Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov, along with American astronaut Michael Fincke and spaceflight participant Richard Garriott, arrived at the International Space Station today to become the station's 18th resident crew since Expedition 1 launched in 2000. The Soyuz TMA-13 spcaecraft docked with the Zarya module at 4:26 a.m. EDT to complete a two day orbital rendezvous with the complex.
VIDEO: SOYUZ POSTDOCKING VIDEO FILE VIDEO: POSTDOCKING NEWS CONFERENCE AND MEDIA EVENT VIDEO: HATCH OPENING AND WELCOMING CEREMONY VIDEO: SOYUZ TMA-13 DOCKS WITH THE SPACE STATION VIDEO: SOYUZ TMA-13 DOCKING COMMENTARY ALL-ACCESS SUBSCRIBERS: WATCH THE SOYUZ TMA-13 EXPEDITION 18 FULL DOCKING COVERAGE As the Expedition 17 crew - commander Sergey Volkov and flight engineers Oleg Kononenko and Gregory Chamitoff - waited inside the Zvezda service module to greet the new arrivals, the Soyouz slowly approached below the station and began the final rendezvous and docking maneuver. Video showed the spacecraft approach beneath the Russian segment of the space station on course for docking with Zarya's nadir, or Earth-facing, docking port. Soyuz gently made contact with the docking adapter and a few moments later, latches engaged to firmly join the two craft together. Docking was followed by 90 minutes of leak checks before the hatches between Soyuz the station were opened and the three space travelers floated into Zarya, where they were greeted by their Expedition 17 counterparts. Following their arrival, all six astronauts gathered in front of a video camera for a short welcoming ceremony with their family members and Russian and U.S. space officials on the ground. "Welcome to your new home," Kirk Shireman, Space Station Program Deputay Manager for NASA, called up to the astronauts. "We wish you all the best and look forward to seeing you either at home in a few days or in six months." During the next week and a half of docked operations, the Expedition 17 crewmembers will familiarize their replacements with the station and get them up to speed with the different activities and experiments taking place onboard the orbiting complex before they hand off control of the station to Expedition 18. Michael Fincke will command Expedition 18, taking the place of Volkov, while Lonchakov will serve a flight engineer in addition to Soyuz commander. Gregory Chamitoff, who joined Expedition 17 after being dropped off by space shuttle Discovery on mission STS-124, will remain on the station as part of Expedition 18 before he returns home on Endeavour on STS-126, scheduled for launch in mid-November. Owen Garriott became the first second-generation American to fly in space, following in the footsteps of his father Owen Garriott, a former Skylab astronaut and space shuttle mission specialist who flew on STS-9 in 1983. Garriott became the sixth spaceflight participant to fly to the space station, a trip he paid the Russian government around $30 million to make. While the Garriott's have become the first American father-son astronaut pair, it was Sergey Volkov who became the first son of a space traveler to fly in space also. He is the son of Alexander Volkov, who flew on the Russian Mir space station almost 20 years ago. Both fathers were in Russian mission control in Korolev outside Moscow for today's docking. "Congratulations to the crew that just arrived on board the space station," radioed the elder Volkov. "We're glad to see all of you together after the new crew spent two days in the coldness and the crowdedness of the Soyuz capsule. Congratulations on your meeting in space and I wish you all the best." This is Finke's second stint as a resident crewmember on ISS. He served as flight engineer in 2004, but this will be his first as commander. This is Lonchakev's third trip to the station. He made flights previously in 2001 and 2002. However, this is the first time serving on a long-duration crew. (The Spacearium / Space Media Corporation)
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