International Space Station Crew Ready For First Expedition

Debra Rahn
Headquarters, Washington DC
(Phone: 202/358-1638)

Eileen Hawley
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
(Phone: 281/483-5111)

NOTE TO EDITORS: N00-48

Just weeks away from its historic launch to begin the
permanent habitation of the new International Space Station (ISS),
the Expedition One crew will hold a pre-launch news conference at
9 a.m. EDT, Monday, Oct. 9, at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training
Center in Star City, Russia.

The news conference will be broadcast live on NASA Television, but
questions will be limited to reporters in attendance at Star City.

The Expedition One crew, comprised of American Commander Bill
Shepherd, Soyuz Commander Yuri Gidzenko and Flight Engineer Sergei
Krikalev, is scheduled to launch October 30 on a Soyuz rocket from
the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, from the same launch pad
Yuri Gagarin was launched almost 40 years ago to become the first
human to fly in space. The crew will dock to the ISS on Nov. 1.

Shepherd, Gidzenko and Krikalev will spend about 4 months aboard
the ISS, activating critical station systems, conducting the first
scientific experiments on the research facility and welcoming
three visiting shuttle crews. They will return to Earth with the
STS-102 astronauts next February on the same mission that will
bring their replacements to the ISS for the second Expedition
flight.

The Expedition One news conference will take place following a
meeting of Russian officials to review the crew’s flight
readiness. A final news conference involving the crewmembers will
occur at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on the eve of their launch and
will also be broadcast live on NASA TV.

NASA Television is available on GE-2, Transponder 9C at 85 degrees
West longitude, vertical polarization, with a frequency of 3880
MHz, and audio of 6.8 MHz.