HOUSTON - Brazil's first astronaut and two veteran
spacefarers are eagerly awaiting their chance to launch toward the International
Space Station (ISS).
ISS Expedition
13 commander Pavel Vinogradov, flight engineer Jeffrey Williams and ISS
visitor Marcos
Pontes - Brazil's first astronaut - are set to ride their Soyuz TMA-8
spacecraft into orbit in a 12:43 a.m. EST (0543 GMT) launch from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome on March 22.
"I've been
waiting for this opportunity for seven years and now finally it comes," Pontes
said during a press conference here at NASA's Johnson Space Center, adding that he originally trained to fly to the ISS aboard a NASA shuttle. "Besides all
the scientific objectives for us from Brazil, it will be a very strong step for
our space program."
Pontes, a
lieutenant colonel in the Brazilian Air Force, will spend eight days performing
a series of science studies that include nanotechnology tests and student experiments
from Brazilian schools. He will return to Earth with the station's current crew
- Expedition
12 commander Bill McArthur and flight engineer Valery Tokarev.
"[Expedition]
13 will be a new page in the history of the International Space Station,"
Vinogradov said during a press conference here at NASA's Johnson Space Center. "We will be looking forward to Thomas
Reiter who possibly will join us onboard...after more than three years of
flying two-person crews we may finally come to fly with the full capacity of a
three-person crew."
ISS crews
were limited to two members
following NASA's 2003 Columbia
shuttle accident due to the subsequent drop in orbiter flights and supply
limitations. The space shuttle Discovery and its STS-121
crew is expected to launch toward the ISS no earlier than May 2006
with Reiter, a German astronaut with the European Space Agency (ESA),
though the orbiter flight hinges on the results of shuttle
fuel tank modifications currently underway at NASA's Michoud Assembly
Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Vinogradov
and Williams are hopeful to receive at least one shuttle crew, and possibly
two, during their six-month stay aboard the ISS. They will relieve the
Expedition 12 astronauts, who have lived aboard the ISS since their arrival
in October 2005.
Both
Expedition 13 astronauts are spaceflight veterans, though only Vinogradov has
flown a long-duration mission.
As a cosmonaut
for Russia's Federal Space Agency, Vinogradov racked up 198 days aboard the
Russian space station Mir in 1997. Williams, a NASA astronaut and U.S. Army
colonel, flew a 10-day mission aboard the Atlantis orbiter during STS-101
mission to the ISS May 2000.
"I'm
particularly looking forward to this flight for the Soyuz," Williams said. "It's
obviously a very unique experience from shuttle."
Williams
said at least one spacewalk in U.S. spacesuits is slated for the Expedition 13
crew. Two additional spacewalks in Russian-built Orlan spacesuits are scheduled
for later in the mission.
"The schedule
is very busy up there," Williams said, adding that three spacewalks, potentially
two shuttle visits and absorbing a third crewmember makes for little down time.
"But I personally know that it's important to get the word out to the public."
Despite a
tight timeline, Williams said he hopes to spend some of his free time relating
his spaceflight experience to the public through journals and log entries.
Pontes and
the Expedition 13 crew will spend two days chasing the ISS after launch before
docking at the orbital platform on March 24. After eight days of joint
operations, the Brazilian astronaut and the Expedition 12 crew will cast off
from the station aboard their TMA-7 spacecraft for a March 31 landing on the
steppes of Kazakhstan.
But Pontes
hopes that the end of his science mission will mark a new beginning for his
homeland's space program.
"Although I
am the first [Brazilian] astronaut there, I don't want to be the last one,"
Pontes said. "Hopefully, there will be another selection and we will have other
participants in the program."
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