New crew arrival kicks off busy period at space station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A new multinational crew arrived at the International Space Station early Tuesday, kicking off a busy six weeks of work at the orbiting outpost.

With veteran cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko at the controls, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft docked at the sprawling complex at 12:52 a.m. EDT, winding up a two-day trip from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Flying along with him: U.S. astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams and Akihiko Hoshide of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

The link-up occurred as the Soyuz and the station were flying 252 miles above northeast Kazakhstan.

"So, a smooth and uneventful docking, by the book," NASA flight commentator Rob Navias said.

The arrival took place on the 37th anniversary of the historic Apollo-Soyuz Test Project docking, which brought together the U.S. and the former Soviet Union in a show of orbital detente.

Malnchenko, Williams and Hoshide joined Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin, and U.S. astronaut Joe Acaba at the station.

Coming up on the station in the next six weeks: the arrival and departure of Russian and Japanese cargo carriers as well as U.S. and Russian spacewalks at the outpost.

A robotic Japanese space freighter is scheduled to launch at 10:06 p.m. Friday from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. The vehicle will arrive at the station July 27.

Then, a first: An unmanned Russian Progress cargo carrier will launch Aug. 1 from Baikonur Cosmodrome and arrive at the station six hours later — after just four orbits. The single-day rendezvous is a test aimed at demonstrating a capability to make a same-day arrival at the station. The trip normally takes two days.

Also coming up, two spacewalks within two weeks:

• Aug. 16: Padalka, the first three-time International Space Station commander, and Malenchencho, who is making his fifth spaceflight, will venture outside the outpost to relocate a telescoping cargo boom. The two also will install protective debris shields outside the station's Russian command-and-control module, dubbed Zvezda, or "star."

• Aug. 30: Williams and Acaba will perform a spacewalk to replace a U.S. electrical power switching unit on the central truss of the outpost. The two also will lay cables to route power to a new Russian lab module to be launched to the station in late 2013.

"This is another dynamic time," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations.

"We thought when assembly was done, and we were done building this magnificent structure, things would slow down," he said. "But, nope, the ability to just stay in space, keep this vehicle resupplied, bring up quality research, and return research, requires all these logistics."