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Three men safely soar into space aboard Soyuz rocket BY WILLIAM HARWOOD STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION Posted: April 14, 2005 The next crew of the international space station rocketed into orbit after a picture-perfect dawn liftoff from Kazakhstan, kicking off a two-day orbital chase that should culminate late Saturday, U.S. time, with a docking at the orbital outpost. A reliable Soyuz rocket, carrying Expedition 11 commander Sergei Krikalev, NASA astronaut and science officer John Phillips and European Space Agency flier Roberto Vittori, roared to life on time at 8:46:25 p.m. EDT (6:46:25 a.m. local time) and climbed smoothly away from its Baikonur Cosmodrome launch stand - the same pad used by Yuri Gagarin. About nine minutes later, the Soyuz spacecraft separated from its spent upper stage. A few moments after that, the capsule's solar panels and antennas deployed to complete the initial launch phase of the mission. "You guys are true professionals," ground control radioed the crew. "Congratulations on a successful launch." Docking at the Pirs module of the international space station is expected around 10:19 p.m. EDT Saturday. Eagerly awaiting the new crew's arrival will be Expedition 10 commander Leroy Chiao, a NASA astronaut, and Russian flight engineer Salizhan Sharipov, who were launched to the station last Oct. 14. If all goes well, Chiao, Sharipov and Vittori, an Italian test pilot who visited the station in 2002, will return to Earth April 24 aboard the same Soyuz capsule that carried them into space six months ago. Here is a timeline of major upcoming events (in EDT and subject to change): EDT............EVENT 04/16...10:19 p.m...ISS-11 crew docks with space station 04/17...01:05 a.m...Hatch opening; welcome ceremony 04/18...08:20 a.m...Joint crew news conference 04/22...TBD.........Change of command 04/24...11:31 a.m...Hatch closing on Soyuz carrying ISS-10 crew 04/24...02:41 p.m...Undocking 04/24...05:17 p.m...Deorbit ignition 04/24...06:08 p.m...Landing two hours before sunrise in KazakhstanKrikalev and Phillips, both veterans of earlier flights to the space station, will welcome the shuttle Discovery's crew next month during the first post-Columbia shuttle mission. "It's going to be really exciting," Phillips said in a NASA interview. "It's going to be really busy and a challenge but I'm glad we're going to get a couple of visiting vehicles there. The whole hunker-down-for-six-months thing is probably not quite as rewarding as hosting these visitors and working with them on a lot of complex operations." The station crew will even play a role in NASA's post-Columbia safety plan, photographing the belly of the orbiter during its final approach to help engineers verify the health of its heat-shield tile system. "Sergei and I will have electronic still cameras and we will do a detailed photo survey of the outside of the shuttle and then we'll quickly downlink the photos back to the ground." Krikalev and Phillips also will assist Discovery's crew during three planned spacewalks and help move cargo back and forth between the station and a logistics module carried aloft aboard the shuttle. "Since the Columbia accident, the Russian space agency, or the Russian space program, has been literally carrying the load and bringing us all the supplies we need, mostly on the Progress vehicle, smaller amounts on the Soyuz vehicles," Phillips said. "One impact of that is that we've only had a crew of two instead of a crew of three, which, of course, reduces the amount of science we can do. "Another impact is that we've frankly been operating on pretty thin margins of certain consumables - food, water and oxygen. Once the space shuttles start flying, they carry a huge amount of mass to orbit, so they can bring our reserves of food, oxygen and water back up to where they should be." Assuming Discovery gets off the ground next month, NASA hopes to launch a second mission in July. During that flight, Krikalev and Phillips will assist the crew of the shuttle Atlantis to unload more supplies and continue space station assembly. They also will accept delivery of new science equipment that's been grounded since the Columbia disaster. Phillips, who turns 54 on Friday, flew to the station during a space shuttle mission in 2001, logging 12 days in space. Krikalev, 46, is one of the most experienced space fliers in the world, a veteran of five earlier missions including two long-duration stays aboard the Russian Mir station - one of them stretching more than 10 months - and the first long-duration stay aboard the international space station. A former champion aerobatic pilot and veteran of seven spacewalks, Krikalev has spent one year, five months and 10 days in orbit. On the 124th day of the current mission, his cumulative time in space will exceed 747 days, giving him a new world record. By the time he returns to Earth this fall, he will have logged a cumulative 800 days in orbit. "I never paid enough attention to this record-setting subject because the job itself is very interesting for me," he said in a NASA interview. "Being there and being able to look back to Earth, to do something challenging, that was really important. How many days was not as important."
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The Russian Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft is launched to put the International Space Station's Expedition 11 crew in Earth orbit.
Crowds welcome the three-man Soyuz crew upon arrival at the launch pad for boarding the spacecraft. (1min 43sec file)
The three space fliers depart the suitup facility and board the bus that will drive them to the launch pad. (54sec file)
A delegation of Russian and American officials talk with the crew before departing for the launch pad. (2min 31sec file)
The three men don their launch and entry spacesuits and undergo checks in preparation for flight. (3min 09sec file)
The crew members participate in pre-launch traditions before departing their quarters and head for the suitup facility. (2min 33sec file)
The Expedition 11 crew's Soyuz rocket is transported by locomotive from its assembly hangar to the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad and lifted upright in preparation for blastoff to the International Space Station. (4min 37sec file)
Technicians attach the escape tower and finish assembling the three-stage Soyuz rocket to launch Expedition 11. (1min 05sec file)
The Expedition 11 crewmembers don their launch suits and go aboard the Soyuz spacecraft for a pre-launch fit check. (3min 39sec file)
This narrated movie previews the key objectives and events planned during the Expedition 11 mission aboard the International Space Station, including return of the space shuttle. (6min 42sec file)
Take a behind-the-scenes look at the next two men who will live aboard the space station in this movie that profiles the lives of the Expedition 11 crew. (5min 29sec file)
Expedition 11 commander Sergei Krikalev, flight engineer John Phillips and Soyuz taxi crewmember Roberto Vittori hold a pre-flight news conference in Houston. Topics included problems with the shuttle safe haven concept. (42min 23sec file)
International Space Station officials at Johnson Space Center provide a detailed preview of the Expedition 11 mission during this pre-launch press conference. (48min 54sec file)
A review of the soon-to-be completed Expedition 10 mission aboard the International Space Station is presented by mission managers at Johnson Space Center. (36min 38sec file)
International Space Station's Expedition 9 flight engineer Mike Fincke narrates home movies, shows photographs and re-lives his six-month mission aboard the orbiting complex in this presentation. (22min 34sec file)