[sarex] ISS Crew Preps for Departures and Arrivals

[Arthur Rowe]

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

The Expedition 15 crew members are busy with science, station 
maintenance, preparations for their return to Earth and the arrival of 
the next crew to the International Space Station.

Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov worked Monday 
with a medical experiment that tests the cardiovascular system by 
applying negative pressure on the lower body to simulate the effects of 
gravity.

Flight Engineer Clay Anderson collected samples of the station's potable 
water. These samples are for a periodic check of the water for microbial 
or chemical contamination.

The Expedition 15 crew continues with preparations for departure and for 
the arrival of the next crew. The Expedition 16 crew, Commander Peggy 
Whitson and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko, will launch from the 
Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Oct. 10 and arrive at the station 
on Oct. 12.

Accompanying Expedition 16 is Malaysian spaceflight participant Sheikh 
Muszaphar Shukor, who will return to Earth on Oct. 21 with Yurchikhin 
and Kotov. Anderson will remain on the station with Expedition 16 until 
his replacement, Flight Engineer Dan Tani, arrives on space shuttle 
Discovery later in October.

The Zarya module's solar array wings were successfully retracted on 
Friday and Saturday, marking the first time they had been retracted 
since the module was put in orbit in November 1998. The arrays needed to 
be retracted to avoid contact with the station's radiators. The 
starboard radiators will be deployed during Discovery's STS-120 mission, 
followed by the port radiators after the shuttle departs.

+ View crew daily timelines 
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/timelines/index.html>
+ Read more about Expedition 15 
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition15/index.html>
+ Read more about Expedition 16 
<http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition16/index.html>