OREANDA-NEWS. October 10, 2008. In accordance with the approved International Space Station (ISS) Russian Segment (RS) mission program, the ISS-18 expedition is planned to last from Oct. 12, 2008 (launch of the Soyuz TMA-13 crew vehicle) to April 5, 2009 (landing of the Soyuz TMA-13 crew vehicle). Duration of the expedition is 175 days.

ISS-18 crew:

   • Michael Fincke (USA)- ISS Commander
   • Yury Lonchakov (Russia)- ISS Flight Engineer-1
   • Gregory Chamitoff (USA)- ISS Flight Engineer-2
   • Sandra Magnus (USA)- ISS Flight Engineer-2 (rotation of the ISS Flight Engineer-2, Endeavour STS-126)
   • Koichi Wakata (Japan)- ISS Flight Engineer-2 (rotation of the ISS Flight Engineer-2, Discovery STS-119).
   46 experiments are to be carried out during ISS-18 expedition:
   • 41 experiments were initiated during the previous expeditions;
   • 5 experiments are new.
   The experiments are to be conducted in the following research areas:

   • space technology and material science experiments- 2;
   • geophysical experiments (new experiment - Impulse) - 4;
   • life-science experiments - 7;
   • study of the Earth natural resources and ecological monitoring (new experiment -Rusalka (Mermaid)) - 2;
   • space bio-technology - 14;
   • technical research and experiments - 4;
   • integrated analysis and program formation. Efficiency assesment - 7;
   • study of space rays - 1;
   • space education (new experiments - Physics- Education, MAI-75)-3;
   • contract activities (new experiment - EXPOSE-R) - 2.