. He will reach a distance of about 170 feet from the station at 10:39 p.m. Docking is expected at about 11:31 p.m. Atlantis is in an orbit with a high point of 204 miles and a low point of 199 miles, circling Earth every 90 minutes.

Halsell and his crew performed the rendezvous and docking with the station by the book, docking on target at 11:31 p.m. CDT Saturday. Although Atlantis is now firmly attached to the station, the astronauts will not enter the new outpost until Monday, turning their immediate attention instead to a six and half-hour spacewalk to begin late tonight.

Astronauts Jim Voss and Jeff Williams will perform tonight's spacewalk to install the final part of a Russian-built crane on the station's exterior; replace a faulty communications antenna; and install various cables and handrails. Following the docking, Voss and Williams spent several hours this morning preparing the tools and equipment they will use for the sojourn outside and double-checking the spacewalk plans with the rest of the crew.

The crew also lowered the air pressure inside Atlantis from the standard sea-level pressure of 14.7 pounds per square inch to 10.2 pounds per square inch, a pressure equivalent to that felt at an altitude of 10,000 feet on Earth. The lower cabin pressure helps Voss and Williams purge nitrogen from their bodies to avoid decompression sickness when they go to the 4.2 pounds per square inch, pure oxygen atmosphere of the spacesuits this evening.

The International Space Station remains in good condition, ready for the crew to enter on Monday to start several days of maintenance and unloading of supplies. As the crew's waking hours wound down early this morning, Mary Ellen Weber, who will oversee much of the transfer of equipment, and Halsell made some early preparations of the docking system for the eventual entry into the station.

The crew will begin a sleep period at 8:11 a.m. and awaken at 4:11 p.m. for a fourth day in space, a day devoted to the spacewalk. Voss and Williams are planned to begin donning their gear and suits at 6:11 p.m., leading to a predicted exit from Atlantis' airlock hatch at 9:31 p.m. During the spacewalk, Williams' suit will be distinguishable from Voss' suit by red stripes around the legs. The astronauts are scheduled to conclude the spacewalk at 4:01 a.m. Monday.

Atlantis is operating well with flight controllers reporting no problems of significance for any of the mission's activities. The shuttle and station are in an orbit with a high point of 209 statute miles and a low point of 203 statute miles, circling Earth every 91 minutes.

Mission Specialists Jeff Williams and Jim Voss will have several tasks as part of the planned six and a half hour extravehicular activity, or EVA, this evening. They will inspect and then secure a U.S.-built cargo crane known as the Orbital replacement unit Transfer Device that originally was installed during a space walk on the STS-96 mission in June 1999. Williams and Voss then will complete assembly of a Russian cargo crane called Strela (Russian for "arrow") that was begun on a space walk during STS-96. Strela will be placed on the Pressurized Mating Adapter-1 that connects the Unity node to the Zarya control module in the same vicinity as the American crane.

The two space walkers then will turn their attention to replacing one of Unity's two early communication antennas. That antenna has been experiencing some problems. Williams and Voss then will move on to their final EVA task with the installation of eight handrails on the station's exterior. This is part of some get ahead work for two upcoming assembly flights -- STS-92 in late September and STS-97 in January 2001. The STS-92 crew will install the Z-1 truss structure, and the STS-97 crew will deliver the U.S. Laboratory module. If all activities go as planned, the space walk should conclude about 3:45 a.m. CDT. Monday. During tonight's EVA activity, Williams will be identifiable by red stripes on the arms and legs of his spacesuit while Voss' spacesuit will be solid white. Tonight's EVA will mark the 85th space walk in U.S. history and the fifth dedicated to assembly of the International Space Station. To date, Shuttle astronauts have performed almost 300 hours of EVAs (297 hours, 53 minutes). The duration of the four previous station assembly space walks is 29 hours, 17 minutes.

Atlantis is operating well with flight controllers reporting no problems of significance for any of the mission's activities. The shuttle and station are docked in an orbit with a high point of 209 statute miles and a low point of 203 statute miles, circling Earth every 91 minutes.

Voss and Williams started the spacewalk early and remained ahead of schedule throughout. The astronauts secured a United States-built crane that was installed on the station last year; installed the final parts of a Russian-built crane on the station; replaced a faulty antenna for one of the station's communications systems; and installed several handrails and a camera cable on the station's exterior. The six-hour, 44-minute spacewalk began at 8:48 p.m. CDT Sunday and was completed at 3:32 a.m. CDT today. Assisting with the activities from inside Atlantis' cabin was Pilot Scott Horowitz while Mission Specialist Mary Ellen Weber operated the Shuttle's robotic arm, which she used to maneuver Voss during much of the spacewalk.

The extravehicular activity conducted by Voss and Williams marks the fifth spacewalk conducted for construction of the International Space Station; the 49th spacewalk based out of the Space Shuttle; and the 85th spacewalk in history conducted by U.S. astronauts.

The crew's attention now turns to entering the station, a process planned to begin at 7:11 p.m. today. The astronauts will open a total of six hatches as they move through the station's compartments. The first hatch into the station's Unity connecting module will be opened about 7:56 p.m. and the first hatch into the Zarya module will be opened about 9:11 p.m. Once inside the station, the crew will begin transferring equipment and performing maintenance work immediately. Replacement of four batteries in the Zarya will begin about 11:31 p.m., with astronaut Susan Helms and cosmonaut Yury Usachev scheduled to install two new batteries and their associated electronics. Helms and Usachev will install the remaining two replacement batteries later during the docked phase of the flight.

The crew plans to go to sleep at about 8 this morning and will be awakened by Mission Control at 3:56 p.m., with the focus of work this evening being the first entry into the station. Atlantis and the International Space Station remain in good condition orbiting Earth each 91 minutes with a high point of 209 statute miles and a low point of 203 statute miles.

Halsell along with Pilot Scott Horowitz and Mission Specialists Mary Ellen Weber, Jeff Williams, Susan Helms, Jim Voss and Yury Usachev will spend their second day inside the station as they continue the maintenance work and supply transfer activities that began yesterday. During their first day, Atlantis' crew moved 870 pounds of supplies and equipment inside the station. That material along with the 326 pounds of equipment attached to the exterior of the station by Williams and Voss during their space walk means almost 1,200 pounds of gear already have been transferred to the station. A total of 3,381 pounds of equipment and provisions will be transferred to the station before Atlantis undocks.

Maintenance work on Flight Day Six will include the third of four planned replacements of station batteries. Helms and Usachev will repeat the procedures they followed yesterday when the first two batteries were replaced. One of the batteries replaced yesterday already has been recharged and been pronounced in excellent condition. The second replacement battery will go through its charging and checkout shortly. All of the battery replacement work is carefully designed so that at least four batteries are always online and available to support station operations.

Other maintenance work on schedule today includes the installation of new smoke detectors, and replacement of fire extinguishers that are nearing the end of their design life.

The first of three planned station reboost maneuvers is scheduled to take place tonight at 7:01 p.m. CDT. The maneuver will see Atlantis' steering jets fire 27 times over a 58 minute period to boost the average altitude of the station by about nine statute miles. A similar process will be repeated tomorrow and again on Thursday to increase the station's average altitude by a total of about 27 statute miles before Atlantis departs. The higher altitude will aim the International Space Station toward the optimum orbit for a link up with the Russian Zvezda living quarters module planned for launch in July.

Late this evening, Halsell, Williams and Voss will take a few minutes to conduct a trio of interviews with reporters from the Cable News Network, Armed Forces Television and Space.Com. The interviews are scheduled to begin at 11:41 p.m. CDT.

The Atlantis and station complex continues to operate in fine fashion orbiting the Earth once every 91 minutes.

Halsell, Horowitz and Mission Specialists Mary Ellen Weber, Jeff Williams, Susan Helms, Jim Voss and Yury Usachev will spend their third day inside the station continuing the maintenance work and supply transfer activities that began Monday evening. During their first two days inside the station, the astronauts have moved more than a ton (2,049 pounds) of supplies and equipment inside the facility to be used by the first station crew. More than 3,000 pounds will be transferred to the station before Atlantis undocks on Friday evening.

Helms and Usachev already have completed the replacement of the fourth and final battery. The second battery replaced on Monday evening is fully recharged and working well as it supports station operations. The third battery, which was replaced last night, has begun its 20-hour charging process. All of the battery work is designed so that at least four of the station's six batteries are available to support station systems.

Other work on tap for this evening includes the replacement of a Zarya radio telemetry system which has reached the end of its design life. The radio telemetry system collects and stores station data when ground station communications are not available. The crew also will fill four large water bags and transfer the bags to the station to join seven similar bags left during the STS-96 mission last year. The water bags will be part of the potable water supply used by the first station crew when it arrives later this year.

Tonight also will see the second of three planned reboost maneuvers to raise the station's altitude. The one-hour procedure will involve 27 pulse firings of Atlantis's maneuvering thrusters. The three reboosts will raise the station to a new altitude about 237.5 x 227 statue miles and will place the station in the optimum altitude for the arrival of the Zvezda Service Module when it is launched in July.

Shuttle and station managers have decided to move the undocking time to one orbit later. The new undocking time is now 6:07 p.m. CDT on Friday, May 26th and will happen while the two spacecraft are over Russian ground stations. The later undocking will allow the crew to get a full eight-hour sleep period. Atlantis will make shortened fly around, one half revolution of the station, before leaving the vicinity of the station. The later undocking will have no impact to Atlantis' landing at Kennedy Space Center which still is planned for 1:18 a.m. CDT Monday, May 29th.

Later this evening at 10:11 p.m. CDT, Halsell, Horowitz and Helms will participate in a trio of interviews with the ABC Radio Network, KOIN-TV in Portland, Oregon, and a webcast education event for the Housing and Urban Development agency.

The Atlantis and station complex continues to operate well, completing one orbit of the Earth every 91 minutes.

Late Wednesday, Astronauts Susan Helms and Jim Voss along with Cosmonaut Yury Usachev completed the installation of a fourth and final fresh battery in the station. Station flight controllers in Russia have completed charging two of the newly installed batteries and they are operating perfectly. The third new battery is currently undergoing a 20-hour charging process, although controllers did note some apparently irregular readings in data during the early portions of the charging activity. However, after further analysis, controllers now believe the irregular information was likely a ground communications problem and that the battery is in excellent condition. Charging of the fourth new battery will begin later today and be completed before Atlantis undocks from the station on Friday.

Later, Voss and Williams installed several new storage compartments behind panels in the Zarya module. Helms and Usachev also installed a new Radio Telemetry System in the module, a memory unit that can store data onboard when the station is not in communications with the ground. The new memory unit replaces one that was nearing the end of its planned operational lifetime.

Commander Jim Halsell and Pilot Scott Horowitz fired Atlantis' steering jets to perform the second part of a three-day maneuver that is raising the station's orbit. Atlantis' jets were fired 27 times over the course of almost an hour to raise the Atlantis-station complex's average altitude by about nine miles. The third and final orbit-raising activity is planned tonight and will leave the station about 27 miles higher than when Atlantis arrived, in an optimum orbit to await the launch of a station living quarters module by Russia in July.

The crew has transferred more than a ton of gear -- ranging from sewing kits to clothing -- to the station to await use by the first resident crew. Among the items transferred this morning were a stationary bicycle ergometer as well as four 12-gallon bags of drinking water. Tonight, the crew will wrap up the transfer of equipment to the station with plans in place to unload a total of more than 3,000 pounds of gear by the time Atlantis leaves. Halsell, Horowitz and Mary Ellen Weber will take a brief break from their activities at 9:11 p.m. CDT for an interview by CBS News, Fox News and KTBS-TV of Shreveport, LA.

The crew will begin a sleep period at 7:11 a.m. CDT and awaken at 3:11 p.m. to begin the eighth day of the mission. Atlantis is scheduled to undock from the station at 6:07 p.m. CDT Friday and land at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 1:18 a.m. CDT Monday.

The Atlantis-International Space Station complex is now in an orbit with an altitude of about 225 miles, circling Earth every 91 minutes.

The main task of the day will be completing the transfer of gear and supplies to the station. In the first three days of transfer activities, the crew has moved more than 3,000 pounds of material onto the station.

The third and final reboost maneuver began a few minutes ago at 6:36 p.m. CDT. Like the two previous reboosts, Atlantis' reaction control system jets will be fired 27 times over a 58 minute period to gently raise the station. At the end of tonight's reboost, it is expected that the station's average altitude will have been raised by 27 statue miles.

The astronauts have completed all battery work on the station. The third battery that was replaced has completed its recharging and testing and has been put back online supporting station operations. The fourth and final new battery will begin its recharge later this evening and will be back online before Atlantis undocks tomorrow evening.

Shortly before they begin exiting the station for the final time, Halsell, Horowitz and Weber will take a few minutes to conduct a trio of interviews with three news organizations -- CBS Newspath, Fox News Network and KTBS-TV in Shreveport, LA -- starting at 9:11 p.m. CDT.

Just before 11:30 p.m., Halsell and his crew will reverse the steps they used when they entered the station Monday evening, closing each of the five hatches associated with station components or transfer tunnels. The overall process of closing out the station and preparing for undocking is expected to take about two hours to complete.

Everything remains on schedule for undocking on Friday evening at 6:07 p.m. CDT. Atlantis will perform a one half revolution of the station, before the final separation burn is initiated. Atlantis remains on track for a landing back at Kennedy Space Center at 1:18 a.m. CDT on Monday, May 29th.

Undocking occurred at 6:03 p.m. Central time, as Pilot Scott Horowitz slowly backed Atlantis away from the space station and then flew a half-circle around the station, before firing Atlantis' jets in a final separation burn at 6:41 p.m. Atlantis' crew leaves behind a refurbished and rejuvenated space station with four new batteries, 10 new smoke detectors, and four new cooling fans in the Zarya module, a revamped communications system in the Unity module and 1 ½ tons of other supplies, including clothing and water.

Now flying solo, the seven-member Atlantis crew will enjoy several hours of off-duty time tonight in recognition of the ambitious pace of work they maintained throughout this flight. Commander Jim Halsell, Horowitz, and Mission Specialists Jeff Williams, Mary Ellen Weber, Jim Voss, Susan Helms and Yury Usachev will power down some of the equipment used during today's undocking and flyaround, and then will perform some routine housekeeping tasks before beginning their scheduled off duty time.

Toward the end of the crew's day, Usachev will take some time to talk with Russian media gathered at the Russian Mission Control Center just outside of Moscow in an event scheduled at 4:26 a.m. Central time Saturday morning. Usachev, along with crewmates Voss and Helms, will visit the station again next year to spend more than four months on board as the second resident crew scheduled to live on board.

The station is now in the optimum orbit to await the arrival of the next major station component -- a Russian-built living quarters that will launch in July -- flying in an orbit with a high point of 238 miles and a low point of 230 miles, circling the Earth every 92 minutes.

"I couldn't be happier with the way this mission has gone," Lead Flight Director Phil Engelauf said. "Our accomplishments are at more than 100 percent for the flight."

"The crew will be leaving a pristine International Space Station behind them," added Paul Hill, Lead Station Flight Director.

Highlights of the crew's work aboard the station included the installation of four new batteries and associated electronics; 10 new smoke detectors in the Zarya module; four new cooling fans; additional cables for the Zarya computer to enhance its capabilities; a new communications memory unit; and a new power distribution box for the United States-built backup communications system. A new communications antenna, the final parts of a Russian crane, and various cabling and handholds were installed on the station's exterior by Astronauts Jeff Williams and Jim Voss during a six-hour, 44-minute spacewalk. All of the new equipment has been checked out and is in excellent condition.

The crew unloaded over 3,300 pounds of gear from Atlantis. Subtracting equipment removed from the station and stowed on Atlantis, the net change in mass for the station is about one additional ton. Along with the new electrical equipment installed, the crew also stowed supplies for future crews aboard the station, including about 48 gallons of water in four 12-gallon bags; a treadmill, exercise bicycle ergometer, and resistive exercise device; and sewing kits, trash bags, clothes, tools, books, note pads and can openers, among other items. Overseeing the unloading and stowing of supplies was Astronaut Mary Ellen Weber. Also, Commander Jim Halsell and Pilot Scott Horowitz fired Atlantis' steering jets in gentle, hour-long maneuvers during each of the past three days to raise the station's orbital altitude by 27 miles. The station is now in the optimum orbit to await the arrival of the next major station component -- a Russian-built living quarters that will launch in July.

Astronaut Susan Helms and Cosmonaut Yury Usachev began backing out of the station -- closing five hatches behind them -- by closing a hatch to the Zarya module's main compartment at 12:23 a.m. CDT. The final hatch to the station was shut at 3:04 a.m. CDT as the orbiting complex flew about 234 miles above the Red Sea. Helms, Usachev and Voss will again visit the station next year to spend more than four months as the second crew to live aboard. In total, the astronauts on Atlantis spent three days, eight hours and one minute with the hatches open to the station during the mission.

Atlantis' undocking from the International Space Station is planned for 6:03 p.m. CDT, followed by a half-loop flyaround of the station - from above to underneath - before firing its jets for the final separation. Atlantis and the station are in an orbit with a high point of 238 miles and a low point of 230 miles, circling Earth every 92 minutes.

Shortly after 7 p.m. today, Commander Jim Halsell, Pilot Scott Horowitz and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams successfully test fired Atlantis' steering jets and verified the performance of the various aerosurfaces that will be used during Atlantis' high-speed return to Earth. This checkout of Atlantis' flight control surfaces and systems is a routine activity on the day prior to landing to verify that all required systems are operating as expected. The tests were monitored by Entry flight director John Shannon from Mission Control in Houston.

As Halsell, Horowitz and Williams conducted their work from the flight deck, crewmates Mary Ellen Weber, Jim Voss, Susan Helms and Yury Usachev continued stowing away equipment used over the past nine days on orbit. Throughout the five days of docked operations with the International Space Station, the Spacehab module in Atlantis' payload bay served as a way station for more than 3,000 pounds of material transferred between the two vehicles. As the astronauts prepare for their Memorial Day landing, they will ensure that equipment housed in that module -- and in Atlantis' crew cabin -- is properly stowed and secured in place.

Midway through the crew day -- about 11 p.m. -- the astronauts will gather for a final review of entry and landing procedures, and then will continue their stowage activities. Williams and Voss, who conducted a 6 1/2 hour space walk earlier in the mission, also will pack up and stow away their spacesuits and associated hardware.

The crew will take time from tonight's entry preparations to talk with reporters located at the Johnson Space Center in Texas, the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the Russian Mission Control Center outside of Moscow in an interview scheduled to begin at 10:41 p.m.

Preliminary weather forecasts for Monday morning's landing indicate a slight possibility of rain within 30 miles of the landing site, and cross winds in excess of acceptable limits. The weather forecasts will be refined over the course of the next 24 hours in preparation for landing. For a 1:20 a.m. Central time landing at KSC, Atlantis' orbital maneuvering system engines would be fired in a deorbit burn at 12:13 a.m. In the event weather precludes a landing on the first opportunity, a second opportunity exists for a landing in Florida on the next orbit, with a deorbit burn at 1:50 a.m. resulting in a 2:56 a.m. landing.

Saturday evening, Commander Jim Halsell, Pilot Scott Horowitz and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams successfully test fired Atlantis' steering jets and verified the performance of the equipment Atlantis will use for its trip home, finding everything in good shape. Early Sunday, Halsell fired Atlantis steering jets to lower its orbit by about nine miles, a maneuver that optimizes the landing opportunities that will be available for the shuttle.

For a 1:20 a.m. Monday landing at KSC, Atlantis' orbital maneuvering system engines would be fired in a deorbit burn at 12:13 a.m. In the event weather precludes a landing on the first opportunity, a second opportunity exists for a landing in Florida on the next orbit, with a deorbit burn at 1:50 a.m. resulting in a 2:56 a.m. landing. The weather forecast for landing indicates acceptable conditions, although forecasters will be monitoring the progress of a front moving toward Florida throughout the day and its potential effect on winds at the Shuttle Landing Facility runway.

Two opportunities for a landing in Florida also are available on Tuesday and again on Wednesday, if needed. Also on Wednesday, Atlantis could land at Edwards Air Force Base, California, if required.

The crew sleep period begins at 7:11 a.m. and will end with a wake-up call from Mission Control at 3:11 p.m. Central. They will begin deorbit preparations in earnest just after 8 p.m. The shuttle's payload bay doors would be closed at about 9:30 p.m. and a go or no go decision would be made by Mission Control at about midnight in preparation for a 1:20 a.m. Monday landing.

Commander Jim Halsell flew Atlantis to a nighttime touchdown at the Florida spaceport at 1:20 a.m. Central time to complete a 4,076,000 mile mission, the second Shuttle flight of the year. It was the 14th nighttime landing in Shuttle history and the 22nd consecutive mission to end with a landing at KSC. Halsell was joined on Atlantis' flight deck by Pilot Scott Horowitz, Flight Engineer Jeff Williams and Mission Specialist Mary Ellen Weber. Crewmates Susan Helms, Jim Voss and Yury Usachev were seated down on the orbiter's middeck for entry and landing.

Atlantis returned to Earth after Flight Director John Shannon determined that crosswinds at the Kennedy Space Center's three-mile long landing strip were gentle and steady, enabling him to give the astronauts the green light to come home on time. Halsell fired the Shuttle's braking rockets at 12:12 a.m. Central time, allowing Atlantis to drop out of orbit for its high-speed descent. Atlantis passed over southern Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico before crossing over the Sarasota / Ft. Myers area of Florida en route to the Cape. Atlantis broke the quiet of the pre-dawn hours in Central Florida with a double sonic boom just minutes before touchdown, heralding its arrival at the landing site as it went subsonic.

Left in orbit is the renovated International Space Station, equipped with an upgraded electrical system, new fans, filters, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and communications gear. ISS flight controllers report that the complex is functioning in excellent condition. The Station is orbiting at an altitude of about 238 statute miles, awaiting the arrival of its next component, the Russian Service Module "Zvezda", which is scheduled to be launched on a modified Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in July. The ISS will automatically rendezvous and dock with "Zvezda" about two weeks after the new module is placed in orbit.

Atlantis will now be processed for the next Shuttle flight in early September to return to the International Space Station with another crew for the outfitting and supply of the newly arrived Service Module. That flight, STS-106, will be led by veteran Commander Terry Wilcutt.

The STS-101 astronauts will spend Memorial Day relaxing with their families in Florida before returning to Houston Tuesday afternoon at around 1:30 p.m. Central time for a welcoming ceremony at Ellington Field near the Johnson Space Center. JSC employees and families are invited to attend the ceremony.

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.

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.

The crew's work has included station maintenance, medical and other experiments and standard daily exercise.

Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams said farewell to their predecessors last Saturday. The Expedition 12 crew and a visiting Brazilian astronaut undocked that afternoon and landed in Kazakhstan at 7:48 p.m. EDT.

Vinogradov and Williams had light duty Sunday and Monday, a break after completing eight days of extensive handover activities with their counterparts.

Maintenance work included a three-and-one-half hour scheduled replacement of station toilet components on Tuesday. Both crew members also took time to talk with two Russian news organizations and participants at a Russian school children's aerospace festival.

On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the crew from the Kremlin. Putin's call came on the 45th anniversary of the first human spaceflight by Yuri Gagarin, a landmark event commemorated by the Russian holiday Cosmonautics Day. That date, April 12, was also the 25th anniversary of the first NASA space shuttle launch in 1981.

Putin told the crew it was a pleasure to see representatives of the United States and Russia working together on the same spacecraft. During the light-hearted exchange, Vinogradov invited Putin to visit the space station.

The crew continued loading the station's Progress cargo craft with trash and conducted physical evaluations and experiments Thursday. Vinogradov and Williams practiced an emergency evacuation drill Friday. Throughout the week, they had time to familiarize themselves with their new home.

Vinogradov and Williams will remain in orbit for six months. During that time, they plan to welcome two space shuttles and perform two spacewalks. Shuttle Discovery's STS-121 mission, targeting a launch no earlier than July 1, will bring European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter aboard the station.

Reiter will increase the station crew size to three for the first time since May 2003 when the crew size was reduced to conserve station supplies following the Columbia accident.

Back on Earth for almost a week, Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev remain in Star City, Russia, near Moscow. They continue to undergo debriefing and rehabilitation after 190 days in space. With them is Marcos Pontes, Brazil's first astronaut, who launched with Expedition 13. He returned to Earth with the Expedition 12 crew after spending about eight days on the station conducting experiments.

Tentative plans call for McArthur to return to Houston later this month.

Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams also had time set aside each day to continue to become familiar with their orbiting home.

In scientific work, Williams operated the Capillary Flow Experiment, which uses liquid silicone to study how fluids move in a microgravity environment. This portion of the experiment examined the interface between the liquid and the solid surface of the container. The results could be used by designers of systems for future spacecraft.

Williams also set up and activated cameras that will be remotely operated by middle school students to take photos of Earth through the station window. Called the Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM) experiment, it allows students to study the Earth and then control a special digital camera mounted on the station. They photograph coastlines, mountain ranges and other geographic items of interest from the unique vantage point of space. More than 112 schools from eight countries have signed up for this session of the experiment. This is the 22nd time the experiment has been performed aboard the station.

Williams and Vinogradov completed the first of three sessions with the Renal Stone experiment, a study of whether potassium citrate can be used to reduce the risk of kidney stone formation. Astronauts have an increased risk of developing kidney stones because urine calcium levels are typically much higher in space. The crew recorded all consumed food and drinks and collected urine samples for later return to Earth. 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.

The Expedition 13 crew also spent several hours practicing the use of a manual docking system for next week's arrival of the ISS Progress 21 cargo vehicle. The computer-based training will ensure they're ready to take control of the Progress if the automated system does not work properly. The 21st Progress to visit the station is scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:03 p.m. EDT Monday, and dock with the space station at 1:40 p.m. EDT Wednesday.

A planned reboost of the station was aborted before any engines were fired this week when downlink telemetry showed one of two sunshade covers on the Zvezda Service Module thrusters was not fully open. The station's onboard software detected that the cover was not properly opened and did not ignite the thrusters. The firing was designed to test two thrusters that have not been used since Zvezda docked to the station in July 2000. Zvezda has several other thrusters that could be used if needed. Engineers at the Russian Mission Control Center in Korolev are reviewing data and considering whether additional tests are required.

Friday the crew talked with experts in Mission Control, Houston, about an electrical repair procedure planned for Monday. The pair will replace a failed type of circuit breaker called a Remote Power Control Module (RPCM) in the Destiny Laboratory. The RPCM failed during the last crew's stay aboard the station, and power for several systems has been routed by an alternate path until it is replaced.

Vinogradov and Williams will remain in orbit for six months. During that time, they expect to welcome two space shuttles and perform two spacewalks. European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter will join the Expedition 13 crew when the Space Shuttle Discovery arrives on the STS-121 mission, targeted for launch no earlier than July 1. Reiter will increase the station crew size to three for the first time since May 2003 when it was reduced to conserve supplies following the Columbia accident. The payload operations team at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., coordinates U.S. science activities on the station.

The ISS Progress 21 cargo spacecraft was launched today from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The new resupply ship lifted off at 12:03 p.m. EDT (10:03 p.m. Baikonur time). Less than 10 minutes later, the cargo ship reached orbit, and its solar arrays and navigational antennas were deployed for its two-day trip to the orbital outpost.

Two pre-programmed firings of the Progress' main engine are scheduled today to fine-tune the ship's path to the space station. Additional rendezvous maneuvers are planned Tuesday and Wednesday.

When the Progress launched, Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams were flying 219 miles over the Earth off the northeast of Australia. This is their 26th day in space and their 24th day on the complex.

Carrying 2.5 tons of food, water, fuel, oxygen, air, spare parts and other supplies, the new Progress is scheduled to automatically dock to the aft port of the station's Zvezda Service Module at 1:40 p.m. EDT Wednesday. The older ISS Progress 20 supply ship, which arrived at the station just before Christmas, will remain at the Pirs Docking Compartment until mid-June. It will be used to stow trash, and its supply of oxygen will help replenish the station's atmosphere.

The ISS Progress 21 is filled with 2.5 tons of food, fuel and personal items for the station's Expedition 13 crew.

Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams will open the hatch to the supply ship once leak checks are completed later today. The crew will begin unloading items Thursday.

Automatically guided by its computers, the Progress docked to the aft port of Zvezda at 1:41 p.m. EDT as the spacecraft and the station sailed 219 miles above Greece. The Progress was launched Monday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The supplies include food, fuel, oxygen and air, clothing, experiment hardware and spare parts, as well as personal items from the crew's families. The new Progress joins an older Progress supply ship that arrived at the station's Pirs Docking Compartment just before Christmas. Progress 20 will remain docked until mid-June. It will be used to stow trash, and its supply of oxygen will help replenish the station's atmosphere.

ISS Progress 21 holds 1,918 pounds of propellant for the Russian thrusters, 103 pounds of oxygen and air in tanks as a backup supply for the oxygen generated by the Russian Elektron system and 661 pounds of water to augment the supplies already on board. The spacecraft's cargo also includes more than 2,300 pounds of spare parts, experiment hardware and life support components.

The ISS Progress 21 cargo spacecraft, which launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday, docked at the station Wednesday. The ship was the first supply shipment for Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams, who have been in space for almost a month.

The spacecraft brought fresh fruit and other foods, gifts from home, fuel, water, oxygen, spare parts and science gear. Two Progress cargo craft are now docked at the complex. Oxygen supplies from ISS Progress 20, which arrived in December, continue to be used to replenish the cabin air when required. The crew is loading that Progress with trash and unneeded equipment. The spacecraft will be jettisoned from the complex in mid-June.

Early in the week, Williams replaced a Remote Power Control Module, a type of circuit breaker, in the station's Destiny laboratory. The power control module had not been functioning for some time, and electricity for many lab systems had been delivered via an alternate path. To gain access to the worksite for replacement of the component, Williams had to disassemble and remove his sleeping compartment. Mission Control sequentially powered off many lab systems and lights to facilitate the replacement. Williams accomplished all the work ahead of schedule, and the new power control module has been functioning well.

Science activities aboard the station during the past week included work by Williams with the Capillary Flow Experiment, which is an investigation of fluid behavior in weightlessness that may assist in the design of future spacecraft. The crew members also completed urine collection and notes about their food consumption for an experiment studying the formation of kidney stones in weightlessness.

Vinogradov completed routine maintenance of the station's Elektron system. It was powered off much of the week and reactivated today. The Elektron provides oxygen for the cabin air from water.

Plans for next week include an engine firing to boost the station's altitude on Thursday, May 4; continued unloading of the newly arrived Progress vehicle; and periodic crew health checks.

Most of the week was focused around routine maintenance and inspections. Williams completed checks of the refrigerated centrifuge, updated the inventory system and took samples of potable water for routine testing. He also changed the cooling water used in the U.S. spacesuits to ensure that the pumps work and to prevent microbial growth in the water tanks.

Vinogradov did similar jobs in the station's Russian segment – completing an inspection of the pressure hull in the Zvezda living quarters, performing maintenance of the ventilation system in Zvezda and testing emergency vacuum valves in the Atmosphere Purification System.

On Wednesday, the crew updated onboard laptop computers. Williams began to install new software on the Medical Equipment Computer, but stopped to allow ground specialists to troubleshoot some difficulties he encountered. The problem was resolved and the task will be rescheduled for Williams. Vinogradov installed and tested new software on a Russian laptop.

Both crew members spent time packing unneeded gear inside the ISS Progress 20. The 20th Progress to visit the station is docked to the Pirs compartment and will be jettisoned from the complex in mid-June to burn up in the atmosphere. Russian flight controllers also fired the newer ISS Progress 21 cargo craft's engines for about six and a half minutes on Thursday to boost the station’s altitude by about 1.7 miles. The Progress 21 is docked at the aft docking port of the Zvezda module.

Williams kicked off the first Expedition 13 session of the Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation this week. It is an experiment that studies bubbling that occurs in weightlessness as liquids cool and turn into solids. It provides insight into how materials solidify in space and may benefit similar processes used in industry on Earth. The experiment is performed in the Microgravity Science Glovebox in the Destiny Lab.

The crew took time this week to reach out to more than 1,500 students, teachers and NASA personnel participating in a Space Day educational event at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The event was part of a larger program highlighting NASA Explorer Schools as well as a collaboration between NASA and America Online (AOL).

Williams also spoke to students in the Inuit community of Kuujjuaq, Canada, via HAM radio. More than 340 students attend the school, which is located 900 miles north of Montreal at the base of Ungava Bay.

Using the microgravity science glovebox, Williams began the second of three sessions Wednesday of the Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation experiment. This experiment studies bubbling that occurs in weightlessness as liquids cool and solidify.

Williams will begin his first Saturday Science activity this weekend with the Cellular Biotechnology Operations Support Systems Fluid Dynamics Investigation. This is a series of experiments to improve fluid mixing techniques and to control bubble distribution for cell culture in orbit.

On May 4, ISS Progress 21 engines were used to reboost the station. Afterward, an error message indicated the Zvezda Service Module computers couldn't command the Progress engines to reconfigure for normal operations. The reboost was not affected. Engineers have determined the most likely cause of the message was a software error, which will be corrected. Meanwhile, a procedural change will allow the Progress thrusters to be used. Vinogradov and Williams continued to unpack supplies from that cargo vehicle.

Last week, engineers detected a small reduction of nitrogen pressure in the liquids unit of the oxygen-generating Elektron. To isolate the source of the leak, Russian flight controllers asked Vinogradov to turn off the machine. They have identified the small leak and plan to operate the Elektron as needed. A spare liquids unit is onboard.

The Elektron will remain deactivated until after a June 1 spacewalk. Engineers originally had planned to turn it off next week to reconfigure ventilation lines and to install a new hydrogen vent before the extravehicular activity. Meanwhile, oxygen from tanks in the ISS Progress 20 cargo vehicle is being added to the station's cabin.

On Thursday, Williams practiced using the station's robotic arm. He and Vinogradov spoke Wednesday with reporters from the StarDate syndicated Radio Network and WISN-TV of Milwaukee.

During the spacewalk, the crew will repair and retrieve U.S. and Russian hardware.

Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and NASA Flight Engineer and Science Officer Jeff Williams gathered equipment for the spacewalk, charged batteries for the Russian Orlan suits they will wear and checked out systems in the Pirs Docking Compartment airlock. The spacewalk will be staged from Pirs.

This will be the 65th spacewalk in support of station assembly and maintenance and the 18th conducted from this airlock. This will be the sixth spacewalk in Vinogradov's career and the second for Williams.

The crew members will climb into their spacesuits next Tuesday to test their mobility and to handle tools they will use while conducting their work outside. Vinogradov and Williams shifted their wake and sleep cycles this week to match the hours they will work on June 1. They will enjoy some off-duty time this weekend before resuming spacewalk preparations on Monday, with final communications and systems checks on their suits.

During the spacewalk the crew will install a new hydrogen vent valve on the hull of the Zvezda Service Module to bypass a similar valve that is clogged. The vent valve is part of the Russian Elektron oxygen-generation system that separates oxygen and hydrogen from water in the device's plumbing unit. The oxygen is then circulated into the cabin atmosphere while hydrogen is released overboard.

The spacewalkers will also recover a thruster residue collection device from Zvezda, retrieve a contamination monitoring device and a package of biology experiments and reposition a cable for a navigation antenna on the aft end of Zvezda to be used next year for the unpiloted rendezvous and docking of the new European Automated Transfer Vehicle.

Williams will also replace a camera on the station's Mobile Base System railcar that moves up and down the truss of the complex.

On the maintenance front, Vinogradov finished replacing a gas analyzer device for the Russian carbon dioxide removal system, known as Vozdukh. It had been operating at a slightly decreased rate in cleansing carbon dioxide from the cabin atmosphere. Russian specialists reactivated the system following the installation of the new gas analyzer. Vozdukh is now operating normally.

As part of the Crew Earth Observations experiment, Williams snapped the first shots of the Cleveland volcano erupting on the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. From their perspective in orbit, astronauts have been the first to spot and confirm the volcanic eruptions on several occasions. This is the first early sighting of a new eruption in recent years.

On Tuesday, Williams discussed the progress of his mission with The Associated Press Television Network and conducted an amateur radio discussion with students at a school in Venice, Italy.

Williams began runs of an experiment, designated the Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions. The fluid physics experiment, last operated during Expedition 7, studies the behavior of fluids that change their properties when in a magnetic field. It obtains basic data on a new class of smart materials that can be used to improve or develop new brake systems, seat suspensions robotics, clutches, airplane landing gear and vibration damper systems.

Williams also continued checking the camera for the ground-commanded Binary Colloidal Alloy Test, or BCAT-3 activity. The EarthKAM camera and equipment is taking time-lapse photography once every hour of BCAT sample 3. BCAT-3 uses small particles called colloids to study fundamental physics. It gathers data that may provide insight into a wide range of applications, from the development of new pharmaceuticals to new rocket engines. NASA's payload operations team at the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., coordinates U.S. science activities on the station.

During the spacewalk, the crew will repair and retrieve U.S. and Russian hardware.

Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and NASA Flight Engineer and Science Officer Jeff Williams gathered equipment for the spacewalk, charged batteries for the Russian Orlan suits they will wear and checked out systems in the Pirs Docking Compartment airlock. The spacewalk will be staged from Pirs.

This will be the 65th spacewalk in support of station assembly and maintenance and the 18th conducted from this airlock. This will be the sixth spacewalk in Vinogradov's career and the second for Williams.

The crew members will climb into their spacesuits next Tuesday to test their mobility and to handle tools they will use while conducting their work outside. Vinogradov and Williams shifted their wake and sleep cycles this week to match the hours they will work on June 1. They will enjoy some off-duty time this weekend before resuming spacewalk preparations on Monday, with final communications and systems checks on their suits.

During the spacewalk the crew will install a new hydrogen vent valve on the hull of the Zvezda Service Module to bypass a similar valve that is clogged. The vent valve is part of the Russian Elektron oxygen-generation system that separates oxygen and hydrogen from water in the device's plumbing unit. The oxygen is then circulated into the cabin atmosphere while hydrogen is released overboard.

The spacewalkers will also recover a thruster residue collection device from Zvezda, retrieve a contamination monitoring device and a package of biology experiments and reposition a cable for a navigation antenna on the aft end of Zvezda to be used next year for the unpiloted rendezvous and docking of the new European Automated Transfer Vehicle.

Williams will also replace a camera on the station's Mobile Base System railcar that moves up and down the truss of the complex.

On the maintenance front, Vinogradov this week finished replacing a gas analyzer device for the Russian carbon dioxide removal system, known as Vozdukh. It had been operating at a slightly decreased rate in cleansing carbon dioxide from the cabin atmosphere. Russian specialists reactivated the system following the installation of the new gas analyzer. Vozdukh is now operating normally.

As part of the Crew Earth Observations experiment, Williams snapped the first shots of the Cleveland volcano erupting on the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. From their perspective in orbit, astronauts have been the first to spot and confirm the volcanic eruptions on several occasions. This is the first early sighting of a new eruption in recent years.

On Tuesday, Williams discussed the progress of his mission with the Associated Press Television Network and conducted an amateur radio discussion with students at a school in Venice, Italy.

Williams began runs of an experiment, designated the Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions, or InSPACE. The fluid physics experiment, last operated during Expedition 7, studies the behavior of fluids that change their properties when in a magnetic field. InSPACE obtains basic data on a new class of smart materials that can be used to improve or develop new brake systems, seat suspensions robotics, clutches, airplane landing gear and vibration damper systems.

Williams also continued checking the camera for the ground-commanded Binary Colloidal Alloy Test, or BCAT-3 activity. The EarthKAM camera and equipment is taking time-lapse photography once every hour of BCAT sample 3. BCAT-3 uses small particles called colloids to study fundamental physics. It gathers data that may provide insight into a wide range of applications, from the development of new pharmaceuticals to new rocket engines. NASA's payload operations team at the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., coordinates U.S. science activities on the station.

Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams had a busy weekend with closeout tasks and station configurations after the spacewalk last week. They finished the cleanup and stowage of the Orlan spacesuits and related tools.

The crew members enjoyed light duty days on Monday and Tuesday, resting up after the extended spacewalk and its follow up activities. They resumed a normal work and sleep schedule Wednesday. Another off-duty day for the crew is scheduled for Monday.

The crew attempted to reactivate the Russian Elektron oxygen-generating system this week following the replacement of its external hydrogen vent valve during the June 1 spacewalk. After several attempts, the Elektron began operating but failed about seven hours later. Vinogradov checked the vent lines associated with the refurbishment effort during the spacewalk and they appeared to be clear and operating normally.

Another attempt to restart Elektron earlier today proved unsuccessful, leading Russian specialists to believe that the problem is due to a failed power unit. A spare unit was located by Vinogradov and will be installed on Sunday. The crew members have at least a week of oxygen available in the cabin atmosphere before they would need to use supplies out of the ISS Progress 21 cargo ship tanks. The Elektron problem has had no impact on station operations and ample alternate supplies of oxygen are available.

This afternoon, the ISS Progress 21 thrusters were used to boost the station by a little less than one mile, placing the complex at the correct altitude for the launch and docking of the next cargo vehicle, ISS Progress 22.

That supply spacecraft is scheduled to launch June 24 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and will dock to the station on June 26 at the Pirs docking compartment port, which currently houses the older ISS Progress 20. It will be jettisoned on June 19 to make way for the new cargo vehicle.

Other work this week included some final spacewalk tool stowage tasks and the reconfiguration of the station's systems, including the communications system in the Russian Zvezda Service Module and the Pirs airlock.

The crew conducted a successful communications test with NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Calif., and White Sands Test Facility, N.M., ground sites and performed routine emergency fire drill training. They also inspected portable breathing apparatus and fire extinguishers.

Williams participated in two amateur radio sessions, the first with the Salt Brook Elementary School in New Providence, N.J., and a second with the Scarlett Middle School, a 2004 NASA Explorer School in Ann Arbor, Mich. Both crew members participated in an in-flight interview with the Web site team associated with the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Williams, who also serves as the NASA's station science officer, ran a session of two colloid experiments: Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions or InSpace and Binary Colloidal Alloy Test or BCAT. Vinogradov worked with two Russian life science experiments -- URAGAN, which is a ground and space based system for predicting natural and manmade disasters, and DIATOMEA, an ocean observations program.

Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams had a busy weekend with closeout tasks and station configurations after the spacewalk last week. They finished the cleanup and stowage of the Orlan spacesuits and related tools.

The crewmembers enjoyed light duty days on Monday and Tuesday to rest after the extended spacewalk and its follow up activities, but resumed a normal work and sleep schedule Wednesday. Another off-duty day for the crew is scheduled Monday.

The crew attempted to reactivate the Russian Elektron oxygen-generating system this week following the replacement of its external hydrogen vent valve during the June 1 spacewalk. After several attempts, the Elektron began operating but failed about seven hours later. Vinogradov checked the vent lines associated with the refurbishment effort during the spacewalk and they appeared to be clear and operating normally.

But another attempt to restart Elektron earlier today proved unsuccessful, leading Russian specialists to believe that the problem is due to a failed power unit. A spare was located by Vinogradov and will be installed on Sunday for another attempt to bring the system back on line. The crew has at least a week of oxygen available in the cabin atmosphere before it would need to use supplies out of the Progress 21 cargo ship tanks. The Elektron problem has had no impact on station operations and ample alternate supplies of oxygen are available.

This afternoon, the ISS Progress 21 thrusters were used to reboost the station by a little less than one mile, placing the complex at the correct altitude for the launch and docking of the new ISS Progress 22 cargo vehicle. Progress 22 is scheduled to launch June 24 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and will dock to the station on June 26 at the Pirs Docking Compartment port.

That docking port currently houses the older Progress 20 resupply ship, which will be jettisoned on June 19 to make way for the new cargo vehicle.

Other work this week included some final spacewalk tool stowage tasks and the reconfiguration of the station’s systems, including the communications system in the Russian Zvezda Service Module and the Pirs Docking Compartment airlock.

The crew conducted a successful communications test with the Dryden Flight Research Center and White Sands Test Facility ground sites and performed routine emergency fire drill training. They also inspected portable breathing apparatus and fire extinguishers.

Williams participated in two amateur radio sessions, the first with the Salt Brook Elementary School in New Providence, N.J., and a second with the Scarlett Middle School, a 2004 NASA Explorer School in Ann Arbor, Mich. Both crewmembers participated in an in-flight interview with the website team associated with the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Williams who serves as the station’s science officer, ran a session of two colloid experiments – InSpace (Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions) and BCAT (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test). Vinogradov worked with two Russian life science experiments - URAGAN, which is a ground and space based system for predicting natural and manmade disasters, and DIATOMEA, an ocean observations program.

The crew also continued to prepare for the arrival of the Space Shuttle Discovery, which is set for launch July 1.

On Monday, Pavel Vinogradov and Jeff Williams watched as the ISS Progress 20 cargo vehicle automatically backed away from the station's Pirs docking port, making room for the next one's arrival. The new Progress is scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 11:08 a.m. EDT June 24 and dock to the station at about 12:30 p.m. EDT June 26. It will bring about 2.5 tons of equipment and supplies to the orbiting outpost.

Vinogradov took a refresher course on the Toru manual docking system Monday. Vinogradov would use the system to guide the cargo craft in the event its primary automated docking system did not function properly.

Throughout the week the station crew also prepared for Discovery's anticipated arrival. On Tuesday, Vinogradov and Williams reviewed the timeline of activities for the shuttle mission and held a conference with mission experts on the ground. On Friday, the crew continued to prepare U.S. spacesuits that will be used during the shuttle visit.

They also continued to pack equipment that will be returned to Earth on Discovery. On Wednesday, Williams installed the centerline berthing camera system in a window of the station's Unity connecting module. The camera view will assist with the attachment of a pressurized logistics module named Leonardo, which will be carried aboard Discovery to that module's port. The Leonardo module will be attached to Unity for unloading and reloading during the mission. It will be loaded in Discovery's cargo bay for the trip home.

Also on Wednesday, Vinogradov worked with the Russian experiment that studies self-propagating combustion materials. The investigation looks at mechanisms for forming high-porosity, heat-resistant, thermal insulating materials for spacecraft.

Williams spent more than three hours Thursday on station robotic arm activities, first training with a simulation program on a laptop computer and then exercising the arm itself. Supported by flight controllers on the ground, he moved the Canadarm2 in much the same way he will during Discovery's visit. He left it parked in position for Discovery's arrival.

While Williams worked with the robotic arm, flight controllers noted elevated spin motor command currents and vibrations on one of the station's four control moment gyroscopes, "CMG 3." The indications returned to normal several hours later, and the gyroscope has continued to perform normally.

Filled with 2.5 tons of food, fuel and supplies for the station's Expedition 13 crew, the ISS Progress 22 automatically docked at 12:25 p.m. EDT as the spacecraft and the station sailed 220 miles above northern Africa. The 22nd Progress to visit the station was launched Saturday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams will open the hatch to the supply ship once leak checks are completed later Monday. The crew will begin unloading items Tuesday.

The supplies include oxygen and air, clothing, experiment hardware and spare parts, as well as personal items from the crew's families. The new Progress joins an older Progress supply ship that arrived at the station's Zvezda Service Module in April. Progress 21 will remain docked until mid-September. It will be used to stow trash, and its supply of oxygen will help replenish the station's atmosphere when required.

ISS Progress 22 holds 1,918 pounds of propellant for the Russian thrusters, 108 pounds of oxygen and air as a backup supply for the oxygen generated by the Russian Elektron system and 264 pounds of water to augment onboard supplies. The new cargo also includes 2,800 pounds of spare parts, experiment hardware and life support components.

The experiment hardware includes items that will be used by European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter once he arrives via the Space Shuttle Discovery's STS-121 mission. This flight will return the station to three crew members for the first time since 2003.

The new resupply ship, the 22nd Progress to visit the station, lifted off at 10:08 a.m. CDT (9:08 p.m. Baikonur time). Less than 10 minutes later, the cargo ship reached orbit, and its solar arrays and navigational antennas were deployed for the two-day trip to the orbital outpost.

Two pre-programmed firings of the Progress’ main engine are scheduled Saturday to fine-tune the ship’s path to the space station. Additional rendezvous maneuvers are planned Sunday and Monday.

When the Progress launched, Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams were flying 220 miles over the Earth off the west coast of Chile. Saturday was their 106th day in space and their 104th day on the station.

Carrying 2.5 tons of food, water, fuel, oxygen, air, spare parts and other supplies, the Progress is scheduled to automatically dock to the Pirs Docking Compartment at 11:27 a.m. CDT Monday.

The ISS Progress 20 supply ship that arrived at the station just before Christmas was undocked and deorbited last Monday and burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere. The ISS Progress 21 craft, which arrived in April, remains docked to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module. That Progress will be used to stow trash and supply oxygen to replenish the station's atmosphere when required. The spacecraft won’t be discarded until mid-September.

Filled with 2.5 tons of food, fuel and supplies for the station's Expedition 13 crew, the ISS Progress 22 automatically docked to the Pirs airlock at 11:25 a.m. CDT as the spacecraft and the station sailed 220 miles above northern Africa. The 22nd Progress to visit the station was launched Saturday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams will open the hatch to the supply ship once leak checks are completed later Monday. The crew will begin unloading items Tuesday.

The supplies include food, fuel, oxygen and air, clothing, experiment hardware and spare parts, as well as personal items from the crew's families. The new Progress joins an older Progress supply ship that arrived at the station’s Zvezda Service Module in April. Progress 21 will remain docked until mid-September. It will be used to stow trash, and its supply of oxygen will help replenish the station’s atmosphere when required.

ISS Progress 22 holds 1,918 pounds of propellant for the Russian thrusters, 108 pounds of oxygen and air as a backup supply for the oxygen generated by the Russian Elektron system and 264 pounds of water to augment onboard supplies. The new cargo also includes 2,800 pounds of spare parts, experiment hardware and life support components.

The experiment hardware includes items that will be used by European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter once he arrives via the Space Shuttle Discovery's STS-121 mission. This flight will return the station to three crew members for the first time since 2003.

Discovery’s launch is scheduled for 3:49 p.m. EDT Saturday. Discovery's STS-121 mission will return the station to three crew members for the first time since 2003, when European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter joins crew members Jeff Williams, flight engineer and Pavel Vinogradov, commander. To get ready for upcoming STS-121 spacewalks, the crew flushed cooling loops in the Quest airlock and U.S. spacesuits, configured airlock systems and tools, and reviewed robotic arm procedures. They checked out a ship-to-ship communications system that will be used for conversations with Discovery's crew during rendezvous and disconnected the station’s Common Cabin Air Assembly heat exchanger. That device will be returned to Earth aboard Discovery along with other equipment in the Italian-built Leonardo Multipurpose Logistics Module. Discovery will bring about 5,000 pounds of supplies to the station carried aboard the logistics module.

The crew also completed a mid-mission session of the renal stone experiment by collecting urine samples and logging all of the food and drinks consumed over a three-day period. Each crewmember is taking either potassium citrate, a drug found to be useful in preventing kidney stone formation on Earth, or a placebo. Crews in space are at risk for kidney stones linked to their loss of bone density.

ISS Progress 22, the unpiloted Russian cargo spacecraft, brought 2.5 tons of fresh produce, other foodstuffs, food, fuel and supplies to the station June 26. After the cargo ship was fully connected with station systems, flight controllers in Moscow completed a routine thruster test and Vinogradov removed its Kurs automated rendezvous hardware.

The first human spacecraft to launch on an Independence Day holiday, Discovery has begun a journey to resupply and service the International Space Station. Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Mike Fossum, Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson, Piers Sellers and Thomas Reiter, a European Space Agency astronaut, lifted off at 1:38 p.m. CDT. The launch followed a flawless countdown.

During the next 12 days, Discovery’s crew will demonstrate techniques for inspecting and protecting the shuttle’s thermal protection system, restore the station to a three-person crew for the first time since May 2003, and replace critical hardware needed for future station assembly. The crew is planned to conduct two spacewalks during the mission. If supplies allow, managers may extend Discovery's flight by an additional day, a day that will be used by the crew to conduct a third spacewalk.

A system of new and upgraded ground-based cameras, radar and airborne cameras aboard high altitude aircraft documented Discovery's launch. That imagery, along with data to be gathered from in-flight inspections, will be used to ensure Discovery's heat shield is in good condition. The in-flight inspections will be performed by the crew using the shuttle's robotic arm, an extension boom and laser system as well as photography to be taken from the station of a back flip the shuttle will perform as it approaches for docking.

Moments after main engine cutoff, less than nine minutes after liftoff, Fossum and Wilson used handheld video and digital still cameras to document the external tank after it separated from the shuttle. That imagery, as well as imagery gathered by cameras in the shuttle’s umbilical well where the tank was connected, will be transmitted to the ground for review.

As Discovery lifted off, the International Space Station was 220 miles above the southern Pacific Ocean, south of Tasmania. Aboard the outpost, Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams watched the launch via a television transmission from Mission Control. Discovery is set to dock to the complex at about 9:51 a.m. CDT July 6.

The shuttle crew will test Discovery’s robot arm tomorrow and then use it to grasp a 50-foot long boom extension, called the Orbiter Boom Sensor System. That boom holds the laser system and TV cameras they will use to inspect the shuttle’s wings and heat shield.

During the two spacewalks, Sellers and Fossum will test the capability of the boom extension to be used as a work platform from which repairs could be performed to the shuttle heat shield. They also will repair a cable system on the station’s rail car, a system that will be a base for the station's robotic arm for future assembly work. If the mission is extended by a day, the third spacewalk will be used to test techniques under development for repair of the reinforced carbon-carbon that makes up the heat shield on the shuttle wing edges.

Carried inside the Leonardo multi-purpose logistics module in Discovery’s cargo bay and elsewhere on the shuttle, about 14 tons of hardware and supplies is on its way to the space station. Discovery's crew begins an eight-hour sleep period at 7:38 p.m. CDT. The astronauts will awaken at 3:38 a.m. CDT Wednesday to begin their first full day in orbit.

The several hours of inspection began just after 6:00 a.m. when Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson verified proper operation of the Space Shuttle’s robotic arm, then maneuvered it to lift the 50-foot-long OBSS from the starboard sill of the payload bay.

Assisted by Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialist Mike Fossum, Nowak and Wilson began a slow and steady examination of the reinforced carbon-carbon panels along the leading edge of Discovery’s starboard wing just before 8:30 a.m., looking for any evidence of damage.

The inspection using the Laser Dynamic Range Imager, Laser Camera System, and Intensified Television Camera on the end of the boom continued across the shuttle’s nose cap and port wing. After returning the OBSS to its berth, Nowak, Wilson and Fossum spent an hour using the cameras on the shuttle robot arm to scan the outside of the crew cabin.

While the survey proceeded, Mission Specialist Piers Sellers completed the setup of on board computers and cameras and Mission Specialist Thomas Reiter of the European Space Agency prepared Discovery’s middeck for the planned transfer of supplies onto the International Space Station. The first item to be transferred after docking, scheduled for 9:52 a.m. Thursday, is Reiter’s customized seat liner for the Soyuz vehicle; that will make him an official member of the station’s Expedition 13 crew, and the first ISS crewmember who is neither an American nor a Russian.

Sellers and Fossum, who also installed the centerline camera in Discovery’s docking mechanism, completed a checkout of the spacesuits they will wear during scheduled spacewalks on Flight Days 5 and 7. The EVAs will evaluate the combination of ISS robot arm and OBSS as a work platform for astronauts repairing a damaged shuttle orbiter and restore the station’s Mobile Transporter to full operation to support continued station assembly.

On board ISS Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams prepared the digital cameras with 400mm and 800mm lenses they will use to take high-resolution photos of the shuttle's heat shield when it flies a nose over tail somersault at a range of 600 feet below the station. They also prepared Pressurized Mating Adapter 2, at the forward end of the U.S. laboratory Destiny, where Discovery will dock tomorrow morning.

The astronauts on Discovery were scheduled to be awakened at 2:38 a.m. CDT Thursday to being final preparations for the docking with the ISS.

Today the crew will focus on thermal protection system inspections, preparing for docking to the International Space Station and getting spacesuits ready for two and perhaps three spacewalks.

Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Mike Fossum, Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson, Piers Sellers and Thomas Reiter got their wakeup call at 4:08 a.m. CDT, allowing them an extra 30 minutes of sleep after their first day in space ran long. The wakeup song was “Lift Every Voice and Sing” performed by the New Galveston Chorale.

Four crewmembers will spend much of the day looking for damage to Discovery's thermal protection system. Lindsey, Kelly, Fossum and Nowak will use the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS), a 50-foot boom on the end of the shuttle's robotic Canadarm, to look at the wings' leading edges and the nose cap.

The task involves about 6½ hours of intense work for the crew members. Actual data takes will total about an hour, 20 minutes for each wing and the nose cap. The rest of that time is devoted to very careful movement of the Canadarm and the OBSS.

Later, after lunch, Nowak and Wilson will return the OBSS to its berth on the starboard sill of Discovery's cargo bay. Then they and Fossum will use cameras on the shuttle arm to photograph the outside of Discovery's cabin. That activity should take about an hour.

Wilson also will take digital hand-held camera photos of the orbital maneuvering system pods at the base of the shuttle's vertical tail fin.

Photos and sensor readings from the shuttle, as well as photos of launch and ascent from more than 100 ground-based and airborne cameras and radar and instrument data, will be reviewed by experts on the ground. The data, photos by the station crew and information from subsequent arm surveys at the station and after undocking, will be used to determine if Discovery sustained damage during launch and ascent or in space, to ensure that it is safe for the shuttle to re-enter the atmosphere to land.

In other activities today, Wilson and Reiter will get items on the middeck ready for transfer to the station. Spacewalkers Fossum and Sellers, helped by Kelly, the intravehicular officer who will coach the spacewalkers, will check out spacesuits.

Nowak and Sellers will extend the shuttle docking ring which will help secure Discovery to the station. Just before the shuttle crew goes to bed, Kelly and Sellers will check out and prepare docking tools, including laptop computers.

At 3:30 a.m., Discovery was trailing the station by 9,573 statute miles and closing at a rate of 870 statute miles per orbit. Docking is scheduled for 9:52 a.m. Thursday.

Today the space station crew, Commander Pavel Vinogradov and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams, will continue to prepare the orbiting laboratory for Discovery's arrival. They will ready the digital cameras with 400mm and 800mm lenses they will use during Discovery’s approach to take high-resolution photos of the shuttle's heat shield. They also will pressurize the Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 at the end of the U.S. laboratory Destiny, where Discovery is scheduled to dock.

It will mark the first time since May 2003 that more than two long-duration crew members have called the orbiting laboratory home.

Discovery, with Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Mike Fossum, Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson, Piers Sellers and Thomas Reiter aboard, is scheduled to dock with the station at 9:52 a.m. CDT.

Shortly after the welcome by station Commander Pavel Vinogradov and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams and a mandatory safety briefing, Reiter will transfer his seat liner to the Soyuz spacecraft attached to the station, making him an official station crewmember. Reiter is a European Space Agency astronaut from Germany, flying under a contract between ESA and the Russian Federal Space Agency.

During Discovery’s approach to the station, Lindsey will pilot the shuttle on what amounts to a back flip, called the Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver. At about 600 feet below the station, the flip will give Vinogradov and Williams a chance to photograph the thermal protection tiles on the bottom of Discovery. Using digital cameras with 400mm and 800mm lenses, they will take a carefully planned series of photos of the shuttle's underside.

The images will be downlinked for study by experts on the ground, starting with the more detailed images from the 800mm lens. More 800mm photos will be taken than during Discovery's approach during STS-114. One increased photo emphasis will be looking for protruding gap fillers, like those removed by STS-114 spacewalker Steve Robinson last year.

These photos and other data, including images from more than 100 cameras on the ground, in aircraft and on the shuttle, as well as data from the shuttle arm and the Orbital Boom Sensor System (OBSS) attached to it, will be used, along with data from subsequent surveys, to make sure that Discovery sustained no major damage on launch, ascent and in orbit.

About three hours after docking, both crews get to work with more robotic operations to prepare for additional surveys. Nowak, Wilson and Williams will operate the space station robotic arm, Canadarm2, from inside the Destiny Lab.

They will use the arm to lift the OBSS from Discovery's payload bay sill and hand it over to the shuttle arm, operated by Lindsey and Fossum. Clearance restraints around the shuttle’s docking mechanism do not allow the shuttle arm to grapple the boom on its own.

Transfer of cargo from the shuttle's middeck including spacesuits will begin shortly after docking. At least two spacewalks are scheduled, one on Saturday and another on Monday. A third may be done if the mission is extended a day.

Discovery’s crew was awakened at 2:38 a.m. Thursday by "Daniel," performed by Elton John and dedicated to Reiter. The station crew was awakened at the same time by its standard wakeup tone.

European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter of Germany was delivered as the newest member of ISS Expedition 13 just hours after Space Shuttle Discovery docked at the station’s Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 at 9:52 a.m. CDT, as the two ships flew above the south Pacific Ocean south of Pitcairn Island.

Commander Steve Lindsey piloted Discovery’s approach to ISS, halting 600 feet directly below the station to perform the rendezvous pitch maneuver: the shuttle was commanded to do a nose-over-tail somersault so ISS Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams could photograph the thermal protection system tiles on the orbiter’s underside. Imagery experts on the ground will study the high-resolution still pictures for evidence of any damage to the insulating tiles.

Lindsey and his crew—Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Mike Fossum, Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson, Piers Sellers and Reiter—greeted the station crewmembers when the hatches between the vehicles were opened at 11:30 a.m. CDT.

After Vinogradov’s safety briefing for the shuttle crew, he helped Reiter install his customized Soyuz seat liner into the Russian rescue vehicle and check his pressurized Sokol suit, finalizing Reiter’s transfer from Discovery to ISS. Other first-day transfers from Discovery included the spacesuits that Sellers and Fossum will wear on their spacewalks out of the Quest airlock on Flight Days 5 and 7.

In preparation for the first EVA, Nowak, Wilson and Williams lifted the Orbiter Boom Sensor System with the station’s robotic arm and handed it over to the shuttle’s robotic arm. During the first spacewalk Sellers and Fossum will simulate orbiter repair tasks while attached to the OBSS/shuttle arm combination to test that 100-foot-long construction crane as a work platform.

On the second spacewalk the astronauts will deliver a spare Pump Module to an external stowage platform before replacing a damaged power and data cable reel assembly in the station’s truss. The repair will allow the Mobile Transporter to move along the truss during installation of new truss segments on future shuttle assembly missions.

The first task of the day will be the relocation of the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) from the shuttle payload bay onto the station’s Unity Module. Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson, Mike Fossum and Piers Sellers will use the station robotic arm, Canadarm2, to maneuver the module, with help from pilot Mark Kelly.

Once successfully mated to its temporary position on the station, shuttle Commander Steve Lindsey and new Expedition 13 Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter will conduct leak checks and enter the pressurized cargo container. Wilson will lead the transfer activities, which are scheduled to continue until next Thursday.

Later, using the shuttle robotic arm and boom system, Kelly, Nowak and Wilson will conduct additional inspections of the orbiter’s thermal protection system. They will target a few specific areas on the shuttle’s nose cap that were missed on the initial scans, as well as two gap fillers that appear to be protruding from Discovery’s underside. They also intend to get a closer look at a piece of fabric near the shuttle nose.

Fossum and Sellers will make preparations for Saturday’s planned spacewalk. They will configure tools and the U.S. airlock Quest for the spacewalk. They will repair the station's mobile transporter and test the capability of the robotic arm boom extension to carry spacewalkers. The results of that test will help engineers understand the feasibility of using the arm for thermal system inspections and repairs if needed on later flights.

The crew has time set aside at the end of the day for a review of the spacewalk procedures.

The newly augmented space station crew, including Flight Engineer Jeff Williams and Commander Pavel Vinogradov, will work closely with the shuttle crew, assisting with transfer activities and robotic arm operations.

Some crewmembers will talk with journalists. Lindsey and Kelly will chat in the morning with radio reporters from CBS, Fox, ABC and National Public Radio. Toward the end of the day, the Expedition crew will speak with CNN, CBS News and the Associated Press.

The space shuttle crew awoke at 2:14 a.m. CDT by the Beatles’ "Good Day Sunshine" dedicated to first time spaceflyer Lisa Nowak. The Expedition 13 crew awoke 30 minutes later with their standard wake up tone.

Mission Specialists Piers Sellers and Mike Fossum turned their spacesuits to battery power to officially start the spacewalk at 8:17 a.m. CDT. After they configured their tools and safety tethers, they moved to the S0 Truss and installed a blade blocker in the zenith Interface Umbilical Assembly to protect the undamaged power, data and video cable. Then they rerouted that cable through the IUA so the Mobile Transporter rail car could be moved into position on the truss for replacement of the Trailing Umbilical System containing the severed power and data cable during a spacewalk Monday.

The remainder of today’s spacewalk was devoted to testing the combination of space shuttle robotic arm and Orbiter Boom Sensor System as a platform for spacewalking astronauts to make repairs to a damaged orbiter. Sellers got into a foot restraint on the OBSS, almost 100 feet from where the shuttle arm is attached to the payload bay sill, and performed a set of motions designed to see how the arm/OBSS handled the forces generated by those movements; Fossum stood nearby and reported his observations of the arm/OBSS’ movements.

Then Fossum joined Sellers on the end of the OBSS for another round of demonstrations, with measurements again taken by a load cell mounted under the foot restraint. For the last measurement the arm maneuvered Fossum into position so he could push against the end of the P1 Truss.

Sellers, wearing the spacesuit with red stripes, and Fossum, wearing the white spacesuit, re-entered the station and started pressurizing the airlock at 3:48 p.m., concluding the first of three spacewalks planned for the mission. Today’s EVA was the fourth of Sellers’ career, and the first for Fossum.

Pilot Mark Kelly served as intravehicular crewmember, keeping the spacewalkers on time and relaying information from Mission Control in Houston, while Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson and Expedition 13 Flight Engineer Jeff Williams operated the shuttle robot arm and Discovery Commander Steve Lindsey monitored their activities while transferring water onto ISS.

During the EVA ISS Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter unloaded cargo from the Multipurpose Logistics Module. Today’s transfers included a new oxygen generator, to be installed in the Destiny laboratory in the coming months, and a Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS, which will provide low temperature storage for lab supplies and for experiment samples awaiting return to Earth.

Delivery of cargo from the MPLM onto ISS will be the centerpiece of activity on orbit Sunday, and the second of two spacewalks will take place Monday morning at 7:13 a.m. CDT.

Also Saturday, Mission Managers reported clearing for entry all but one area of the orbiter’s thermal protection system that engineers had been looking at closely. The remaining area, a protruding gap filler near the external tank umbilical doors, needs further analysis, according to Steve Poulos, Orbiter Project Office Manager. The outlook was favorable for clearing that area, as well, Poulos said, but image analysts will be working through the night Saturday to finish looking at it.

Overall, the spacecraft thermal protection system had relatively few “dings” and Chairman of the Mission Management Team John Shannon said that Discovery was by far the "cleanest" in terms of damage to the heat shield.

Spacewalkers Piers Sellers and Mike Fossum have two major tasks. First they will work to ensure that the second power and data cable linking the mobile transporter to the rest of the station is spared the fate of the mobile transporter's other trailing umbilical system cable. It was inadvertently severed by its safety cutter last December. The second activity is to test the capability of the shuttle's robotic arm and its 50-foot extension to act as a platform for spacewalkers making repairs.

Expedition 12 crewmembers tried to install a safety bolt to protect the remaining cable. They were unable to insert the bolt, so they removed the cable from the emergency cutter.

Sellers and Fossum will install a device to block the cutter blade. If that doesn't work, they'll install a new unit, called an interface umbilical assembly, this one without a blade. Once they reinstall the cable, the mobile transporter will again be able to move the station's robotic arm along the rails on the station's main truss. The arm is scheduled to be moved during the Monday spacewalk.

For the test of the arm as a repair platform, Sellers will work on the end of the 50- foot extension, called the orbital boom sensor system. Then both spacewalkers will simulate working motions at the end of the extension. That will be done in at least three arm positions.

Sellers will be the lead spacewalker and wear the spacesuit with red stripes. He did three spacewalks in October 2002 during the STS-112 mission of Atlantis to the station. On that mission he helped install the station's starboard one (S1) truss.

Fossum will wear the all-white spacesuit. He is making his first spaceflight. Discovery Pilot Mark Kelly will serve as the intravehicular officer, coaching and helping the spacewalkers from inside the station-shuttle complex.

Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson will operate the robotic arms during all three of the mission's spacewalks. They will maneuver the shuttle's Canadarm with its extension during the first, scheduled to begin at 8:13 a.m. CDT Saturday. They will use the station's Canadarm2 during the second spacewalk on Monday and the third on Wednesday.

Expedition 13 Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams and Discovery Commander Steve Lindsey also will help out during the spacewalk.

Meanwhile Thomas Reiter, the European Space Agency astronaut from Germany who became part of the Expedition 13 crew shortly after docking, will work with station commander Pavel Vinogradov to transfer cargo and equipment from the Leonardo multi-purpose logistics module.

In staggered wake ups, the shuttle crew arose at 2:08 a.m. CDT to the sound of "God of Wonders" by Marc Byrd and Steve Hindalong. The music was selected for Fossum by his family. The station crew was awakened about 30 minutes later.

The astronauts also made preparations for the second spacewalk during joint docked operations, scheduled for Monday morning.

Leonardo, the Multipurpose Logistics Module that rode to orbit in the shuttle payload bay, launched with more than 7,400 pounds of new space station equipment and crew supplies. Today’s operations included transfer of a new heat exchanger for the Common Cabin Air Assembly, a component of the ISS environmental control system which collects condensate out of the air, and a spare U.S. spacewalk suit and emergency jet pack.

As they deliver the module’s contents onto the station, the astronauts are also refilling Leonardo with almost 4,400 pounds of material no longer needed on the station. That includes experiment samples, trash, and broken equipment.

For several hours today Mission Specialists Piers Sellers and Mike Fossum refreshed the systems of their spacesuits and prepared tools and equipment for tomorrow’s EVA. During that planned six and a half hour excursion, scheduled to begin at 7:13 a.m. CDT, they will deliver a spare cooling system Pump Module to a stowage platform and replace the Trailing Umbilical System on the nadir side of the S0 Truss. That replacement will give the station’s Mobile Transporter rail car a redundant pair of power, data and video cables so it can translate along the truss in support of future station assembly tasks.

Earlier today, Discovery Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Mark Kelly, and Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson, Fossum and Sellers joined Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter to answer questions about their missions from reporters at NASA centers and at the European Astronaut Center in Cologne, Germany.

Late today John Shannon, the deputy shuttle program manager and chairman of the STS-121 Mission Management Team, reported that mission managers cleared Discovery for its return to Earth, declaring that the shuttle’s heat shield was free from any damage. The crew will conduct another inspection later in the mission looking for any other evidence of damage done by orbital debris prior to landing.

Discovery’s crew began its sleep period just after 5 p.m. CDT and will be awakened at 1:08 a.m. CDT Monday to begin the seventh day of the flight.

Spacewalkers Piers Sellers and Mike Fossum exited the Quest module’s airlock at 7:14 a.m. and climbed down into the shuttle payload bay, where they lifted the Pump Module from its stowage platform so Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson could grapple it with the station’s 58-foot-long robotic arm. While the arm moved the module to its destination, Sellers and Fossum moved to the S0 Truss segment to begin work on the primary task of the EVA, replacement of the nadir-side Trailing Umbilical System (TUS).

A TUS contains a power, data and video cable that serves the Mobile Transporter as it moves along the station’s truss; the nadir TUS cable was inadvertently severed late last year and required replacement. As the first step in that process Sellers replaced the Interface Umbilical Assembly - the component containing the cutter - with a new IUA, one without a blade.

By that time, Canadarm2 reached External Stowage Platform 2 on the forward side of Quest with the Pump Module; Sellers and Fossum moved to the platform to receive the module from the arm, secured it to the storage platform, and returned to the TUS work site.

The spacewalkers removed the damaged TUS from within the S0 Truss, and Fossum carried it to the payload bay while riding the station arm. When he arrived, Sellers removed the new TUS from the payload bay platform, and the two swapped cable reels. Sellers stowed the old TUS on the cross-bay carrier while the arm moved Fossum back to the truss work site, where Sellers rejoined his crewmate to complete installation of the TUS and properly route its power, data and video cable through the IUA.

At two points during the spacewalk Fossum paused to take care of a loose connection of the emergency jet thruster backpack on Sellers’ spacesuit, securing it the first time with a safety tether.

The spacewalkers closed the hatch and began to repressurize Quest to end the spacewalk at 2:01 p.m. to conclude a six-hour, 47-minute excursion; the combined time spent spacewalking on two EVAs on this mission so far is 14 hours, 18 minutes. A third spacewalk, devoted to testing potential repair techniques and materials, is scheduled for Wednesday.

During the spacewalk Pilot Mark Kelly oversaw the timeline for the spacewalkers while Commander Steve Lindsey managed the cameras and transferred two containers of water onto ISS. Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter continued to work on delivery and stowage of equipment and supplies from the Multipurpose Logistics Module.

The shuttle crew was awakened at 1:08 a.m. CDT by "Clocks," performed by Coldplay. It was requested by Sellers' family for the day of the second spacewalk.

The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 7:13 a.m. and expected to last nearly seven hours. First, Fossum and Sellers will make their way to the shuttle’s payload bay to a spare pump module for the station’s thermal control system. Once there, they will attach it to the fixed grapple bar which will allow Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson, inside at the controls of the robotic arm, to maneuver the pump to the external stowage platform.

While the module is being moved, Fossum and Sellers will stay in the payload bay and get ready for their next task, replacement of a trailing umbilical system (TUS) reel assembly, this one on the nadir side of the mobile transporter.

After they reconfigure the payload bay for the activity, they’ll then translate to the starboard zero truss segment, to get it ready for retrieval. Fossum will disconnect electrical cables while Sellers changes out the assembly. Once it is ready, they will leave that site to go to the stowage platform and assist with the detaching and installation of the pump into its permanent storage location. That pump is onboard as a spare should it be needed in the future.

The two spacewalkers will then return to the truss and remove the TUS reel assembly. Fossum, on the end of the robotic arm, will take the reel assembly to the payload bay. Sellers will move there on his own, and set up for the swap of that assembly with a new one. After the swap is complete, the two will go back to the worksite to install the new reel assembly, reroute the power and data cable and thus restoring the desired redundancy to the mobile transporter and enabling it again to be used for continued station assembly tasks.

Shuttle Commander Steve Lindsey and Pilot Mark Kelly will support the spacewalk with Lindsey monitoring the vehicle systems and video/television set ups and Kelly overseeing activities and coaching the spacewalkers.

The Expedition 13 crew, Commander Pavel Vinogradov and flight engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter, will be working steadily throughout the day transferring trash and unneeded equipment and supplies for return to Earth in the multipurpose logistics module Leonardo. More than 4,300 pounds of cargo will be packed for the return to Earth.

Additional time was set aside today for procedural review for the third spacewalk planned to begin at 6:13 a.m. CDT Wednesday.

Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov along with Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter spent most of the day loading items no longer needed on the station into the Multipurpose Logistics Module docked to the station’s Unity module. Before being returned to Discovery’s payload bay on Friday, the Italian-built Leonardo will be filled with almost 4,400 pounds of experiment samples, unneeded hardware and trash.

Included in the more than 7,400 pounds of supplies delivered to the station was a new window and window seals for the Microgravity Science Glovebox, a European Space Agency-developed enclosed workspace for science experiments involving fluids, flames, particles or fumes. Reiter, the ESA astronaut who joined the station crew last week, installed the new window and window seals today. Additional work will be needed after the shuttle departs before the MSG can resume operation.

Discovery Mission Specialists Piers Sellers and Mike Fossum, who already have spent 14 hours and 18 minutes outside the Discovery/ISS complex on two spacewalks, devoted much of the day to preparing their spacesuits and tools for the mission’s third Extravehicular Activity. The planned 6-½ hour spacewalk is devoted to testing a non-oxide adhesive as a repair material for the reinforced carbon carbon panels that line a shuttle’s leading edge, and the use of an infrared camera to detect unseen damage to RCC.

At 7:18 this morning the spacewalkers joined Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson to talk about the progress of their flight in interviews with the Associated Press and USA Today.

More than 4,300 pounds of experiment results, unneeded hardware and trash is scheduled to be loaded onto the pressurized cargo module for return to Earth in Discovery's cargo bay next week. Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson serves as the loadmaster for the extensive transfer activity.

All nine shuttle and station crew members will help gather and stow the return cargo in Leonardo. It brought more than 7,000 pounds of clothing, food and other supplies for the station.

Throughout the day, Mission Specialists Mike Fossum and Piers Sellers will also have spacewalk preparation tasks. They’ll recharge the spacesuits, gather and organize needed tools, and configure the airlock.

Before the day’s end, they’ll be joined by Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Mark Kelly, and fellow Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson for a review of the spacewalk procedures.

Kelly, Fossum, Nowak, Wilson and Sellers will talk with representatives from the Associated Press and USA Today. That 20-minute chat is scheduled to begin at 7:18 a.m. CDT.

The shuttle crew was awakened at 1:08 a.m. by "All Star," performed by Smashmouth. It was for Nowak, requested by her family.

Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter were awakened 30 minutes later, at 1:38 a.m.

Mission Specialists Mike Fossum and Piers Sellers will test techniques to inspect and repair damage to an orbiter's heat shield. The 6.5-hour spacewalk from the Quest airlock is scheduled to start at 6:13 a.m. CDT.

Sellers and Fossum will set up tools and a foot restraint on the station robotic arm. Sellers will position himself on the arm, operated by Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson. He will use an infrared camera to record about 20 seconds of imagery as the arm, and Sellers, move along the shuttle’s wing leading edge.

Sellers, designated EV1 and wearing the spacesuit with red stripes, will meet EV2 Fossum, in the all-white suit, in Discovery’s payload bay. There they will set up the worksite for the repair tasks. A pallet with 12 reinforced carbon-carbon panels is pre-positioned in the payload bay. Eight are pre-damaged and will be the subject of the repair test. Two are blank, to be used as a work palette, and the last two are for further imaging by the infrared camera.

Sellers and Fossum will use a variety of tools and methods for the repair work demonstration including a space-certified caulk gun and a variety of spatulas to manipulate the test materials.

They hope to finish demonstrations on at least two of those samples. Then they’ll do a 60-second recording using the IR camera of two other damaged tiles. The camera is designed to capture temperature gradients that will indicate invisible damage.

If they have time, they may take additional photos of some shuttle panels and move the fixed grapple bar in the shuttle payload bay.

The spacewalkers will clean up the worksite and inspect their spacesuits. Then Fossum will ride the robotic arm back to the airlock, again taking video of the wing leading edge as he passes it. Sellers will make his own way back.

Pilot Mark Kelly will again serve as the intravehicular activities officer. Commander Steve Lindsey will oversee the shuttle systems and spacewalk operations.

While the shuttle crew is helping with the spacewalk, repacking of the multi-purpose logistics module Leonardo will continue. The Expedition 13 crew, Commander Pavel Vinogradov, and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter, will put experiment results, unneeded equipment and garbage into Leonardo.

The STS-121 crew woke this morning at 12:08 a.m. to "I Believe I Can Fly," played for Wilson. The Expedition 13 crew was awakened 30 minutes later.

Mission Specialists Piers Sellers and Mike Fossum began the spacewalk at 6:20 a.m. CDT and prepared a foot restraint on the end of the International Space Station’s Canadarm2. Sellers rode the arm, commanded by Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson, to the starboard wing of Discovery where he used an infrared camera to shoot 20 seconds of video of selected reinforced carbon carbon panels on the wing’s leading edge. Infrared imagery may aid in identifying damage on the inside of those panels.

Fossum translated to the aft of Discovery’s payload bay to join Sellers and help prepare a box containing 12 RCC sample panels for the EVA’s primary task of testing a repair material known as NOAX. Non-oxide adhesive experimental is a pre-ceramic polymer sealant containing carbon-silicon carbide powder, and is being evaluated for repairing damage to RCC panels.

Data gathered from tests on mission STS-114 last year indicated NOAX is most effective when applied while the temperature of an RCC panel is falling between 120° F and 30° F, so today’s spacewalkers were directed to apply NOAX to the pre-damaged RCC panels based on the temperatures of the panels. Over the course of almost two and a half hours, Sellers and Fossum completed three gouge repairs and two crack repairs with NOAX, and provided Mission Control a running dialogue describing the repair activity and how the NOAX responded. They also imaged four of the samples with the infrared camera, which Fossum also used to gather video of an area of Discovery’s port wing while riding Canadarm2 back to the airlock.

Near the end of the EVA, Mission Control added a task to the spacewalk. Since the spacewalkers were on schedule and had plenty of supplies, Sellers carried a Pistol Grip Tool to the Integrated Cargo Carrier in Discovery’s payload bay and removed the fixed grapple bar used during delivery of the Pump Module during the second spacewalk. He carried it to the S1 Truss where Fossum helped him install it on an ammonia tank inside that truss so that the tank can be moved on a later shuttle assembly mission.

Repressurization of Quest began at 1:31 p.m., completing a 7-hour, 11-minute spacewalk, the 68th in support of ISS assembly and maintenance. The cumulative duration of the three spacewalks on this mission is 21 hours and 29 minutes. Sellers’ total spacewalking time of 41:10 on six EVAs ranks him 4th among U.S. spacewalkers and 9th in the world all-time.

ISS Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter concentrated on packing the Multipurpose Logistics Module today with returning experiment samples, unneeded hardware and trash. The Leonardo module is scheduled to be returned to Discovery’s payload bay on Friday.

The crew woke at 12:08 a.m. CDT to "Charlie's Angels Theme Song." It was for the entire crew, from their training team.

Moments later, Texas A&M University yell leaders performed briefly for Mission Specialist Mike Fossum from Mission Control. Fossum is the first A&M undergraduate alum to fly in space.

Fossum is scheduled to receive a call from Texas Gov. Rick Perry, also an A&M graduate and former member of the Corps of Cadets, at 11:58 a.m. It will air on NASA Television.

Later in the day, Fossum and Mission Specialist Lisa Nowak will talk with representatives of MSNBC and FOX News Live. That interview, at 12:23 p.m., also will be seen on NASA-TV.

Fossum, Nowak and shuttle Commander Steven Lindsey, Pilot Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Stephanie Wilson and Piers Sellers then have off duty time with only a few isolated tasks and exercise planned.

International Space Station Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter will talk at 3:13 a.m. with European Space Agency Astronaut Pedro Duque, a journalist, students and the operations manager at the Columbus Control Centre, in Cologne, Germany. At 8:09 a.m. the crew will talk with Russian journalists at Mission Control Moscow. Those events will air on NASA-TV and be replayed with interpretation at 9 a.m.

The only events scheduled today were interviews for both the International Space Station and the Shuttle crews.

Mission Specialist Mike Fossum received a call from Texas Governor Rick Perry at 11:58 a.m. CDT today. Perry, who like Fossum is a graduate of Texas A&M University, told the astronaut how proud he was to have the first Aggie in space. “Aggies are all up in great arms to have the first Aggie in space,” said Perry. “You are making some history, Michael.”

At 12:44 p.m. Mike Fossum and Lisa Nowak participated in live interviews with MSNBC and Fox News Live.

Expedition 13 crewmember Jeff Williams confirmed steps and final procedures for Friday’s closeout of the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module which will be relocated from the ISS to Discovery’s cargo bay Friday.

The Shuttle crew also will begin a late mission check out of the shuttle’s heat shield tomorrow, taking a final look at the port wing to make sure no orbital debris struck the wing since it was inspected early in the flight.

After a day off, the crew will spend much of today getting ready for their undocking from the International Space Station.

The crew woke at 12:19 a.m. CDT with the Aggie War Hymn performed by the Fighting Texas Aggie Band. It was for Mission Specialist Mike Fossum, a graduate of Texas A&M University.

The first activity of the day will be media interviews for most of the crew -- shuttle Pilot Mark Kelly, Mission Specialists Fossum, Lisa Nowak, Stephanie Wilson and Piers Sellers, and station Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams. Beginning at 3:03 a.m. they will talk with journalists from CNN, ABC News, NBC’s Today Show, and CBS News.

Meanwhile, shuttle Commander Steve Lindsey and station Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter will deactivate the multipurpose logistics module Leonardo and begin preparing for its move back to Discovery’s payload bay. Nowak and Wilson will use the station robotic arm to maneuver Leonardo, which has been packed with more than 4,000 pounds of experiment results, unneeded supplies and equipment from the station, to its place in the cargo bay.

The two, joined by Lindsey, will also use the arm with the boom extension to conduct a scheduled final inspection of the shuttle’s port wing to ensure it has not been damaged by orbital debris during the docked operations.

Throughout the day, the remainder of the crew will continue with final transfer of supplies and equipment from the shuttle’s middeck, organize the spacewalk tools and do other tasks to get ready for Discovery's undocking from the station on Saturday.

First thing this morning Shuttle Commander Steve Lindsey and ISS Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter deactivated the cargo module, closed the hatch, and prepared it for removal from the Unity node. Just after 8:32 a.m. CDT Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson used the station robotic arm to uninstall Leonardo from ISS; the MPLM was reberthed in the shuttle payload bay at 10:00 a.m. CDT.

More than 7,400 pounds of cargo was delivered to ISS in the cargo module, and approximately 4,600 pounds of material including experiment samples, broken equipment and trash are now packed inside for return to Earth.

After the MPLM was returned to Discovery, Nowak and Wilson used the shuttle robot arm and the Orbiter Boom Sensor System to inspect the shuttle’s port wing. Similar to the pre-docking inspection on Flight Day 2, which was aimed at uncovering evidence of damage from debris at launch, this inspection looked for any signs of damage done by debris on orbit. None was found; inspection of the starboard wing and the shuttle’s nose cap will be done after undocking tomorrow, which is scheduled to occur at 5:08 a.m. CDT.

Early this morning, as Lindsey and Reiter worked at the MPLM, Nowak and Wilson joined Mission Specialists Mike Fossum and Piers Sellers, Pilot Mark Kelly, and ISS Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams to discuss the mission in interviews with CNN, ABC, NBC and CBS.

After almost nine days together, Discovery is scheduled to undock from the station today at 5:08 a.m. CDT.

Discovery crew members were awakened at 12:08 a.m. by "Beautiful Day," performed by U2. It was for Discovery Pilot Mark Kelly, on undocking day.

After a few final equipment transfers and system configurations, all nine crew members will gather for a televised farewell ceremony at 2:38 a.m. Hatch closure between the station and shuttle will immediately follow.

After undocking, Kelly will perform the two separation burns to take Discovery away from the station.

About three hours after undocking, Commander Steve Lindsey and Mission Specialists Lisa Nowak and Mike Fossum will use the shuttle's robotic arm and the orbital boom sensor system to perform final inspections of the starboard wing. Then Kelly and Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson will do the same on the shuttle nose.

Discovery will remain about 45 miles behind the station until the mission management team reviews survey results and clears Discovery for landing, scheduled for Monday at Kennedy Space Center.

The Expedition 13 crew will resume normal station operations. Once their shuttle counterparts have departed, they will conduct some routine maintenance and exercise onboard. Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter will conduct emergency drills training and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams will depressurize the pressurized mating adapter.

The delivery of European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter to join Expedition 13 on the International Space Station was one of the major goals achieved on this second return to flight shuttle mission. Discovery is now aiming for an 8:14 a.m. CDT Monday landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The shuttle astronauts said goodbye to Reiter and his crewmates, Station Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams, and Commander Steve Lindsey and Pilot Mark Kelly reported the hatches between the two ships closed at 3:15 a.m. CDT. Astronauts Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson completed a leak check in the docking vestibule while Mike Fossum and Piers Sellers installed a centerline camera in the hatch window.

With Kelly at the controls, Discovery released its grip on the station at 5:08 a.m. CDT and springs pushed the two ships apart. Kelly guided the shuttle away to a distance of 400 feet and fired thrusters to separate the vicinity of the complex. A second engine firing, 50 minutes after undocking while above and behind the station, set Discovery on course that now has it about 46 miles behind the station and opening the distance slowly. No other shuttle engine firings are planned before it fires its engines to begin the descent to Earth Monday morning.

After Discovery left the station, the shuttle crew used the robotic arm and boom sensors to thoroughly inspect the starboard wing and nose cap heat shield, looking for damage from orbital debris. A similar survey of the port wing was conducted yesterday. After the nose cap survey, the boom was berthed along the starboard sill of the payload bay and the robot arm was powered down.

Mission managers reviewing the latest heat shield inspections of Discovery have found no concerns so far, and the analysis is continuing. Discovery is planned to fire its engines to deorbit at 7:07 a.m. CDT Monday. That is the first of two opportunities for landing on Monday at Kennedy. A second opportunity begins with a deorbit engine firing at 8:43 a.m. CDT leading to a landing at 9:50 am. CDT.

Their day began at 12:18 a.m. with “Just Like Heaven,” by The Cure for Mission Specialist Piers Sellers. It was requested by his family.

At 3 a.m., Shuttle Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Mark Kelly and Entry Flight Engineer Lisa Nowak will do an hour-long flight control system checkout and fire the reaction control system jets. The checkout will let managers further assess the performance of one of the auxiliary power units. The APUs power flight control surfaces. Specialists had detected a small leak in the APU but have determined it is likely a nitrogen gas leak and should not affect re-entry.

Throughout the day, most of the crew members, including Mission Specialists Mike Fossum and Stephanie Wilson, will work on final clean up and stowage of the vehicle cabin area. All six crew members will participate in a deorbit briefing with the ground team as part of their final preparation for landing.

At 11:03 a.m. CDT, the STS-121 crew will participate in interviews with major television networks, including, ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX and NBC. That event will be televised on NASA television.

Mission managers continue to analyze images from the post-undocking inspection of Discovery's port wing and nose cone. Initial analysis indicated nothing amiss. A decision on whether to clear Discovery for landing is expected later today.

Discovery's deorbit burn is scheduled for 7:07 a.m. Monday, for an 8:14 a.m. CDT landing at Kennedy Space Center. A second opportunity would see a deorbit engine firing at 8:43 a.m. for a landing at 9:50 a.m.

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter are enjoying an off-duty day after the intense activity during Discovery docked operations.

European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter joined Expedition 13 following Space Shuttle Discovery's mission earlier this month.

Reiter, who serves as the expedition flight engineer, Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams got down to business. Their tasks this week included activating a new high-tech freezer; installing additional sound suppression devices; performing a functional check of a new oxygen generation system, which will become active next year; and preparing for the next spacewalk, set for just before 10 a.m. EDT on Aug. 3.

Discovery left behind about three tons of supplies, hardware and experiments as well as 175 gallons (660 liters) of water and 74 pounds (33 kilograms) of nitrogen, leaving the station in excellent condition to support the crew of three.

One of the most anticipated experiment racks, the Minus Eighty Laboratory Freezer for ISS, was activated. The freezer will allow biological and human research experiment samples to be stored until they are returned to Earth for evaluation.

The recent Discovery mission brought the new oxygen generation system and the freezer to the station. Status checks were performed this week on the newly installed oxygen system to prevent its internal valves from sticking over long periods of dormancy. Once it is activated, the device will augment the Russian Elektron oxygen-generation system in preparation for the further expansion of the station crew to six people.

The crew also began preparations for the next spacewalk. The spacewalk by Williams and Reiter will be conducted in U.S. spacesuits. The astronauts will deploy external experiments and prepare station truss components for future assembly work. Additional solar panels and electrical equipment will be delivered by the next two space shuttle missions, scheduled for late August and December. Spacewalk preparations included flushing cooling loops in the Quest airlock and the spacesuits and configuring airlock systems and tools. The astronauts also reviewed station robotic arm procedures.

They spent much of this week preparing themselves and their gear, and they activated a new laboratory super deep-freezer.

Astronauts Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter will leave the station's Quest airlock hatch at 9:55 a.m. EDT Thursday, Aug. 3, for a spacewalk that is scheduled for six hours, 20 minutes. Station Commander Pavel Vinogradov will serve as the spacewalk choreographer from inside the complex.

Williams and Reiter are both experienced spacewalkers. They will install a device to measure the electrical field around the station's exterior; replace a rotary joint motor controller and a computer for a radiator on the station's truss; deploy two experiments that expose samples of various materials to space for extended periods; and install various other hardware on the station.

To get ready, the crew prepared spacesuits and tools, conducted a dry run of egress and ingress procedures, and moved the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm into position. The arm's cameras will provide television views of the spacewalk.

This week the crew also began operations of the new Minus Eighty-degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS. The equipment can reach temperatures as low as minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit. Provided by the European Space Agency, the freezer was delivered on shuttle mission STS-121 earlier this month and is installed in the Destiny laboratory. It has 300 liters (about 79 gallons) of freezing and storage capacity in four compartments for experiment samples to preserve them for return to Earth.

On Tuesday, Russian flight controllers fired thrusters on the Progress supply ship docked to the aft end of the station to boost the station's altitude. They raised the complex to an orbit of 219 by 203 statute miles. The adjustment optimizes conditions for a docking by the Space Shuttle Atlantis, targeted for a launch window that begins Aug. 27, and by the station's next crew, Expedition 14, set for launch in mid-September on a Russian Soyuz rocket.

Mission Control assigned two more jobs, which the astronauts also completed.

Williams and Reiter wrapped up their productive 5-hour, 54-minute excursion and began repressurizing the Quest airlock at 3:58 p.m. EDT. The astronauts left the airlock in U.S. spacesuits at 9:04 a.m. EDT. Station Commander Pavel Vinogradov helped them with spacewalk preparations and getting into their suits. It was the first time in more than three years a third crewmember had been available for those tasks on the orbiting laboratory.

Williams, designated lead spacewalker, or EV1, wore the U.S. spacesuit with red stripes. Reiter, EV2, wore the all-white suit.

Astronaut Steve Bowen acted as spacewalk intravehicular officer and coached the astronauts from the International Space Station Flight Control Room in Houston's Mission Control Center. Williams and Reiter quickly got ahead of their timeline. First, they installed the Floating Potential Measurement Unit. The device measures the electrical potential of the station so procedures can be devised to minimize arcing hazards, or the jumping of current from a conductor to a ground, as the station grows.

Their second job was to install two containers for MISSE, the Materials on International Space Station Experiment. The suitcase-like containers are left open to evaluate the long-term effects of space exposure on a variety of materials. The idea is to identify optimal materials for use in future spacecraft. MISSE 3 went on one of the high-pressure tanks around the crew lock, while MISSE 4 was installed on Quest's outboard end.

The two astronauts then went on to separate jobs. Williams installed a controller for a thermal radiator rotary joint on the S1 truss, while Reiter replaced a computer on the truss.

Williams then began installing a starboard jumper and spool positioning device (SPD) on the S1 truss. Reiter inspected a radiator beam valve module SPD site where one device was already installed and installed an additional one. He then moved on to install a SPD on a port cooling line jumper. The jumpers are designed to improve the flow of ammonia through the radiators once that coolant is installed.

Williams began setup for the final major scheduled task, a test of an infrared camera designed to detect damage in a shuttle's reinforced carbon carbon (RCC) thermal protection. The camera highlights damage by showing variations in temperature between clean and damaged RCC test sections. Reiter operated the experiment while Williams went on to one of the additional tasks.

The first task was installation of a light on the truss railway handcart to help future spacewalkers. Williams then removed a malfunctioning GPS antenna. After Reiter finished the infrared camera experiment, he installed a vacuum system valve on the U.S. laboratory Destiny for future scientific experiments.

Mission control came up with additional tasks. Williams moved two articulating portable foot restraints to prepare for STS-115 spacewalks and then photographed a scratch on the airlock hatch. Reiter went to PMA1, a pressurized "corridor," to retrieve and inspect a ball stack, which holds hardware during spacewalks. The crew also had additional time throughout the spacewalk to photograph the worksites after their tasks were complete and then snap pictures of each other at the end. With no more quick tasks to add, the spacewalkers re-entered the airlock and closed the hatch early.

Commander Pavel Vinogradov, Flight Engineer Jeff Williams and European Space Agency Astronaut Thomas Reiter are gearing up for the second space shuttle visit to the station during Expedition 13. The shuttle Atlantis, targeted to launch in a window that opens Aug. 27, will resume major orbital construction of the complex. During its mission, designated STS-115, Atlantis will deliver and install a 17.5-ton, bus-sized segment of the station's girder-like truss that includes another set of solar arrays, batteries and associated electronics.

The station crew started out the week with two days of standard maintenance work on the treadmill vibration isolation system, a special exercise treadmill located on the floor of the Zvezda living quarters module. Crews perform the maintenance task every six months to inspect the treadmill's components, replace worn items and install new bearings. The treadmill is a complex system that uses gyroscopes to stabilize itself and isolates the vibrations created by exercise from being transmitted to the station's structure, where they could disturb sensitive experiments. Extensive exercise is a daily regimen for all station crew members as one method of counteracting the effects of long exposure to weightlessness.

The crew had time set aside each day this week to pack up and prepare items that will be moved from the station to the shuttle during Atlantis' flight. In addition, ground controllers worked with the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm to prepare for the upcoming shuttle flight. On Thursday, they moved the arm to position cameras to view markings on the station used for a graphical computer alignment aid when new components are attached. That aid, called the space vision system, will be used during Atlantis' flight to help with the attachment of the new truss section.

On Friday, controllers moved the arm to perform an early checkout of its systems, ensuring it is ready for the shuttle mission.

The station crew greeted special guest calls this week. On Tuesday, the coach and players from the FC Barcelona soccer team talked with the crew as they visited NASA's Johnson Space Center prior to an exhibition game in Houston. Reiter, a soccer fan, showed the team a space soccer move during the call. On Thursday, the crew members spoke with Chef Emeril Lagasse about space food and their mission. Lagasse sent NASA several recipes that were prepared and delivered to the station aboard the last shuttle flight. The Expedition 13 crew tried the dishes this week.

Commander Pavel Vinogradov, Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter of Germany prepared for Atlantis to deliver a new section of the station's girder-like truss. During Atlantis' mission, astronauts will attach the new P3/P4 truss, a segment that includes a huge new set of solar arrays and a giant rotary joint that allows the arrays to track the sun. The mission will mark the resumption of station assembly by delivering the first large new component to the station since late 2002.

During the shuttle flight, Atlantis' crew members will perform three spacewalks to complete the installation and setup of the new segment. The spacewalks will begin from the station's Quest Airlock. Complex robotics work is involved as the 17.5-ton, bus-sized truss section is handed from the shuttle arm to the station arm for installation.

In preparation for Atlantis, the station crew trained on the robotic Canadarm2 and packed items for return to Earth on the shuttle. They also reviewed Atlantis' mission timeline and trained to photograph the shuttle's heat shield as the orbiter does a backflip while approaching the station. The crew also did several physiological and psychological tests and experiments designed to learn more about how humans react to long periods of weightlessness.

Early this week Williams worked with flight controllers and the Dynamic Onboard Ubiquitous Graphics program on robotic arm activities. The program simulates the arm's operation for training.

Williams moved the arm from a base on the U.S. Destiny Lab to a power and data grapple fixture on the mobile transporter, enabling the arm to work at different sites along the main truss railway. Subsequently, in an inchworm-like maneuver, the arm was moved to a different grapple fixture on the transporter and used to inspect the outboard end of the P1 truss, where the new segment will be attached. The crew also reviewed installation procedures for the new segment and Williams did spacesuit maintenance.

Throughout the week Vinogradov and Reiter worked on the Russian-German Plasma Crystal experiment. The experiment examines the behavior of tiny particles excited by high-frequency radio signals in a vacuum chamber and functions by itself most of the time. It requires a crew member to work with it, however, at some intervals during the day.

The EarthKam experiment was activated this week. EarthKam allows students to request photos from space of specific locations on Earth via email and later receive those photos electronically. The remote-controlled camera has been used since October 2001.

Commander Pavel Vinogradov, Flight Engineer, NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter of Germany are ready for Atlantis to deliver a new section of the station's girder-like truss. Atlantis is set for launch on Sunday, which would result in docking with the station on Tuesday. During Atlantis' mission, astronauts will attach the new P3/P4 truss, a segment that includes a huge new set of solar arrays and a giant rotary joint to allow them to track the sun.

To prepare for Atlantis' visit, the station crew members packed items that will be returned to Earth on the shuttle. They also reviewed spacewalk plans, talked with the shuttle crew in a long-distance conference and trained to photograph the shuttle's heat shield as Atlantis does a backflip while approaching the station.

Flight controllers tested the operation of a U.S. air scrubbing system in advance. The Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly, or CDRA, was turned on for an extended period to test its capability to remove carbon dioxide from the air. The CDRA augments the Russian air scrubber, Vozdukh, which was turned off during the test. Engineers are continuing to evaluate data from the CDRA operations.

The station was raised 2.5 miles by firing the ISS Progress 21 engines Wednesday. The boost places the complex at the optimum position for Atlantis' rendezvous and docking. It also puts the station at the optimum altitude for the launch of the next station resident crew, Expedition 14, from Kazakhstan in September.

Williams replaced filters in part of the station's cooling system. The used filters will be returned to Earth for engineering analysis to confirm their success at removing fine particles from water in coolant lines.

Williams completed runs of the Dust and Aerosol Measurement Feasibility Test, or DAFT experiment. DAFT is testing the effectiveness of a commercial hand-held air quality monitor called P-Trak that counts ultra-fine dust particles in microgravity. The study provides data that may help in the design of fire detection systems on future spacecraft. Its data also may prove useful for fire detection hardware in extreme environments on Earth, such as submarines or underwater laboratories.

The station crew continued with the set-up and check-out of the European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS) that was delivered on STS-121. This experiment system contains a centrifuge that can subject a wide range of small plant and animal experiments to partial gravity conditions.

The first experiment that will be performed in EMCS is the Analysis of a Novel Sensory Mechanism in Root Phototropism, called Tropi, which seeks to identify the genes responsible for successful plant growth in microgravity. The experiment studies mustard seeds.

Vinogradov and Reiter participated in European Space Agency science experiments that test the cardiovascular system's response to microgravity for long durations.

The crew initially expected to greet Atlantis' crew this week. But the shuttle is set to launch Sept. 6 on mission STS-115 to bring a new truss section to the station, complete with a second set of 240-foot solar wings.

The mission was originally planned to launch Aug. 27. It was postponed first to check possible lightning damage and then due to Tropical Storm Ernesto. The delay gave Commander Pavel Vinogradov, Flight Engineer NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter of Germany more time to prepare for Atlantis' mission.

The crew packed items that will be returned to Earth and reviewed plans for the shuttle flight's three spacewalks. They also conducted normal station maintenance, daily exercise sessions and scientific experiments.

Williams spent parts of three days this week working with a cosmic radiation study called the Anomalous Long-Term Effects in Astronauts' Central Nervous Systems. The experiment tracks cosmic radiation while monitoring brain activity and recording the subject's visual perceptions. Williams spent one orbit, about 90 minutes, floating prone with sensor blocks over and beside his head. The experiment's results may help develop ways to protect future space fliers from the effects of cosmic radiation.

Later in the week, Williams worked with the Capillary Flow Effects experiment, studying the dynamics of capillary flow in microgravity. Insight gained from the experiment may help in the developments of fluid transport systems for future spacecraft.

Other work included testing a seal the astronauts replaced on an experiment facility called the Microgravity Science Glovebox. The glovebox, in the U.S. laboratory Destiny, provides a contained environment for experiments involving fluid, flame or fumes.

Today marks the first time in almost four years that a major new space station component has been launched. Atlantis' mission begins a series of complex station expansion missions that will be among the most challenging spaceflights in history.

Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and Mission Specialists Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, Joe Tanner, Dan Burbank and Steve MacLean, a Canadian Space Agency astronaut, lifted off at 10:15 a.m. CDT. The launch followed a flawless countdown.

During the climb to orbit, Mission Control asked the crew to reconfigure a cooling system that apparently had ice build up. The reconfiguration cleared the system, called the Flash Evaporator System, and it operated normally. Temporary ice in that cooling unit is not uncommon and has occurred on previous missions.

Moments after main engine cutoff, 8.5 minutes after liftoff, Tanner and MacLean used handheld video and digital still cameras to document the external tank after it separated from the shuttle. That imagery, as well as imagery gathered by cameras in the shuttle’s umbilical well where the tank was connected, will be transmitted to the ground for review.

As Atlantis launched, the space station was 220 miles above the northern Atlantic Ocean, between Greenland and Iceland. Aboard the outpost are Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, a Russian cosmonaut; Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams; and Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter of the European Space Agency. They watched the launch via a live television transmission from Houston. Atlantis is set to dock to the complex at about 5:46 a.m. CDT Sept. 11.

Atlantis' crew will install the 17.5-ton, bus-sized P3/P4 integrated truss section to the station that includes a second set of solar arrays, batteries and associated electronics. The addition eventually will double the station’s capability to generate power from sunlight. The girder-like P3/P4 truss is 45 feet long.

Three spacewalks are planned to install the truss, deploy the arrays and prepare them for operation. Two teams, Tanner and Piper and Burbank and MacLean, will conduct the spacewalks.

During the mission, a thorough inspection will be performed in orbit of Atlantis' heat shield as has been done on the past two shuttle flights. Atlantis' time at the station could be extended by one or two days if needed to allow more time to complete those inspections or other operations. A second inspection of the heat shield is planned after Atlantis departs the station near the end of the flight to ensure it remains in good condition for landing.

When Atlantis arrives at the station, it will mark only the second time that as many as four of the station's five international partners have been represented onboard.

STS-115 is the 116th space shuttle mission and the 19th to visit the station. Atlantis is making its 27th flight and sixth trip to the station.

Atlantis’ crew begins an eight-hour sleep period at 4:15 p.m. CDT. The astronauts will awaken at 12:15 a.m. CDT Sunday to begin their first full day in orbit.

The crew thoroughly examined Atlantis with the Orbiter Boom Sensor System, the 50-foot-long extension for the shuttle's robotic arm. Pilot Chris Ferguson and mission specialists Dan Burbank and Steve MacLean performed a slow, steady inspection of the reinforced carbon-carbon panels along the leading edge of Atlantis’ starboard and port wings and the nose cap. Imagery analysts at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston will review data from the survey to assess Atlantis’ critical surfaces. As yet no decision has been made whether a more focused inspection will be performed later in the flight.

The crew worked ahead of schedule for most of the day readying the ship for docking and preparing for the mission’s three planned spacewalks.

Mission specialists Joe Tanner and Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper checked out the spacesuits and tools that they, Burbank and MacLean will use during spacewalks set for flight days 4, 5 and 7. The spacewalks are planned to install the girder-like P3/P4 truss, deploy new solar arrays and prepare them for operation.

On the space station, Expedition 13 Flight Engineer Jeff Williams prepared the orbiting laboratory for Atlantis’ arrival tomorrow. He readied the digital cameras that will be used to take high-resolution photos of the shuttle's heat shield. With help from Commander Pavel Vinogradov, Williams pressurized the Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 at the end of the U.S. laboratory Destiny, where Atlantis will dock. Vinogradov also prepacked equipment that will be returned.

Tomorrow, flight day 3 of the mission, Jett will take over manual control of Atlantis and begin a slow back-flip rotation of the orbiter. This will allow Vinogradov and Williams to photograph the shuttle’s heat shield.

Once the back-flip is complete, Jett will maneuver Atlantis to docking, setting the stage for a week of joint operations between the two crews.

Even before the hatches are opened, Ferguson and Burbank will use the shuttle’s robotic arm to grapple the massive P3/P4 truss. Once the hatches are open, MacLean will join Williams at the robotic work station in the Destiny to maneuver the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm for a handoff of the truss from Ferguson and Burbank. The truss will remain grappled to the Canadarm2 overnight on flight day 3.

"Station, we see you have visitors. Tell them to give us a wave", said astronaut Pam Melroy, serving as CAPCOM for the space station.

The shuttle and space station docked this morning at 5:48 a.m. CDT to begin seven days of joint operations. Hatch opening between the two spacecraft occurred at 7:30 a.m. CDT with a joyful welcome of hugs and smiles.

Prior to docking, Commander Brent Jett flew Atlantis through an orbital back flip while stationed about 600 feet below the space station. The maneuver allowed the Expedition 13 crew to take a series of high-resolution photographs of the orbiter’s heat shield.

Following docking, Pilot Chris Ferguson and Mission Specialist Dan Burbank attached the shuttle's robotic arm to the 17.5-ton P3/P4 truss, lifted it from its berth in the payload bay, and maneuvered it for handover to the station's Canadarm2.

After hatch opening, Mission Specialist Steve MacLean and Expedition 13 Flight Engineer Jeff Williams then used the Canadarm2 to take the truss from the shuttle’s robotic arm. MacLean is the first Canadian to operate the Canadarm2 in space.

The day ended with a “campout,” but no marshmallows, in the Quest Airlock. Mission specialists Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Joe Tanner are sleeping in the airlock tonight to prepare for Tuesday’s spacewalk. The "campout" protocol will help rid the two of nitrogen in their bloodstreams and will shorten their final spacewalk preparations.

Piper and Tanner will work to connect power cables on the P3/P4 truss, release restraints for the Solar Array Blanket Boxes that hold the solar arrays and the Beta Gimbal Assemblies that serve as the structural link between the truss’ integrated electronics and the Solar Array Wings. Piper and Tanner will also install the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint and complete the connection of electrical cables between the new P3 truss and the P1 truss.

The station crew is scheduled for sleep at 2:45 p.m. and the shuttle crew 30 minutes later.

The crew awoke at 11:15 p.m. to a solo cello performance by Dan Burbank’s children. About an hour later the crew began rendezvous operations. As Atlantis approaches the station, Commander Brent Jett and Pilot Chris Ferguson will do the rendezvous pitch maneuver. The maneuver, essentially a back flip, lets the station crew photograph Atlantis' heat shield.

Throughout the morning, other shuttle crewmembers, mission specialists Joe Tanner, Dan Burbank, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve MacLean, will conduct other tasks including filling spacesuit water containers, photo and video setups, and exercise.

Once docked, they’ll do leak checks before opening the hatches to the space station. Meanwhile, Ferguson and Burbank will attach the shuttle's robotic arm to the P3/P4 Truss in the payload bay and prepare for its unberthing and handover to the station's Canadarm2. The two crews are expected to meet personally in space a little before 7 a.m. After their initial greetings, and a standard safety briefing, both teams move into one of the biggest tasks of the mission, moving P3/P4 to its new home in space.

Ferguson and Burbank will unberth the 17.5 ton truss from Atlantis’ cargo hold and maneuver it to the grapple position for the station arm. MacLean will join Expedition 13 NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams at the controls of the Candarm2, becoming the first Canadian to operate it in space.

Other crewmembers will begin transfer activities, check out spacewalk equipment and review procedures for the mission's three spacewalks. The day will end with Stefanyshyn-Piper and Tanner moving into the Quest Airlock, its pressure reduced to 10.2 psi, in the pre-spacewalk “campout” protocol. The station crew is scheduled for sleep at 2:45 p.m. and the shuttle crew 30 minutes later.

Atlantis' astronauts were awakened at 11:15 p.m. CDT Monday with "My Friendly Epistle," a Ukrainian song by Taras Shevchenko. It was played for Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper.

She and fellow mission specialist Joe Tanner are scheduled to begin spacewalk 1 just after 4 a.m. They spent the night in the Quest Airlock, its pressure reduced to 10.2 psi. That was done to help purge nitrogen from their systems to avoid the possibility of formation of nitrogen bubbles in their blood during the spacewalk.

They are being helped in spacewalk preparations by Atlantis Commander Brent Jett, Mission Specialist Dan Burbank and station crewman Thomas Reiter.

At about 1 a.m., Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Steve MacLean and Expedition 13 Flight Engineer Jeff Williams used the station's Canadarm2 to begin the process of moving the truss to its new position at the end of the P1 truss segment. There four bolts will attach it.

Shortly after their spacewalk begins, Tanner and Piper will move to P3/P4. Tanner will connect power cables. Piper, working nearby, will release launch restraints on the Solar Array Blanket Box. The two will then work together and release other restraints on the Beta Gimbal Assembly, the structure between the truss electronics and the Solar Array Wings. Next, they will work on configurations of the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint, including the installation of drive lock assemblies.

Tanner’s final task will be connecting the electrical cables in the upper utility tray and removing two other circuit interrupt devices, which is necessary for the upcoming STS-116 mission. He and Piper will then return to the airlock.

Throughout the day, other crewmembers will support the spacewalk activities as well as work to transfer equipment and supplies between the two spacecraft and prepare for Wednesday's spacewalk by Burbank and MacLean.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The ground teams completed the checkout of the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) early Thursday. The task had been interrupted Wednesday by a software glitch. Engineering teams developed a workaround, and flight controllers are working toward deployment of the 240-feet solar wings brought up with the P3/P4 truss.

The issue did cause replanning of the crews' schedule. As a result, crew activities today are subject to change.

Atlantis crewmembers were awakened at 11:15 p.m. CDT Wednesday by "Wipe Out," performed by the Surfaris. It was played for Pilot Chris Ferguson.

Thursday's agenda for Atlantis crewmembers, Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Ferguson and Mission Specialists Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, Joe Tanner, Dan Burbank and Steve MacLean, include executing a "double walk off" of the station's Canadarm 2 from the Mobile Base System to the Destiny Lab.

MacLean is scheduled to talk with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper at 10:25 a.m. Also, Jett, station Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and E13 European Space Agency Astronaut Thomas Reiter were scheduled to talk with National Public Radio and CNN at 10:50 a.m.

While Ferguson does shuttle operations tasks, the rest of the crews, including station NASA Science Officer Jeff Williams, will review procedures for Friday's spacewalk, the third and final planned excursion outside during the STS-115 mission. Tanner and Piper will work on station truss segments to release the photovoltaic radiator restraints, deploy SARJ braces and install an external wireless TV transmission antenna.

The STS-115 crew, Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and Mission Specialists Dan Burbank, Joe Tanner, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve MacLean, is in its fourth day of joint operations with the station crew. Their Expedition 13 counterparts, Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter, will support the spacewalk activities as well as continued space station operations and maintenance.

Both crews awoke at 11:15 p.m. CDT to "Hotel California" performed by the Eagles and played for Tanner.

Tanner and Stefanyshyn-Piper will team up again for the spacewalk. While they were in the Quest airlock preparing for the spacewalk, a circuit-breaker-like remote power controller (RPC) tripped, causing loss of power to the airlock's depressurization pump. While flight controllers and engineers assessed the cause of the problem, the spacewalkers moved to the adjacent Unity module, while continuing to breathe oxygen through masks per their pre-spacewalk protocol.

The trip of the RPC was apparently due to a momentary spike in the electrical current of the depressurization pump. After assessing data to ensure the system had no short circuit, the breaker was reset and pump reactivated. Tanner and Stefanyshyn-Piper are scheduled to leave the Quest airlock at about 4:15 a.m. Once the spacewalk begins, the two will split up to perform the scheduled tasks for the spacewalk.

Tanner will install bolt retainers on the P6 Beta Gimbal Assembly, which helps to orient the pitch of the solar array wings. He’ll also use a new technique to attempt to re-engage a four-bar hinge lock that did not properly engage during STS-97.

Meanwhile, Stefanyshyn-Piper will retrieve the Materials on the International Space Station Experiment 5. The materials science experiment tests the effects of the space environment on prospective spacecraft materials.

The two will then prepare the photovoltaic radiator for deployment by removing launch hardware that was in place to protect it during the shuttle launch. Once that is done, other crewmembers can deploy that heat-dissipating radiator. Next the spacewalkers will replace an S-band antenna support assembly (SASA) on the Starboard 1 (S1) truss. They’ll also install a shroud on the failed SASA, which will be returned to Earth on a later mission.

Dividing again, Stefanyshyn-Piper will replace a baseband signal processor and transponder on S1 and Tanner will install a heat shield onto an antenna group interface tube to help overheating in this area during certain vehicle attitudes.

They’ll wrap up the spacewalk with two new tasks, installing a new external wireless television antenna and performing a Detailed Test Objective to assess infrared video of the wing leading edge. The spacewalk is scheduled to last 6.5 hours.

Once the spacewalk is completed, the mobile transporter, a movable platform that moves along the truss segments, will be relocated to a position on the newly arrived P3 truss to check out that worksite.

After the successful addition of new components to the International Space Station, five days of joint operations with the Expedition 13 crew and three successful spacewalks, they have some off-duty time.

They do have some post-spacewalk and transfer tasks scheduled.

The crew, Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and Mission Specialists Dan Burbank, Joe Tanner, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve MacLean, got to sleep late. The wakeup music at 12:15 a.m. CDT was "Twelve Volt Man" by Jimmy Buffett. It was for Burbank.

After an off-duty morning, the STS-115 crew will be joined by the Expedition 13 crew of Commander Pavel Vinogradov, Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter for a crew photo. A joint crew press conference is scheduled for 7:35 a.m.

Jett, Burbank, Tanner, Stefanyshyn-Piper and MacLean will also participate in interviews with CBS News, NBC News and ABC News at 8:35 a.m.

Throughout the afternoon, the crew will work on various tasks including cleaning and configuration of the spacesuits, transfer of remaining cargo and supplies to the station and the removal of the REBA, Rechargeable EVA Battery Assembly.

After seven days in space, the STS-115 crew -- Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and Mission Specialists Dan Burbank, Joe Tanner, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve MacLean -- got its first chance to sleep late. The crew then joined ISS Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter for a joint crew press conference.

During the morning, the crew also was interviewed by CBS News, NBC News and ABC News, completed transferring the last of the supplies and equipment to the station, including 90 pounds of oxygen, and removed the REBA, Rechargeable EVA Battery Assembly.

Atlantis will undock from the station at 7:50 a.m. CDT Sunday, circling the orbiting complex once as it departs to perform the first fly-around of the station in four years. The crew of STS-112 performed a partial fly-around to photo-document the station's exterior condition in Oct. 2002.

Tomorrow, all nine crew members will gather for a televised farewell ceremony at 4:43 a.m. CDT. Hatch closure between the station and shuttle will immediately follow.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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