New ISS Crew Takes Day Off; Expedition 7 Arrives in Star City

Expedition 8 Commander Michael Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri are settling into their new home. Tuesday was their first day alone aboard the International Space Station. They used the day to familiarize themselves with the Station and get some much-needed rest after a week of joint operations and handover activities with the Expedition 7 crew. Foale and Kaleri will be in charge of ISS operations until Expedition 9 assumes command in late April 2004.

Expedition 7 Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu, along with European
Space Agency Astronaut Pedro Duque, left the station and returned to Earth on Monday. They landed on the steppes of Kazakhstan at 8:41 p.m. CST Monday (0241 GMT Tuesday). After completing brief medical exams, they made their way to Star City, Russia, where they will undergo a few weeks of rehabilitation. Star City is the site of the Russian space center and is near Moscow.

Duque, who was flying as part of a commercial contract with the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, spent his week in space conducting experiments.