[sarex] ISS Crew Readies for Move

[Arthur Rowe]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

*Crew Readies for Move*

ISS014-E-17858 : Michael Lopez-Alegria drinks beverageImage above: 
Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria drinks a beverage in the Zvezda Service 
Module of the International Space Station. Image credit: NASA

TO VIEW IMAGE GO TO:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

The Expedition 14 crew members enjoyed a half day of off-duty time 
Wednesday on the eve of their short trip to relocate their Soyuz TMA 
spacecraft to a different docking port on the International Space Station.

Thursday afternoon, Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and flight engineers 
Mikhail Tyurin and Sunita Williams will board their Soyuz TMA-9 
spacecraft and move it from the Earth-facing port of the station's Zarya 
module to the aft port of the Zvezda module.

The move is being made to clear the Zarya port for the arrival of 
Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg 
Kotov, along with spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi. Docking their 
Soyuz to Zarya after their scheduled April 7 launch will allow them to 
avoid a relocation move later in their expedition.

+ Read more about the Soyuz relocation 
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition14/exp14_soyuz_relocation_032907.html> 


In preparation for Thursday's activities, the unpiloted Progress 23 
cargo craft was undocked from the aft port of the Zvezda service module 
on Tuesday. The cargo craft, filled with trash and unneeded items from 
the station, was commanded several hours after undocking to re-enter the 
Earth's atmosphere and burn up over the Pacific Ocean.