An American-Russian team took off on Saturday to the International Space Station. It will be commanded by the American of British origin Michael Powell. Powell and his Russian colleague Alexander Clary will serve as the eighth crew of the International Space Station
Avi Blizovsky
The Soyuz is docked at the space station. The team also includes a European representative who will stay at the station for 10 days
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A Russian "Soyuz" spacecraft that was launched yesterday from Kazakhstan joined the International Space Station a little while ago.
The three crew members from the United States, Russia and Spain will replace the crew that has been on the space station for the past six months.
3 new astronauts docked at the International Station
The Soyuz spacecraft carrying the three, a Russian, an American and a Spaniard, docked safely at the station
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying three crew members from the US, Russia and Spain docked at the International Space Station. This is the second time a Russian spacecraft has carried an American astronaut to the International Station since NASA's space shuttle program was grounded after the Columbia crash in February. The space project in which 16 countries participate is now completely dependent on Russia to provide access to the station.
The new team includes British-born American Michael Powell. He will become the commander of the space station for the next six months. Along with him, the Russian cosmonaut, Alexander Kaleri, goes up to the station.
The crew was put on standby for the docking, this despite the fact that all operations are done automatically. "Everything went well, as expected. There was no need for the team's intervention," said a spokesman for the control center near Moscow. After docking, the Soyuz was attached and a leak test began in the tunnel that connects the spacecraft to the station.
The third astronaut to arrive at the station is Pedro Duc from the European Space Agency. He will conduct scientific experiments as part of the "Cervantes" task force and will stay in space for 10 days. He will return to Earth together with the crew leaving the station, the American Ed Lowe and the Russian Yuri Malenchenko. The two have been in space since April 28. Malenchenko will be the first person to leave Earth single, and return to it married. He married in August while at the station.
The Soyuz took off to the space station for the crew exchange
18/10/03
An American-Russian team took off this morning to the International Space Station. It will be commanded by the American of British origin Michael Powell. Powell and his Russian colleague Alexander Clary will serve as the eighth crew of the International Space Station.
The Soyuz TMA-3 spacecraft took off from Baikonur this morning, October 18, at 05:38 GMT (07:38 Israel time) and are expected to arrive at the space station on Monday. Spanish astronaut Pedro Duca representing the International Space Station will join them. He will perform experiments during his ten days in space and promised to represent with respect the almost 40 million citizens of Spain. This is Powell's sixth space flight, including a four-month stay in Mir in 1997. After the end of his stay in the station, he will hold the record for the stay in space of any American astronaut.
For Clary, 47, this is the fourth flight. In all three of his previous flights he was in Mir and in total he has 416 days on the route.
The construction of the space station is suspended at this stage because only the shuttles are able to bring heavy components and experiments to the space station. Therefore, the two will be engaged in the maintenance of the station, in gymnastics for the purpose of strengthening the muscles and bones and preventing the escape of calcium, and the rest of the time - in scientific experiments as much as they can perform.
The two will replace the station's team 7 - the Russian Yuri Melanchenko and the American Edward Lu who have been at the station since April. They were the first crew to go into space after the Columbia disaster. Lou wears the crashed mission badge all the time. Cosmonaut Melanchenko became famous as the first man to marry in space and now he will finally be able to meet his wife. The Spanish astronaut Duca will join the two and return with them to Earth. The three will return to Earth aboard the Soyuz TMA-2 spacecraft.
The International Space Station
For news at the BBC
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