First residents of space station raring to go

Commander Bill Shepherd tries his Russian Soyuz flight suit for proper fit at Star City, Russia, earlier this week

In this story: From diver to spaceman Building the largest spacecraft ever RELATED STORIES, SITES

By Richard Stenger
CNN.com Writer

(CNN) -- After years of delays, the first residents of the International Space Station are almost on their way.

Consisting of one astronaut and two cosmonauts, the Expedition 1 crew arrived at the Baikonur Cosmodrone Friday in Kazakhstan. They are scheduled to launch aboard a Soyuz spacecraft before dawn Tuesday and dock at the station two days later.

Flight controllers in the United States and Russia were busy preparing for the historic mission. Over the weekend mission control rooms in Houston and Moscow will direct a dress rehearsal of the crew's docking with the station.

An unmanned Russian cargo ship now occupies the same space station port the Soyuz will use. After the Progress supply ship delivers its fuel, it will be directed to undock and begin a fiery plunge into the atmosphere on Wednesday.

The Expedition 1 crew has trained for more than three years, as financial and technical delays by the Russian space agency repeatedly pushed back the launch date. All three are veterans of space travel.

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Commander Bill Shepherd of NASA has made three space shuttle flights. The U.S. Naval Academy graduate wanted to become a pilot but didn't pass the eye exam and became a Navy SEAL diver instead. Early in his career, he hardly expected to become an astronaut.

"It's really kind of a strange circumstance that I find myself working this mission," he said. Yet "I always thought, kind of in the back of my mind, there was a lot of correlation between being in a spacesuit and some of the activities that you do when you're diving."

His space station crewmate Yuri Pavlovich Gidzenko realized a childhood dream to become a military pilot in the Russian Air Force. His horizons have since expanded higher, and on this flight he will command the Soyuz spacecraft.

Gidzenko knows how to survive in space. In 1995 and 1996 he spent six months aboard the Russian space station Mir.

Another cosmonaut going to the station is Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev, a former member of the Russian and Soviet national aerobatic flying teams.

The Russian mechanical engineer spent two long-duration stays on Mir and flew on the space shuttle twice. Most recently he traveled aboard Endeavour on the first space station assembly mission in 1998.

Krikalev has logged more than 15 months in space and taken part in seven space walks.

The Expedition One crew visited the grave of Soviet cosmonaut and first human to fly in space, Yuri Gagarin, (1934-1968), in Moscow on October 17. Pictured from left are cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, astronaut Bill Shepherd and cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko

NASA said that all systems seem normal aboard the station since shuttle Discovery spruced up the 80-ton orbiting outpost during a visit last week. Currently mission engineers are testing the software of a flight guidance computer onboard the station that automatically went offline last week.

The station has two other computers that perform the same functions and can operate with only one if necessary.

A 16-nation undertaking that could cost from $60 billion to $100 billion, the space station is perhaps the most ambitious engineering project ever. Orbiting about 240 miles (384 km) above Earth, the three-module station extends 143 feet (43 meters) and shines, under proper conditions, as one of the brightest objects in the night sky.

More than 40 missions will be required over the next five years to complete the orbiting complex. When finished it will spread over almost an acre and include as much pressurized living space as a Boeing 747.

ISS proponents say the station will allow unprecedented scientific experiments in near zero gravity and perhaps help facilitate human exploration missions in deep space.

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
Russia prepares to launch first part of International Space Station
November 2, 1998

NASA
International Space Station

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