There's going to be a lot of activity at NASA Television, as they will broadcast the launch of the next International Space Station crew October 12 and the landing of the current crew on October 23. NASA's Expedition 18 Commander and Science Officer Mike Fincke, Soyuz Commander and Flight Engineer Yury Lonchakov and spaceflight participant Richard Garriott, a U.S. citizen, are scheduled to launch Sunday, October 12, at 3:01 a.m. EDT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Their Soyuz TMA-13 craft will dock to the station on Thursday, October 14. Garriott will fly to the station under an agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency.

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NASA Flight Engineer Greg Chamitoff, who has been on the station since June, will remain with Fincke and Lonchakov until the arrival of space shuttle Endeavour on its STS-126 mission, whch is targeted to launch in November. NASA astronaut Sandy Magnus will arrive on that flight to replace Chamitoff, who will come home on Endeavour. Expedition 17 and Soyuz Commander Sergei Volkov, Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko and Garriott will return to Earth Thursday, October 23, at about 11:46 p.m., in their Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft now docked to the station. Volkov and Kononenko have been aboard the complex since April. The events to be broadcast on NASA TV's public and media channels include (all times approximate, EDT):

• October 12, Sunday
  • 1:15 a.m. — Expedition 18 / spaceflight participant video b-roll of prelaunch activities
  • 2:00 a.m. — Expedition 18 / spaceflight participant live launch coverage (launch scheduled at 3:01 a.m.)
  • 6 a.m. — Expedition 18 / spaceflight participant postlaunch video file
  
  
• October 14, Tuesday
• 4 a.m. — Expedition 18 / spaceflight participant Soyuz docking to station and post-docking news conference live coverage (docking scheduled for 4:38 a.m.)
• 5:30 a.m. — Expedition 17 / spaceflight participant hatch opening to station live coverage (hatch opening scheduled for 6 a.m.)
• 9 a.m. — Expedition 17 / spaceflight participant docking & hatch opening video file feed


• October 23, Thursday
• 4:45 p.m. — 5:30 p.m. — Expedition 17 / spaceflight participant farewell & Soyuz hatch closure live coverage (hatch closure scheduled for 5:15 p.m.)
• 8 p.m. — 8:45 p.m. — Expedition 17 / spaceflight participant Soyuz undocking from the station live coverage (undocking scheduled for 8:20 p.m.)
• 10:30 p.m. — 1:00 a.m. — Expedition 17 / spaceflight participant Soyuz deorbit burn and landing in Kazakhstan live coverage (deorbit burn scheduled for 10:56 p.m.; landing scheduled for 11:46 p.m.)


• October 24, Friday
• 3 a.m. — Expedition 17 / spaceflight participant Soyuz post—landing video file feed

For those readers who may have a history in, or enjoy the environment of, computer gaming, Richard Garriott is the legendary game designer and programmer of many spectacular titles under the ORIGIN label, such as the Ultima series. You can read his blog regarding his upcoming space adventure at this direct link. He also happens to be the son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, so the Austin, Texas, resident comes by his "hankerin' for space" quite naturally.