Space station crew moves Soyuz

(CNN) -- The three crew members of the international space station Alpha set out on a short parking exercise early Friday, boarding their Soyuz emergency escape craft to fly it around to the other side of the station.

United States commander Frank Culbertson and cosmonauts Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin undocked from Alpha at just before 7 a.m. EDT. The trip around the station took about 15 minutes.

The Soyuz was moved from the Earth-facing port of the station's Zarya module to the new Russian-built Pirs docking compartment, the first-ever docking with Pirs.

The move makes way for a new Soyuz to be launched on Sunday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The fuel on the Soyuz is only good for about six months, meaning the ships have to be routinely changed out in what NASA calls a taxi flight.

A three-person crew is to take up the new Soyuz: Commander Victor Afanasyev, flight engineer Konstantin Kozeev and French flight engineer Claudie Haignere. The three will be the first visitors for the current space station crew, referred to as Expedition Three.

The newer Soyuz is scheduled to blast off Sunday at around 4:59 a.m. EDT. The taxi crew then should dock at the station October 23 at 6 a.m. EDT for an eight-day stay, then fly the older Soyuz back to Earth.

Space station Alpha is orbiting Earth at an average altitude of 247 statute miles (395 kilometers).