SPACE STATION CREW READY FOR SATURDAY LAUNCH

The next crew for the International Space Station is making last-minute preparations for launch to the orbiting laboratory. The launch is scheduled for Saturday Oct 18 at 1:38 a.m. EDT.

Expedition 8 Commander Michael Foale, Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency (Rosaviakosmos), and Spain’s Pedro Duque of the European Space Agency (ESA) are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a Soyuz vehicle. Docking with the Station is Monday Oct. 20. Duque will return to Earth Oct. 27 with the Expedition 7 crew, Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA Station Science Officer Ed Lu.

Live NASA Television coverage begins Saturday Oct. 18 at 12:30 a.m. EDT.

NASA Television is available on AMC-9, transponder 9C, C-Band, located at 85 degrees west longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz. For information about NASA TV on the Internet, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html