Submitted by Arthur – N1ORC

Malenchenko, Budarin and Bowersox will have a Soyuz descent and landing training session Wednesday to fine tune techniques Budarin will use on Saturday as he commands the return craft for its trip back to Earth. Bowersox, Budarin and Pettit will undock from the complex at 5:40 p.m. CDT May 3 en route to a landing in Kazakhstan at 9:03 p.m. that day.

Docking plan: The S-TMA2 arrives at the ISS on 28.04.03 at about 0550UTC and will somewhat later approach and dock. Over the Netherlands voice traffic about the approach can be monitored during ISS orbit 25321 between 0539-0547UTC via 121.750 mc and possibly also via 130.165 mc. Simultaneously Budarin can be active from ISS via 143.625 mc. The soft and hard mate will take place when both objects just have disappeared over the eastern horizon for Western Europe.

Submitted by Arthur - N1ORC
A remarkable week of spacewalk and science activities is winding down
for the International Space Station's Expedition 6 crew, Commander Ken
Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer
Don Pettit.

Submitted by Arthur - N1ORC
Expedition 6 crewmembers are finishing their 18th week on the International Space Station, preparing for a second spacewalk and for their return to Earth in a Russian spacecraft in May.

ISS Crew Works With Radiation Experiment
Expedition Six Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit began their 15th week Monday aboard the International Space Station.

The crew of the International Space Station's sixth expedition passed the benchmark of 100 days in space this week while focusing on routine maintenance of station systems and a survey of the station using the Canadarm2 robotic arm.

Submitted by Arthur - N1ORC

Approaching their 100th day in orbit, the International Space Station’s Expedition 6 crewmembers completed an important test of on-orbit spacewalk preparation this week, while program managers cleared the way for a crew rotation scenario that will bring the three-man crew back to Earth in Kazakhstan in May.

ISS Crew Returns to Full Work Schedule After only working half a day Monday, the Expedition Six crew returned to a full schedule Tuesday. NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit assisted ground controllers.....

The ARRL Letter from The American Radio Relay League reports that the members of the all-ham crew onboard the International Space Station said this week that while they grieve the loss of the shuttle Columbia crew, human space exploration must continue and they're ready to spend up to a year in space if necessary. The ISS crew made its first public comments since the February 1 shuttle disaster in two news conferences this week.

Submitted by Arthur - N1ORC

Science operations continue on the International Space Station. Basic and applied research is being conducted in biology, physics, chemistry, ecology, medicine, materials science, manufacturing and the long-term effects of space flight on humans.