Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi are currently the sole residents on the station, having arrived Dec. 22 aboard their Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft.Caldwell Dyson, Skvortsov and Kornienko will complete the Expedition 23 crew when they dock to the station shortly before 1:30 a.m. Sunday.
Kotov, Creamer and Noguchi wrapped up a busy week Friday as they prepared their orbital home for its new residents and geared up for joint operations set to begin when space shuttle Discovery arrives on April 7. Discovery and the STS-131 crew are scheduled to launch April 5 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida to deliver new science racks and ammonia tanks.
Kotov conducted a survey of the Russian segment of the station, estimating the stowage space available for additional equipment. Afterward he set up hardware for a Russian science experiment that remotely measures methane and carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere.
