Next Station Crew to Launch Oct. 13<br /><br /><br />The 10th crew of the International Space Station is scheduled to launch from<br />the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Oct. 13 at 11:06 p.m. EDT for a<br />six-month stay aboard the orbiting laboratory.<br /><br />Highlights of their mission include two spacewalks, arrival of two unpiloted<br />Progress supply capsules, and preparation for the arrival of the first Space<br />Shuttle to visit the International Space Station since the Columbia<br />accident.<br /><br />The Expedition 10 commander, Astronaut Leroy Chiao, 44, also will have the<br />role of NASA ISS science officer. Cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov, 40, also has<br />two assignments: ISS flight engineer and commander of the Soyuz spacecraft<br />bringing the new crew to the Station.<br /><br /><br />With Chiao and Sharipov on their Soyuz will be Russian Space Forces Test<br />Cosmonaut Yuri Shargin, 44, a lieutenant colonel in the Russian Air Force<br />making his first flight into space. He will spend eight days aboard the ISS<br />performing scientific experiments, and return to Earth Oct. 23 with the<br />Expedition 9 crew.<br /><br />That crew, Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA ISS Science Officer Mike<br />Fincke, has been on the Station since April. Their landing is scheduled for<br />8:32 p.m. EDT Oct. 23 in Kazakhstan.<br /><br />Chiao holds a master's and doctorate in chemical engineering from the<br />University of California at Santa Barbara. He worked in advanced aerospace<br />research before joining NASA as an astronaut in 1990. He is a veteran of<br />three Shuttle flights.<br /><br />Sharipov is a colonel in the Russian Air Force and a former fighter pilot<br />and pilot instructor. He was selected as a cosmonaut in 1990. He has flown<br />one space mission, aboard Endeavour in 1998 on STS-89, a mission to Mir.<br /><br />Chiao and Sharipov are expected to spend about six months aboard the ISS.<br />They are the Station's fourth two-person crew. After the Columbia accident<br />on Feb. 1, 2003, the ISS Program and the International Partners determined<br />that because of limitations on supplies the Station would be occupied by two<br />crewmembers instead of three until the Shuttle flights resume.<br /><br />It's about exploration, Chiao said. "By our nature, human beings are<br />explorers," he said. "We're curious. We need to see what's on the other side<br />of that mountain. All kinds of benefits come out of that. The Space Station<br />is right along those lines."<br /><br />Sharipov agreed. "New technologies, advanced technologies, are necessary to<br />support spaceflights, and we learn new technologies while we are performing<br />science in space," he said. "This is what we are contributing to humanity,<br />to progress."<br /><br />Both spacewalks, the first in January and the second in March, will continue<br />external outfitting of the Space Station. They will complete installation of<br />communications equipment on the Zvezda Service Module to prepare for the<br />arrival of the European Space Agency's unpiloted Automated Transfer Vehicle<br />in the fall of 2005. That spacecraft can carry 2 1/2 times as much cargo.<br /><br />On both spacewalks, Chiao and Sharipov will wear Russian Orlan spacesuits<br />and use the Russian Pirs Docking Compartment airlock.<br /><br />Chiao and Sharipov also will get the Station ready to welcome the Space<br />Shuttle Discovery on its STS-114 flight. Discovery will bring a<br />Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) packed with equipment and supplies to<br />the Station. It will take the MPLM home filled with unneeded Station<br />equipment and trash.<br /><br /><br />Chiao and Sharipov will pack hardware that has accumulated on the Station<br />since the grounding of Shuttle flights. The equipment is designated for<br />return to Earth on both STS-114 and the subsequent Shuttle flight, STS-121.<br /><br />Science will continue, much of it with facilities and samples already on the<br />Space Station. The Expedition 10 research agenda remains flexible. It<br />includes experiments in human life sciences and space operations.<br /><br />The science team at the Payload Operations Center at the Marshall Space<br />Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will operate some experiments without<br />crew input and other experiments are designed to function autonomously.<br /><br />The 10th crew's first unpiloted Progress cargo craft should arrive in late<br />December. It will be followed by another Progress in March.<br /><br />Chiao and Sharipov also will work with the Station's robotic arm, Canadarm2.<br />Their activities will focus on observations of the outside of the Station,<br />maintaining operator proficiency, and completing the checkout of the<br />Canadarm2 system.