Status Report

Expedition 8 Departs International Space Station

By SpaceRef Editor
April 29, 2004
Filed under , , ,
Expedition 8 Departs International Space Station
04.29.04.iss.depart.jpg

Soyuz TMA-3 undocked from the International Space Station today at 4:52 pm EDT (2052 GMT) With their departure, Expedition 8 Commander Michael Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri have ended their six-month stay at the International Space Station.

Wednesday was their last full day on the orbital outpost, where they continued handover activities with Expedition 9 Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA ISS Science Officer Mike Fincke.

Expedition 8 and European Space Agency (ESA) Astronaut André Kuipers exited the ISS and entered the ISS Soyuz 7 spacecraft and hatches were closed between the two ships at 12:39 p.m. CDT (1739 GMT).

Hatch closure marked the official handover of ISS operations from Expedition 8 to Expedition 9.

Soyuz TMA-3 will land in Kazakhstan at just before 8:00 pm EDT today.

Wednesday’s other activities on the ISS included packing items in the Soyuz. Also, Kuipers who flew to the Station under an agreement between ESA and Russia’s Federal Space Agency, continued to work with science experiments.

Source: NASA

SpaceRef staff editor.