1050p 11/16 Update: Magnus joins station crew; HD video test

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CBS NEWS STS-126 STATUS REPORT: 23
Posted: 10:40 PM, 11/16/08

By William Harwood
CBS News Space Analyst

Changes and additions:

   SR-21 (11/16/08): Endeavour docks with space station
   SR-22 (11/16/08): Hatches opened; shuttle crew enters space station; mission status briefing
   SR-23 (11/16/08): Magnus officially joins ISS-18 crew

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10:40 PM, 11/16/08, Update: Magnus officially joins ISS-18 crew; HD video test

Astronaut Sandra Magnus officially joined the Expedition 18 crew aboard the international space station today, replacing flight engineer Gregory Chamitoff, who was launched to the outpost May 31.

The official exchange occurred at 9:50 p.m. when Magnus' custom-fitted Soyuz seatliner was transferred from the shuttle Endeavour to the space station. From this point forward, Chamitoff will be considered a member of Endeavour's crew while Magnus will take his place aboard the station, joining ISS-18 commander Mike Fincke and flight engineer Yury Lonchakov.

A few minutes after the exchange, the Endeavour astronauts downlinked a short videotape of the shuttle's appraoch to the space station earlier today in a test of high definition video from space. The HD video showed the station as the shuttle performed a flip maneuver 600 feet directly below the outpost. The clip was accompanied by a downlinked recording of "The Blue Danube" by Johann Strauss, an obvious tribute to Stanley Kubrick's movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" and its famous space station approach footage.

"Good morning, Dave. This is HAL," astronaut James Dutton joked from mission control in Houston. "That looked pretty good."

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Quick-Launch Web Links:

CBS News STS-126 Status Reports:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/current.html

CBS News STS-126 Quick-Look Page:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/currentglance.html

NASA ISS Expeditions Page:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/index.html

NASA Shuttle Web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/index.html
NASA Station Web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/index.html
Spaceflight Now: http://spaceflightnow.com/index.html
GoogleSatTrack: http://www.lizard-tail.com/isana/tracking/

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