Expedition 16: en route to the ISS

TYURATAM, Kazakhstan, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- A Soyuz rocket lifted off Wednesday from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome, en route to deliver the Expedition 16 crew to the International Space Station.

Cmdr. Peggy Whitson, flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko and spaceflight participant Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor of Malaysia are to arrive Friday at the space station.

The Expedition 15 crew -- Cmdr. Fyodor Yurchikhin, cosomonaut Oleg Kotov and astronaut Clay Anderson -- have been readying the station for its new residents, including resizing U.S. spacesuits for Whitson and Malenchenko. Yurchikhin and Kotov set up a work space in the Zvezda service module that will allow the visiting Shukor to perform several experiments during his nine days at the ISS.

Yurchikhin and Kotov are to leave the station Oct. 21 officially ending the Expedition 15 mission. Shukor is to return to Earth with the two cosmonauts. Anderson will remain onboard with Expedition 16 and return to Earth next month aboard space shuttle Discovery on its STS-120 mission.