10.23.01

6:30 a.m. CDT, Tuesday, October 23, 2001
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas<br /STATUS REPORT: ISS01-40

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION STATUS REPORT #01-40

Two Russian cosmonauts and a French researcher arrived at the 
International Space Station (ISS) this morning, delivering a fresh 
Soyuz return vehicle for the residents on board to begin eight days 
of joint operations and research.

Russian "taxi" crew Commander Victor Afanasyev, rookie Flight Engineer 
Konstantin Kozeev and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Claudie 
Haignere docked the Soyuz TM-33 craft to the nadir docking port of 
the Zarya Control Module at 5:44 a.m. CDT (10:44 GMT) as the Soyuz 
and the ISS sailed 240 statute miles over Eastern Asia. The 
successful docking came two days after the crew was launched from the 
Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

In the ISS, Expedition Three Commander Frank Culbertson, Pilot 
Vladimir Dezhurov and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin monitored the 
docking and prepared for the opening of hatches between the Soyuz and 
Zarya after leak checks are completed to greet their first visitors 
since they took over station operations back in August.

Afanasyev, making his fourth flight into space, and Haignere, who is 
in her second flight, are veterans of previous flights on the Mir 
Space Station. This is Kozeev's first flight in space.

Haignere is flying for ESA, but representing CNES, the French Space 
Agency, under a commercial contract with the Russian Aviation and 
Space Agency. In addition to helping deliver the new Soyuz to 
Culbertson, Dezhurov and Tyurin, she will be conducting a host of 
scientific experiments while she and her crewmates spend eight days 
aboard the ISS.

Within hours after the docking, the visiting crewmembers were 
scheduled to receive a safety briefing on station systems from 
Culbertson, before Haignere begins to activate and conduct initial 
experiments in materials research, life sciences and meteorological 
phenomena.

The "taxi" trio is scheduled to depart the station next Tuesday night 
at 7:41 p.m. CDT (1:41 GMT on October 31) in the Soyuz TM-32 craft 
which arrived at the ISS in April and which is now docked to the new 
Pirs Docking Compartment. The "taxi" crew will land in the steppes of 
Kazakhstan several hours later.

The Expedition Three crewmembers are scheduled to return to Earth in 
December after their Expedition Four replacements arrive on board 
during the STS-108 mission aboard the Shuttle Endeavour. The shuttle 
is targeted for launch November 29.

With systems operating normally, the station is orbiting at an average 
altitude of 247 statute miles (395 km). For additional information, 
including sighting opportunities from anywhere on the Earth, visit:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/

The Expedition Three crew will continue its scientific investigations 
this coming week in concert with the work being performed on board 
the ISS by the "taxi" crew. Oversight of science investigations on 
the station from the ground is by the Payload Operations Center at 
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. The Human 
Research Facility is managed by the Johnson Space Center. Details on 
ISS science operations can be found at the center's web site:

http://www.scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov

The next ISS status report will be issued on Tuesday, Oct. 30, after 
the Soyuz "taxi" crew departs the station, or earlier, if events 
warrant.

	
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