[amsat-bb] New Crew to ISS

[Clint Bradford]

MEDIA ADVISORY: M11-251

STATION CREW SET TO LAUNCH TO A NEW HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS



HOUSTON -- Just in time for the holidays, the residents of the 
International Space Station will welcome three new crew members. 
NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit, Russian Soyuz Commander Oleg 
Kononenko and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers of 
the Netherlands are set to launch in their Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft 
from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 7:16 a.m. CST on 
Wednesday, Dec. 21 (7:16 p.m. local time). 

NASA Television will air video of prelaunch activities at 5:45 a.m. 
and provide live coverage of the launch beginning at 6:30 a.m. 
On Friday, Dec. 23, the trio will dock to the Rassvet module of the 
station at 9:22 a.m. The new crew will join station Commander Dan 
Burbank of NASA and Russian Flight Engineers Anton Shkaplerov and 
Anatoly Ivanishin, who have been aboard the orbital laboratory since 
mid-November. NASA TV will provide live coverage beginning at 8:45 
a.m. Hatch opening and the holiday welcoming ceremony will occur 
about three hours later. 

Burbank has discussed what it will be like to spend the holidays in 
his home away from home, 240 miles above the Earth. Video is 
available online at: 

http://go.usa.gov/NjD 

Space station sighting opportunities are available across the United 
States this week, mostly in the northern third of North America, 
including Alaska. To find sighting details by city, visit: 

http://go.usa.gov/81R 

NASA TV's scheduled coverage for launch includes (all times Central): 

Wednesday, Dec. 21 
5:45 a.m.  -- Video file feed of the crew prelaunch launch day 
activities in Baikonur 
6:30 a.m.  -- Launch coverage (launch at 7:16 a.m.), including launch 
replays 
9:30 a.m. -- Video file of prelaunch and launch video b-roll and 
postlaunch interviews 
Friday, Dec. 23 
8:45 a.m. -- Docking coverage (docking at 9:22 a.m.) followed by the 
post-docking news conference from Mission Control in Korolev, Russia 
11:45 a.m. -- Hatch opening and welcoming ceremony (hatch opening 
scheduled at 12:20 p.m.) 
2 p.m.  -- Video file of docking, hatch opening and welcoming ceremony 


For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, 
visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv 

For International Space Station information, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/station 

	
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Clint Bradford
clintbradford at mac.com