Three
astronauts will cast off from the International Space Station (ISS) Saturday to
ride a Russian spacecraft back to Earth and end their orbital mission.
NASA will provide live landing coverage for Brazilian astronaut Marcos Pontes and the Expedition 12 crew beginning at 12:30 p.m EDT. Click here. |
NASA
astronaut Bill McArthur and Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev, the two-person
crew of Expedition
12, are due to depart the space station at 4:24 p.m. EDT (2024 GMT) today
aboard a Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft. Brazil's first astronaut, Marcos
Pontes, will also return to Earth with the ISS crew.
"It's been
an extraordinary privilege for us to represent humankind as, for a period of
time, the only two human beings living off the surface of the Earth," said
McArthur, commander of Expedition 12, during a brief change of command ceremony
Friday. "But all wonderful experiences have an end."
Changing of the guard
McArthur
and Tokarev, Expedition 12's flight engineer, are leaving the ISS in control of
Expedition
13 commander Pavel Vinogradov, of Russia's Federal Space Agency, with NASA
science officer Jeffrey Williams serving as the increments flight engineer. The
Expedition 12 crew arrived at the ISS in October
2005.
"We will
continue our mission, our work, in space," Vinogradov said during the ceremony.
McArthur,
Tokarev and Pontes are expected to land their Soyuz TMA-7 spacecraft on the
steppes of Kazakhstan in Central Asia at about 7:48 p.m. (2348 GMT).
While the
Expedition 12 crew is wrapping up a six-month mission aboard the ISS, Pontes is
completing a 10-day spaceflight, eight of which were spent conducting
experiments at the station. His spaceflight marks Brazil's
first foray into human spaceflight.
"Everything
I encountered here was equal to or better than I expected," Pontes said Friday.
"Thanks to Bill and Valery for an excellent six months of service."
Set for landing
Pontes and
the Expedition 12 crew are scheduled to seal themselves inside their Soyuz
spacecraft at about 1:30 p.m. EDT (1730 GMT) and, three hours later, undock
from their berth at the aft end of the space station's Zvezda service module.
Tokarev
will command Soyuz trip back to Earth, an hour-long descent that will begin at
about 6:58 p.m. EDT (2058 GMT) when the TMA-7 vehicle fires its engines to
leave orbit.
The
spacecraft's gumdrop-shaped crew compartment will separate from its orbital and
engine modules, plunge through the atmosphere heat shield first, and then
deploy parachutes about 15 minutes prior to landing, NASA officials said. A set
of retrorockets will fire to further slow the capsule's descent just before
landing.
A fleet of
helicopters, recovery crews and medical personnel are staging in Kustanai,
Kazakhstan to meet the Pontes and the Expedition 12 crew once they land, NASA
officials said.
During
Friday's command-change ceremony, Williams presented McArthur - a retired
U.S. Army colonel, aviator and four-time spaceflyer - with the Army Aviation
Association of America's (Quad-A) Order of St. Michael's Gold Award to honor
the more than 30 years of service the veteran astronaut has committed to the
armed forces.
"I'm almost
at a loss for words here," said McArthur, who also earlier spoke to top U.S.
Army officers with Williams. "We are truly proud to be soldiers in space."
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