A cosmonaut and two astronauts have undocked from the International Space Station to relocate a Soyuz spacecraft, a required move before Atlantis can launch Friday. Inside the Soyuz TMA-17 -- shown in the center of the picture at left, behind the Tranquility module -- in Sokol launch-and-entry suits are Russian Oleg Kotov, American T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi of Japan. Kotov is commanding the ship from its center seat, responding to the call sign "Pulsar."
They undocked from the Earth-facing port of the Russian segment's Zarya module at 9:26 a.m. EDT over Northern Africa and will steer the craft a short distance to the back end of the Zvezda Service Module. The move is intended to clear the way for a new Russian module being launched aboard Atlantis, which is scheduled to be installed on the shuttle mission's fifth day.
Any problems this morning could keep Atlantis grounded Friday. The shuttle launch is scheduled for 2:20 p.m. Friday.
Called the Mini Research Module-1, or Rassvet, meaning "dawn," the module will serve as a docking port and staging area for spacewalks.
You can watch the relocation maneuver live -- just click on the NASA TV box at right to launch a video player.
Three crew members remain on the station: Russians Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko and American Tracy Caldwell Dyson.
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