Space Station Expedition 1 Crew Ready for Launch

The Soyuz TM crew of cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko, cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, and astronaut Bill Shepherd are preparing for the launch of Expedition 1 to the International Space Station. Gidzenko is commander of the Soyuz mission while Sheperd will be commander of the ISS Expedition 1 mission.

The Soyuz booster is now standing on its launch pad awaiting a final checkout.
Launch is scheduled from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 2:53 AM EST (7:53 GMT) on 31 October 2000.

The following schedule for launch day has been released by RSC Energia (times shown are local (EST + 10 hrs):

• 5:00 – Crew Arrival to Site
  
• 6:00 – 7:00 Spacesuit Donning
  
• 7:00 – 7:35 Reserve Time. Crew Visited by the Management and Delegation
  
• 7:35 – 7:40 Report to the State Commission Chairman
  
• 7:40 – 8:05 Crew Embussing. Transfer to the Launch Site
  
• 8:05 – 8:10 Going up in the elevator
  
• 8:10 – 8:50 Getting aboard the space vehicle
  
• 12:53 – Liftoff Contact Command
  

Upon arrival at the space station this crew will inaugurate something unparalleled in human history: hence forth, humans will no longer be limited to living on planet Earth.

The Expedition 1 crew will dock with the Space Station on 2 November 2000 at 4:20 AM EST (9:20 GMT). The docking port the crew will use on the Service Module is currently occupied by a Progress tanker. Fuel transfer from the Progress to the Service Module will be completed in the next day or so in preparation for a 1 November undocking. The Progress will then be commanded to perform a destructive reentry of the Earth’s atmosphere.

During their stay on the Space Station the Expedition 1 crew will be visited by three Shuttle missions carrying portions of the ISS, supplies, and the next ISS crew. The first mission will be STS-97/ISS-4A, which will deliver solar arrays. The next will be STS-98/ISS-5A which will deliver the U.S. Lab Module. The third will be STS-102/ISS-5A.1, which will deliver racks for the US lab and the Expedition 2 crew. The Expedition 1 crew will return to Earth on STS-102 leaving the Expedition 2 crew of Cosmonaut Yury Usachev (Expedition 2 commander) and astronauts James Voss and Susan Helms.

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