The three members of the ISS Expedition 14 crew are scheduled to leave the space station aboard the Russian Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft.

They have plans to land northeast of the city of Arakalyk, which is located in central Kazakhstan. It is southeast of the normal landing site in Kazakhstan. The regular landing site is too wet for a landing and recovery by a helicopter, which is why the Expedition 14 crew is a day late in returning to the Earth.

Former Expedition 14 flight engineer and U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams will remain onboard the space station, now becoming a member of the Expedition 15 crew. She will return to the Earth aboard STS-118 in the NASA Space Shuttle Endeavour later this summer, scheduled now for August 9th.

For more information on the four 2007 missions of the Space Shuttle, go to the ITwire article “Reduced schedule for NASA Space Shuttles in 2007 forced by February hailstorm”.

NASA TV will show the departure of the Expedition 14 crew from the space station beginning at 1:30 a.m. E.D.T. (eastern daylight time) on Saturday, April 21st. The hatch closure will be shown at approximately 2:06 a.m.

Then, undocking coverage will begin at 4:45 a.m. EDT on Saturday, with the actual undocking taking place at 5:11 a.m.

At 7:15 a.m. EDT, NASA TV coverage will begin of the de-orbit burn and landing. The de-orbit burn is scheduled for 7:42 a.m. and the landing is scheduled at 8:30 a.m.

At 4:30 p.m. EDT, a live reception at the landing site will highlight the space travelers’ return to the Earth. Five hours later, at 9:30 p.m., NASA TV will show the three men as they return to Chkalovksy Airfield and Star City, Russia, which is located northeast of Moscow.

NASA administrator Michael Griffin states, "NASA is moving forward with a new focus for the manned space program: to go out beyond Earth orbit for purposes of human exploration and scientific discovery. And the International Space Station is now a stepping stone on the way, rather than being the end of the line."

The press kit for the new Expedition 15 crew is available at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/news/index.html. Photos that show the stages of growth from the exterior of the space station are also found on this Web site.

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