Headline: Shuttle Primed for Crew-Exchange Mission to Station [excerpt]

Source: NY Times, 7 Mar 2001

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/07/science/07STAT.html

The space shuttle Discovery's mission to the International Space Station is a mission of firsts — but it should be repeated so often in the future that eventually hardly anyone will notice.

The Discovery, with two groups of astronauts, is scheduled to blast off on Thursday for the first crew exchange on the new station. The shuttle is also taking up the first of a new type of moving van designed to make routine trips hauling cargo and experiments to and from the station . . .

. . . At the end of its almost 12-day mission, the Discovery is to return the Expedition One crew, which will have completed a 140-day "shake- down cruise" of the station by setting up and testing its systems. The station commander, Capt. William M. Shepherd of the United States Navy, and the Russians, Yuri P. Gidzenko and Sergei K. Krikalev, worked long hours readying the research outpost for future crews. Problems included trouble-shooting balky computer setups and stowing supplies misplaced by a troublesome inventory system . . .

. . . Mr. Usachev said he and his crew, who have trained together for four years, were ready to take over the station. Their preparation has included teleconferences with the Expedition One crew on what to expect. Colonel Helms, for instance, said this led her to take extra computer classes to prepare her to deal with the complex systems on the station . . .

-- Andre Weltman (aweltman@state.pa.us), March 07, 2001