Short-term Expedition To Arrive In ISS

The Soyuz TM-32 cargo spaceship will automatically undock from the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday. According to the Russian Mission Control, the vehicle will be subsequently docked to the Pirs, a new Russian docking unit of the ISS recently installed on the intermediate section linking the Russian Zarya and Zvezda modules, which are the main sections of the ISS. The vacant docking module will be used to dock to Soyuz piloted spaceship, which will be launched from the Baikonur launching site on October 21. The vehicle will deliver a short-term expedition, which includes Russian cosmonauts Viktor Afanasyev, the captain of the ship, Konstantin Kozeyev, the flight engineer and French astronaut Claudie Haignere. The crew is expected to stay aboard the ISS for about a week.