Latest Expedition 12 Stories

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Swedish researchers plan to measure how astronauts on the International Space Station are affected by inhaling increased levels of dust in a gravity-free environment, in a project that may help asthma patients back on earth. When the orbiting station's next crew, Expedition 12, takes off from Kazakhstan for its scheduled flight Saturday, they will bring a Swedish-made instrument to measure the effect increased dust levels have on the astronauts' lung capacities, said...

NASA -- Commander William McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev, the 12th International Space Station crew, are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan a few minutes before midnight EDT Sept. 30 to begin a 182-day stay in space.With them will be American Greg Olsen, the third private citizen in space, flying under a contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency. He will spend about eight days on the station.Their Soyuz TMA spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the...

Please read in 6th paragraph ... One Soyuz will take McArthur and Russian flight engineer Valery Tokarev to the space station and another will bring home the current crew ... instead of ... The Soyuz that takes McArthur and Russian flight engineer Valery Tokarev to the space station will bring home the current crew ... A corrected story follows. By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - In three weeks, astronaut Bill McArthur plans to cap a 15-year career with NASA by flying...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida -- In three weeks, astronaut Bill McArthur plans to cap a 15-year career with NASA by flying to the International Space Station for a six-month stay. The only problem is he doesn't have a ride home.NASA's space shuttles cannot launch again until their fuel tanks are fixed and Hurricane Katrina has shut down the New Orleans manufacturing facility that produces the tanks and was working on the problem. Half of the work force at the plant, which is operated by Lockheed...

MOSCOW (AP) -- A German will become the first European Space Agency astronaut to spend a full six-month stint on the international space station, the Russian Space Agency said Wednesday. Thomas Reiter, 46, will participate in Expedition 11 in July and complete his mission to the orbiting space station when Expedition 12 is on board, the agency said in statement. Anatoly Perminov, the head of the Russian Space Agency, signed a contract with ESA making Reiter part of the main crew. He will work...