Station crew to move outpost lifeboat

A U.S. astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut will board the emergency lifeboat at the International Space Station early Monday, flying the Soyuz spacecraft to a port at the rear end of outpost crew quarters.

The 35-minute move will clear an Earth-facing port on the station's Zarya module for the upcoming arrival of a replacement crew. It also will be a first step in preparation of the arrival of a Russian Progress cargo carrier in late April.

Strapped into the Soyuz and wearing partial-pressure launch-and-entry suits, station skipper Bill McArthur and flight engineer Valery Tokarev will undock from the Zarya module about 1:45 a.m. EST Monday.

Kylie Clem, a spokeswoman for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, said the Soyuz will be piloted to a point 80 to 100 feet below the station. The spacecraft then will be flown to a point about the same distance behind the station, traveling about 200 feet in the process.

With Tokarev at the controls, the Soyuz then will make a final approach to the port at the back end the station's Zvezda module, which is a Russian command and control center that doubles as crew quarters.

Clem said the move will free up the Zarya port for the March 31 arrival of a Soyuz with the Expedition 13 crew, which includes commander Pavel Vinogradov and flight engineer Jeffrey Williams.

The two are scheduled to launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 29 with Marcos Pontes, who will become the first Brazilian to fly in space. Pontes will spend about eight days aboard the station before returning to Earth on April 8 with McArthur and Tokarev.

The returning crew will pull away from the station in the Soyuz that will be parked at the aft end of the Zvezda module. Doing so will open up that port for a Russian Progress freighter to be launched April 24. Its anticipated arrival date: April 26.