ISS crew prepares for repositioning

The Expedition 14 crew aboard the International Space Station was making final preparations Wednesday for a repositioning rocket firing.

The space station is to be moved to a higher orbit for the arrival of a Soyuz spacecraft carrying Expedition 15 crew members.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration mission controllers in Houston said a docked Progress 23 cargo craft will fire its engines Thursday to lift the station into the higher orbit, placing the station into the correct altitude for the upcoming Soyuz docking.

Two weeks later Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Suni Williams will enter their Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft to undock from the station and redock at another port. That relocation will allow Expedition 15 crew members to dock at the station when they arrive aboard a Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft.

The Expedition 15 crew launches from Russia April 7 and is scheduled to dock at the International Space Station on April 9. Expedition 14 will leave the station and return home in its Soyuz TMA-9 craft on April 20.

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