Space station crew boards new home

From left: Sergei Krikalev, Yuri Gidzenko and Bill Shepherd clasp hands after boarding the space station     WEB EXCLUSIVE On the scene with Miles O'Brien in Moscow

From staff and wire reports

KOROLYOV, Russia -- The first residents of the orbiting International Space Station entered their new home Thursday at the start of a four-month stay.

American astronaut Bill Shepherd, the station's skipper, and Russian cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev floated into the space station about 90 minutes after their Soyuz capsule docked.

"Attention!" a translator at Russia's Mission Control called out in English as the capsule closed with the station. "Range six meters, four, three, two -- contact!"

Mission Control, where about 500 hundred people had jammed into the two-tier monitoring hall, erupted in applause as the capsule linked up smoothly with the space station 240 miles above the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan, where the crew had blasted off Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

A few of the Russian engineers hugged one another.

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Turning on the lights

The capsule locked onto the station about three minutes earlier than planned. Shepherd, Gidzenko and Krikalev had to wait 1 1/2 hours before floating inside to make sure the seal between the capsule and the space station was tight.

Their first priorities inside: flipping on all the lights and alarm systems, turning on all the life-support systems and -- perhaps most important after two days in a cramped capsule with no privacy -- getting the toilet working.

Space shuttle astronauts set up the toilet in September, but left the first flush for Shepherd and his crew.

They will work and live aboard the Russian module Zvezda, conducting biological and technical experiments, until another three-person crew replaces them in February.

The mission was repeatedly postponed because of cost overruns and engineering setbacks before the critical Zvezda went aloft in July. Another Russian module, Zarya, and the U.S.-made Unity have orbited together since November 1998.

As the crew raced toward their rendezvous with the station, they conducted several engine burns to fine-tune their course. With each orbit, they gained about 700 miles on the station, which orbits more than 200 miles above Earth.

The view from the Russian space craft Soyuz as it docked with the International Space Station on Thursday

Before the linkup, mission controllers in Moscow and Houston prepared the station for the crew. They activated life support and air purification systems on the station earlier in the week. And on Wednesday they directed a Progress cargo ship to undock from the station and plunge toward the Earth. The maneuver freed up the port on the Russian Zvezda module to which the Soyuz docked.

A testbed for long-term space missions

The unmanned Russian spacecraft had delivered fuel to the station but also served as a high-flying garbage incinerator. It burned up in the atmosphere along with trash left by visiting space shuttle crews.

As the space station adds more segments and grows into a more sophisticated orbiting laboratory, future inhabitants will conduct a range of scientific experiments, some concerning the effects of prolonged weightlessness on humans in space. Such research could help prepare for manned missions to Mars and beyond.

Illustration of the space station with Soyuz docked at far left

Three space shuttles are scheduled to visit the Expedition 1 crew. The first will bring large U.S. solar panels in a month. The second will deliver the U.S. scientific lab module Destiny. The third is expected to take the crew home.

Should an emergency arise, the crew could fly home in the docked Soyuz spacecraft.

The $60 billion-plus station, a joint project among the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan and 10 member countries of the European Space Agency, has been called the largest technological enterprise ever undertaken. Construction could be completed by 2005.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

First space station residents speed toward new home
October 31, 2000
Crew blasts off for International Space Station
October 30, 2000
Discovery docks at International Space Station
October 13, 2000
Cargo ship docks with International Space Station
August 8, 2000
Russia launches crucial International Space Station module
July 12, 2000

NASA
Boeing: International Space Station
NASA: Human Spaceflight
Russian Space Agency

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