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NASA TV To Cover Soyuz Landing And Launch Events

HOUSTON - NASA Television will cover the March 16th return of three crew members who have called the International Space Station home for more than five months. The March 29th launch of three new residents to the station also will be televised and streamed on the agency's website.

NASA's Expedition 26 Commander Scott Kelly, Soyuz Commander Alexander Kaleri and Russian Flight Engineer Oleg Skripochka are scheduled to land the Soyuz TMA-01M spacecraft near the town of Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan at 2:48 a.m. CDT (1:48 p.m. Kazakhstan time) on March 16. Before departing, Kelly will hand over command of the station to Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev during a ceremony at 3:45 p.m. on March 14.

On March 29, NASA Flight Engineer Ron Garan, Russian cosmonaut and Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev and Russian Flight Engineer Andrey Borisenko will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 7:41 p.m. (6:41 a.m. Baikonur time March 30) in a Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft.

They will join the Expedition 27 commander Kondratyev; NASA astronaut Cady Coleman; and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli. The trio has been aboard the station since mid-December 2010.

NASA TV's scheduled coverage includes (all times Central):

Friday, March 11 2 p.m. - Video File of the Soyuz TMA-21 crew news conference at Star City, Russia, and visit to Red Square in Moscow Monday, March 14 3:45 p.m. - Expedition 26 change of command ceremony Tuesday, March 15 7:30 p.m. - Soyuz TMA-01M crew farewells and hatch closure (hatch closure at 8 p.m.) 11 p.m. - Undocking coverage (undocking at 11:24 p.m.) Wednesday, March 16 1:30 a.m. - Deorbit burn and landing in Kazakhstan (deorbit burn at 1:57 a.m., landing at 2:48 a.m.) 11 a.m. - Video File of the undocking and landing 4 p.m. - Video File of the landing and post-landing activities; including post-landing interview with Kelly and the cosmonauts' return to Chkalovsky Airfield, Star City, Russia Thursday, March 17 11 a.m. - Video File of the Soyuz TMA-21 crew departure for Baikonur ceremony at Star City, Russia Friday, March 25 11 a.m. - Video File of the crew activities in Baikonur Sunday, March 27 11 a.m. - Video File of the rocket mating and rollout to the launch pad in Baikonur Monday, March 28 4 p.m. - Video File of the final pre-launch crew news conference and Russian State Commission meeting in Baikonur Tuesday, March 29 6 p.m. - Video File of the crew pre-launch activities in Baikonur 6:45 p.m. - Launch coverage (launch at 7:41 p.m.) 10 p.m. - Video File of pre-launch, launch and post-launch interviews

Thursday, March 31 8:30 p.m. - Docking coverage (docking at 9:10 p.m. followed by the post-docking news conference from Mission Control, Moscow) 11:30 p.m. - Hatch opening and welcoming ceremony (hatch opening and welcoming ceremony at 12:10 a.m. April 1) Friday, April 1 1:30 a.m. - Video File of docking, hatch opening and welcoming ceremony

For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

Source: NASA