Space Station Crew Ready for FlightFinal preparations are being made for the launch on Tuesday of the crew who will become the first long-term residents of the International Space Station (ISS).Two cosmonauts and a US astronaut are due to spend four months aboard the space platform about 368 km (230 miles) above the Earth. Russians Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko and their American commander Bill Shepherd will make the journey into orbit on a Soyuz spacecraft launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Blast-off for Expedition 1, as it is known, is scheduled for 1053 am Moscow time (0753 GMT). A Progress cargo craft, now fueling tanks on the ISS's Zarya module, will be commanded to undock from the station on Wednesday, to clear the way for the crew's arrival at the platform the following day. The station is designed to last at least 10 years, but it could last a quarter of a century or more. The International Space Station is an international partnership, including the US, Russia, Europe, Japan, Canada and Brazil. |
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