MISSION OVERVIEW

Expedition Seven



To Improve Life Here, To Extend Life to There, To Find Life Beyond.

That is NASA's vision.

Yuri Malenchenko,
Expedition Seven Commander:

"The fact that we are together and that it's an international project
allows us to continue this effort. We have the capabilities of different
countries that we can put together to continue. I think that our
Expedition confirms that, shows that we continue working even in such a
difficult time period.

We still have our program. It looks different, but we will continue
working. We will continue supporting the station. We will continue
performing scientific experiments."

Dr. Ed Lu,
Expedition Seven Flight Engineer and NASA ISS Science Officer:
 
"Oh, obviously it's a great challenge. And, we wouldn't be in this
business if we didn't like big challenges. I mean, that's what the whole
program is about: doing something that's difficult. And that's why I'm
really looking forward to it.

. in 10 or 20 years, when we look back at this, I think . I hope they
say, 'Hey, they did a really good job keeping this going. And in the
end, look at what they made out of this.' That's kind of our real goal
here as this increment is to keep that thing moving. Keep our momentum
going."

Malenchenko is a veteran cosmonaut who was commander of the Mir 16
mission in 1994. He also flew on STS-106 in September 2000, during which
he performed a 6-hour, 14-minute spacewalk with Lu to connect power,
data and communications cables to the newly arrived Zvezda Service
Module. Lu, a research physicist, began his astronaut training in 1995,
and has flown in space twice. Having flown together previously has
uniquely prepared Malenchenko and Lu for their mission.

To understand and protect our home planet...To explore the Universe and
search for life...To inspire the next generation of explorers...as only
NASA can.

That is NASA's mission.



A Mission of Education and Science

In late April, Expedition Seven Commander Yuri Malenchenko (Col.,
Russian Air Force) and NASA International Space Station Science Officer
and Flight Engineer Ed Lu will launch on the Soyuz TMA-2 spacecraft for
a two-day flight to the space station. Malenchenko and Lu will assume
formal control of the station from the Expedition Six crew -- Commander
Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science
Officer Don Pettit, after six days of handover activities.

The two-person Expedition Seven crew will focus its activities on
station operations and maintenance, though research will continue, as
will science-focused education activities and Earth observations. 

The crew will devote more than 200 hours to U.S., Russian and other
partner research that will focus on human life sciences, as well as
physics and chemistry, and their applications in materials and
manufacturing processes. The station will also continue to serve as a
platform to study the Earth's environment. Indeed, Earth observations
are expected to occupy a large share of the crew's time. 

Among Expedition Seven's most important functions, however, will be to
provide motivation and inspiration for today's youth, the next
generation of explorers. One of the crew's experiments allows middle
school students to control a camera on the space station to take
pictures of the Earth. The students will use these images to study the
Earth's geography and environment. These young people will add to human
knowledge using information that only the space station can provide.

This crew will also build on the education efforts of Expedition Six ISS
Science Officer Don Pettit, whose explanations and activities from his
"Saturday Morning Science" demonstrations focused on physical phenomena
in microgravity. Lu is expected to continue those demonstrations, taking
advantage of available time on orbit to reach out to students and
researchers.



Station Work Carries On

The Expedition Seven crewmembers will live and work in a 198-ton space
station that is 171 feet long, 240 feet wide and 90 feet high. They will
work and live in four modules: the Zvezda Service Module, the Zarya
Control Module, the Unity Node and the Destiny Laboratory. They also
have the Pirs Docking Compartment and Quest Airlock at their disposal.

Malenchenko and Lu are expected to spend about six months aboard the
space station. During that time, they will oversee the upgrade of one or
two new station software packages, scheduled to be installed in early
summer and in the fall. The first upgrade will prepare the station for
the additional truss segments that will be delivered and installed
during the STS-115/12A mission. The second will bring the station to the
STS-116/12A.1 software configuration, which will involve adding another
section to the Integrated Truss Structure. Performing these software
upgrades during Expedition Seven will give ground controllers extra time
to test the new software before the assembly elements are actually
brought to the station and installed.

Malenchenko and Lu will also work with the station's robotic arm, the
Canadarm2. Their robotics work will focus on continuing observations of
the state of the station's exterior, maintaining operator proficiency
and completing a checkout of the entire robotics system. 

Two unmanned Progress cargo craft are scheduled to dock with the station
during Expedition Seven, bringing food, water, clothing, personal items,
fuel and equipment. The Progress 11 spacecraft is scheduled to launch in
early June, and the Progress 12 is scheduled to launch in late summer.
In another station first, when the Progress 11 docks to the station,
there will be three Russian vehicles docked at the same time - Progress
10 docked to the aft port of Zvezda, the Soyuz TMA-2 docked to Zarya,
and Progress 11 at the Pirs Docking Compartment. Periodic, routine
reboosts of the station's altitude can be accomplished by firing the
engines on either of the Progress spacecraft.

The first visitors Malenchenko and Lu will likely see will be their
replacements, the Expedition Eight crew. That crew is scheduled to be
launched aboard the Soyuz TMA-3 in mid-October. After about a week of
joint operations and handover activities, Malenchenko and Lu will return
to Earth aboard the Soyuz TMA-2 that brought them to the station. The
TMA-3 will remain at the station for the use of the Expedition Eight
crew.



ISS Expedition Facts

Expedition One

Launch		Oct. 2000 
Mission		ISS Flight 2R
Return		March 2001
Duration		137 Days


Expedition Two

Launch		March 2001 
Mission		STS-102
Return		Aug. 2001
Duration		148 Days


Expedition Three

Launch		Aug. 2001 
Mission		STS-105
Return		Dec. 2001
Duration		117 Days


Expedition Four

Launch		Dec. 2001 
Mission		STS-108
Return		June 2002
Duration		181 Days


Expedition Five

Launch		June 2002 
Mission		STS-111
Return		Nov. 2002
Duration		171 Days


Expedition Six

Launch		Nov. 2002 
Mission		STS-113
Return		May 2003
Duration		TBD


Expedition Seven

Launch		April 2003 
Mission		Soyuz TMA-2
Return		Oct. 2003 
Duration		TBD