Crew Lifts Off From Kazakhstan to Begin Science and Construction Work Aboard the International Space Station

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HOUSTON -- NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov
and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi
safely launched aboard a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space
Station on Sunday. Liftoff occurred at 3:52 p.m. CST from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The three Soyuz crew members are scheduled to dock with their new home
at 4:58 p.m., Tuesday. They will join Expedition 22 crew members Jeff
Williams, a NASA astronaut and the station commander, and Max Suraev,
a Russian cosmonaut and station flight engineer, aboard the orbiting
laboratory.

The station's five residents have some busy months ahead. Kotov and
Suraev will conduct a planned spacewalk in January from the Pirs
airlock, part of the station's Russian segment. Less than a week
later, Williams and Suraev will fly the Soyuz spacecraft that brought
them to the station from its current location on the end of the
outpost's Zvezda service module to the new Poisk module. In February,
the crew will welcome a Progress unmanned resupply ship and space
shuttle Endeavour's STS-130 mission. Endeavour and its crew will
deliver the new Tranquility node and its cupola, one of the last
major portions of the station to be installed.

Coverage of the docking of Creamer, Kotov and Noguchi will begin on
NASA Television at 4:30 p.m. NASA TV will return at 6 p.m. for
coverage of the hatches opening and the welcoming ceremony between
the two crews, which will take place at about 6:29 p.m. For NASA TV
streaming video, schedule and downlink information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about the space station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

Source: NASA