STS-105 Status Report #7 – 13 Aug 2001 – 6:00 PM EDT

The International

Space Stationís third resident crew officially took control of the complex

at 2:15 p.m. CDT today, when confirmation was given by the new station

commander that all transfer activities associated with the custom-made

Soyuz capsule seat liners had been completed and leak checks on their

Russian Sokol space suits was verified.

That marked the

end of the Expedition Two crewís stay on the station at 148 days since

it took over for the first resident crew on March 18. By the time the

Expedition Two crew lands aboard Discovery next week, Yury Usachev,

Jim Voss and Susan Helms will have spent 163 days aboard the station

and 167 days in space.

The official ceremonial

handover of command of the ISS from Usachev to Culbertson will take

place Aug. 20, shortly before Discovery undocks from the Station.

The systematic

swap of the seat liners and space suits occurred in and around the installation

of the Leonardo Multipurpose Pressurized Logistics Module onto the station.

Leonardo is one of three cargo supply vessels designed to deliver food,

clothing, experiments and other hardware to and from the station throughout

its orbital life. It was attached to the station at 10:55 a.m. CDT and

its hatch opened at 2:47 p.m. CDT.

Now that the official

crew transfer is complete, the Expedition Three crew of Culbertson,

Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin will begin

a comprehensive handover with their departing counterparts, receiving

briefings on station systems, the current configuration of hardware

and computers and procedures they will employ during their first days

on board the outpost.

The crew will

be awakened at 4:10 a.m. CDT Tuesday to continue the unloading of more

than three tons of supplies and experiments from Leonardo. At 2 p.m.

CDT Tuesday, the two station commanders, Culbertson and Usachev, will

take part in an interview from space with television networks. The interview

will air live on NASA TV.

The joined spacecraft

are orbiting at an average altitude of about 244 statute miles, completing

an orbit of the Earth every 90 minutes. The next status report will

be issued about 6 a.m. Tuesday, or earlier, as events warrant.