03/29/06: Expedition 13 to Launch Tonight; ISS Observes Eclipse.

Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams launch tonight at 02:30 UT (21:30 EST) aboard a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Joining them for several days before returning home with Expedition 12 is Brazil’s first astronaut Marcos Pontes. Live coverage of the launch on NASA TV begins at 01:45 UT (20:45 EST).

The Soyuz rocket stands ready at the launch pad, awaiting the final preparations for launch on Wednesday, March 29. Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev have readied the station for the March 31 arrival of Expedition 13. McArthur, Tokarev and Pontes will undock from the station and land in Kazakhstan April 8. On Wednesday, the crew captured some spectacular photographs of the Moon's shadow on the Earth during the eclipse.

The shadow of the Moon falls on Earth as seen from the International Space Station, 370 km (230 miles) above the planet, during a total Solar eclipse at about 10:50 UT (05:50 EST) Wednesday, March 29. Image credit: NASA

This morning, the crew spoke about today's Solar eclipse. Astronaut Jeff Williams said the reaction to the eclipse on the day of the launch of the 13th crew of the International Space Station reminds "all of us who work in the space exploration program just what our purpose is, for discovery and exploration, and understanding the unknown."

The shadow of the Moon moved in a northeasterly direction, beginning in Brazil and across the Atlantic, northern Africa, western China and Mongolia. Its longest totality duration was just over four minutes in western Libya, about 2,012 km (1,250 miles) south of Tripoli a little after 10:00 UT (05:00 EST).

Astronaut Jeffrey Williams said the reaction to the eclipse on the day of the launch of the 13th crew of the International Space Station reminds "all of us who work in the space exploration program just what our purpose is, for discovery and exploration, and understanding the unknown."

He said such phenomena have, throughout history, inspired people to explore and discover, "to understand why things like that happen."

Williams, the NASA science officer on the station's Expedition 13 crew, is to launch with E13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov to the station tonight at 02:30 UT (21:30 EST) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, where they spoke to media this morning, to begin their stay in space.

Brazilian Space agency Astronaut Marcos Pontes (left), Expedition 13 Flight Engineer Jeff Williams (center); Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

With them will be Marcos Pontes, Brazil's first astronaut, who will spend about eight days on the station and return with the Expedition 12 crew, which is wrapping up its six-month stay in orbit. Pontes said he saw the eclipse as a good omen for the start of the mission.

Vinogradov said he found the event an interesting astronomical phenomenon. He said he had no opinion about whether it was good or bad.

Many people in the path of the eclipse were a good deal more excited about the event. Some likened it to the end of the world while others feared ill effects from the event. Some saw it as a religious experience.

Many, including some Americans who had traveled great distances to see the eclipse, said it was a fascinating and exciting natural phenomenon.

Vinogradov didn't share their excitement: "We just know that the Moon was between the Earth and the Sun," he said.

- courtesy of NASA