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Russian TV Shows New Crew's Arrival at International Space Station

Posted on: Sunday, 17 April 2005, 09:00 CDT

Text of report by Russia TV on 17 April

[Presenter] A few hours ago, a Soyuz spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station. The whole process was automatic. At the moment the crew of the 11th expedition is already on board the orbital complex.

Dmitriy Petrov has the details:

[Correspondent] The docking is proceeding in fully automatic mode and on the first attempt. Soyuz commander Sergey Krikalev does not even need to take control.

[Cosmonaut] The distance is three metres, physical contact is made and mechanical locking takes place.

[Correspondent] The docking was successful, now it is necessary to check Soyuz's modules and the docking unit for airtightness. And only when air pressure in the station becomes equal to that in Soyuz will transfer hatches be opened. This usually tedious procedure is being carried out by the crews today half an hour earlier. At 0846 [presumably Moscow time, 0446 gmt] John Phillips is the first to float into the international station. He hands presents and letters from Earth over to Salizhan Sharipov. And here is the Italian, Vittori, and the commander of the 11th expedition, Sergey Krikalev, who is the last one to come over from Soyuz. Unlike the old inhabitants of the station, the new ones - and this is noticeable - have not yet got used to weightlessness. However, the first communication session with Earth is taking place according to schedule.

[Cosmonaut] We are very glad about the arrival of the next crew. We have done everything to ensure that the station is working.

[Correspondent] The crew of the 10th expedition will start a handover to their replacements as early as today. And in eight days, Chiao and Sharipov will return to Earth, together with Roberto Vittori. By that time he should have completed his part of medical and biological experiments under the Eneida project, while Krikalev and Phillips will remain in orbit for another six months.

[Vladimir Solovyev, flight leader of the International Space Station's Russian segment, at the mission control centre in Korolev in Moscow Region, captioned] There are quite a lot of experiments, which are interesting and complicated. There are very many medical experiments. As a rule, medical business takes up some 70 per cent of our working time.

[Correspondent] Altogether two space walks and 39 experiments, including preparation for docking with Shuttles, have been scheduled. The Americans are planning to resume launches as early as May and June.

[Video at 070501 shows shots of the spacecraft docking with space station, black and white footage of astronauts floating into the space station, astronauts inside the space station, people at the mission control centre in Korolev in Moscow Region, diagrams.]

Source: BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union

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