For Bowersox and company, the shuttle's departure will mark the beginning of at least four months of intense activity.

Unlike earlier expeditions, or increments, Bowersox and his crewmates will not entertain any visitors. The next people they will see in person will be the crew of the March shuttle mission charged with bringing up their replacements.

"Right now we're scheduled for four months," Bowersox said. "On 113, we install the P1 truss. There's going to be a large amount of outfitting on the truss while the orbiter is there. Then after the orbiter leaves, we have a few more small tasks we're going to try to do with the station crew on an EVA without the orbiter there."

That spacewalk, by Bowersox and Budarin, is planned for Dec. 5. It is referred to as a "stage EVA" because it will be performed by the current increment crew without a shuttle present.

"We're kind of excited about this stage EVA in particular, because it serves as a stepping off point for a number of stage EVAs that will support the buildup of our truss segments over the next couple of years," Gard said. "And also because it demonstrates the ability of the station airlock not just to perform maintenance and repairs, but as a primary contributor to station operations in an assembly fashion during stage operations."

All of the spacewalk tasks originally were to have been carried out by th crews of Atlantis and Endeavour. But the addition of the SPDs forced mission planners to defer a half-dozen tasks to the stage EVA.

Bowersox and Budarin will remove the P1 radiator beam launch locks; move a toolbox currently mounted on Z1 to one of the CETA carts; deploy a new UHF antenna; and attach light fixtures to the CETA carts. Pettit will support the excursion by operating the Canadarm2 crane.

"Of course, we have lots of science we're going to be doing over the four months," Bowersox continued. "We're going to spend Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day and a couple of my kids' birthdays on orbit and the same thing for these guys and their families.

"I think the biggest challenge is going to be adjusting to the duration. I think the technical aspects we've trained well for and I think things will go pretty much as smoothly as we saw on 112. But what's going to be new for me and for Don is just living on orbit that long, watching ourselves adapt over the months and then, of course, the uncertainty of when we might come home.

"Having a ticket on an orbiter is not like having a ticket on an airliner to come home," Bowersox said. "When the orbiter's ready to launch and come get us, then we'll be ready to come home. But not knowing when that's going to happen, I think, adds extra uncertainty and could add some extra stress, making us worry a little bit more. But all in all, I think our crew has blended well and I think we're going to have a lot of fun up there and get a lot of really good work done."

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