ISS Status Report #00-43 31 October 2000 2:30 a.m. CST

Following a launch
at 1:53 a.m. CST today from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the
first residents to live on board the International Space Station are
headed toward a Nov. 2 docking with the orbiting outpost, inaugurating
a new era in space flight.

Launched atop the
162-foot tall Soyuz TM rocket, the crew is encapsulated in a Soyuz capsule
where they will spend the next two days en route to the ISS.

Approximately nine
minutes after lift-off the Soyuz capsule separated from the launch vehicle
sending Soyuz Commander Yuri Gidzenko, Expedition 1 Commander Bill Shepherd
and Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev on their way to their new home in
space. Gidzenko, Shepherd and Krikalev are in the portion of the Soyuz
capsule referred to as the "descent module."

The module contains
all the necessary controls and displays to allow the crew to monitor
and command all critical flight activities, life support provisions,
and the three personally-contoured couches they were strapped into for
launch.

At the time of
capsule separation, the Soyuz vehicle was in a 233 x 182 km (144 x 113
sm) orbit. Over the course of the next orbit, the crew will open the
hatch to the upper module, sometimes referred to as the Habitation Module,
which houses their life support systems.

In approximately
48 hours, Gidzenko will guide the capsule toward a docking with the
ISS as the two vehicles fly overhead the Asian continent.

Coverage of the
Expedition One crew’s voyage to the ISS will continue on NASA TV and
through live video streaming on the internet at spaceflight.nasa.gov.
The next status report will be issued at 10 a.m. CST or sooner if events
warrant.