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Soyuz and crew poised for blastoff to space station BY WILLIAM HARWOOD STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION Posted: October 11, 2008 Engineers at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan are making final preparations for the planned Sunday launch of a Soyuz rocket carrying a space tourist and two long-duration crew members to the international space station. Expedition 18 commander Mike Fincke, flight engineer Yury Lonchakov and Richard Garriott, a computer game designer and son of former shuttle astronaut Owen Garriott, are scheduled for liftoff at 3:01:29 a.m. EDT Sunday from the same pad used by Yuri Gagarin. If all goes well, Lonchakov will guide the Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft to a docking at the downward port of the central Russian Zarya module around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday. Here is a timeline of major events through rendezvous and docking with the space station. The pre-launch timeline is simply a generic Soyuz countdown synched to the actual launch time of Soyuz TMA-13. As such, some events may be off by a few minutes. It is provided to give readers a "ballpark" idea of when critical events are scheduled to occur (best viewed with fixed-width font): EDT...........EVENT 10/11/08 09:01 PM......Batteries installed in booster 09:01 PM......Crew arrives at site 254 09:31 PM......State commission 'go' 10:01 PM......Tanking begins 10:11 PM......Spacesuit donning 11:01 PM......Booster is loaded with liquid oxygen 11:21 PM......Crew meets delegations 11:56 PM......Reports to the state commission 10/12/08 12:01 AM......Transfer to launch pad 12:01 AM......1st/2nd stage oxygen fueling complete 12:21 AM......Crew arrives at launch vehicle 12:26 AM......Crew ingress through orbital module side hatch 12:56 AM......Crew in re-entry vehicle 01:16 AM......Re-entry vehicle hardware tested; suits are ventilated 01:31 AM......Hatch sealed and tested 02:01 AM......Launch vehicle control system preps; gyro activation 02:16 AM......Launch pad service structure halves lowered 02:21 AM......Suit leak checks; re-entry vehicle testing complete 02:31 AM......Emergency escape system armed 02:36 AM......Service towers retracted 02:46 AM......Suit leak checks complete; escape system to auto 02:51 AM......Gyros uncaged; on-board recorders activated 02:54 AM......Prelaunch operations complete 02:55 AM......Final launch countdown operations to auto 02:55 AM......Launch complex and vehicle systems ready 02:56 AM......Onboard systems switch to onboard control; 02:56 AM......CDR's controls activated; helmets closed 02:56 AM......Launch key inserted in launch bunker 02:58 AM......Combustion chamber nitrogen purge 02:58:59 AM...Booster propellant tank pressurization begins 02:59:14 AM...Ground propellant feed terminated 03:00:29 AM...Vehicle to internal power; 1st umbilical tower separates 03:00:49 AM...Ground power umbilical to 3rd stage separates 03:01:09 AM...Launch command given; central/side pod engines on 03:01:14 AM...Second umbilical tower separates 03:01:19 AM...Engine turbopumps at flight speed 03:01:24 AM...Engines at maximum thrust 03:01:29 AM...LIFTOFF 03:02:39 AM...Velocity 1,100 mph 03:03:27 AM...Stage 1 strap-on boosters separate 03:03:29 AM...Velocity 3,350 mph 03:04:09 AM...Escape tower/launch shroud jettison 03:06:27 AM...Core booster separates at 105 statute miles 03:08:59 AM...Velocity 13,420 mph 03:10:29 AM...Third stage shutdown; Soyuz separation 06:36 AM......DV1 rendezvous rocket firing (dV: 44.2 mph) 07:28 AM......DV2 rendezvous rocket firing (dV: 17.0 mph) 10/13/08 04:01 AM......DV3 rendezvous rocket firing (dV: 4.5 mph) 10/14/08 12:24 AM......ISS US-to-Russian motion control system handover 02:06 AM......Automated rendezvous and docking start 02:22 AM......ISS maneuvers to docking attitude 02:28 AM......AR&D DV4 impulse 1 (dV: 47.5 mph) 02:50 AM......AR&D impulse 2 (dV: 2.6 mph) 02:53 AM......Soyuz/KURS-A rendezvous nav activation 02:55 AM......Zvezda/KURS-P activation 03:13 AM......AR&D DV5 impulse 3 (dV: 49.3 mph) 03:14 AM......Range: 62 miles 03:18 AM......Good KURS-P data at 50 miles 03:39 AM......KURS short test at 9.3 miles 03:47 AM......Range: 5 miles; Soyuz TV activation 03:55 AM......AR&D impulse 4 (dV: 15.3 mph) 03:56 AM......AR&D ballistic targeting point 04:00 AM......AR&D impulse 5 (dV: 7.9 mph) 04:03 AM......AR&D impulse 6 (dV: 3.3 mph) 04:04 AM......AR&D fly around mode start 04:13 AM......AR&D stationkeeping start 04:20 AM......Russian ground station AOS 04:23 AM......AR&D final approach start 04:32 AM......DOCKING 04:37 AM......Russian ground station LOS 04:52 AM......Sunset 04:52 AM......Soyuz hooks closed; ISS to LVLH 06:04 AM......ISS Russian-to-U.S. motion control system handover
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VIDEO:
SOYUZ MOVED TO LAUNCH PAD FOR EXPEDITION 18 