ISS Temporarily Down to Three Crew Members After Tomorrow
Two of the five International Space Station crew members, including the current commander, will return to Earth tomorrow, leaving just three aboard the orbiting facility. A change of command ceremony today marked the imminent end of Expedition 22, commanded by American Jeff Williams, and beginning of Expedition 23, to be commanded by Russian Oleg Kotov as soon as Williams departs.
Williams and Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suraev will return to Earth tomorrow on Soyuz TMA-16. Undocking is scheduled for 4:00 am with a landing in Kazakhstan at 7:23 am. “Frigid weather and gusty winds” are predicted at the landing site according to NASA.
Kotov’s crewmates Soichi Noguchi from Japan and T.J. Creamer from the United States remain aboard ISS waiting to greet three new colleagues in about three weeks. They are Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Alexander Skvortsov, and American astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson. The three are scheduled to be launched aboard Soyuz TMA-18 on April 2. The next space shuttle flight to the ISS is currently scheduled for launch on April 5. To keep abreast of the comings and goings on the ISS, visit NASA’s ISS website.
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