With smooth precision, a new Soyuz spacecraft docked with the international space station at 12:01 a.m. EST, giving the lab's full-time crew a fresh lifeboat to replace an aging spacecraft nearing the end of its certified 200-day orbital lifetime.

The replacement lifeboat, the first of a new breed of upgraded Soyuz TMA spacecraft, was delivered by a three-man "taxi" crew made up of Soyuz commander Sergei Zalyotin, flight engineer Yuri Lonchakov and Belgian Frank DeWinne, a European Space Agency astronaut. The new TMA lifeboat features a variety of upgrades, including larger seats to accommodate taller U.S. astronauts.

Zalyotin guided the Soyuz TMA to a picture-perfect automated linkup with the Pirs docking compartment, an airlock module attached to a downward facing port on the station's Zvezda command module. Zalyotin, Lonchakov and DeWinne plan to spend eight days aboard the international space station before strapping into the lab's older Soyuz TM spacecraft, currently docked to the downward facing port of the Russian Zarya module, and returning to Earth for a landing around 7 p.m. EST Nov. 9.

NASA had planned to launch the shuttle Endeavour to the station later that same night - in the early morning hours of Nov. 10 - setting up a docking the night of Nov. 11. But senior agency managers decided Thursday to delay the launching one day to give station commander Valery Korzun, flight engineer Sergei Treschev and science officer Peggy Whitson more time to prepare and to adjust their sleep cycles between the departure of the Soyuz taxi crew and the arrival of Endeavour.

"Endeavour's flight will complete a year for the shuttle program that has included a complex overhaul of the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as four flights to add over 45 tons of components to the international space station," said shuttle program manager Ronald Dittemore. "The shuttle team's achievements are remarkable and they have done a great job getting Endeavour ready to go."

Endeavour's exact launch time will not be revealed until the day before liftoff. But NASA managers say liftoff will occur between midnight and 4 a.m. on Nov. 11. An updated flight plan, based on the new launch date and window, is posted below.

The goal of the 112th shuttle flight is to deliver a third solar array truss segment to the station and a fresh three-man crew to replace the lab's current occupants. Korzun, Treschev and Whitson, the station's fifth full-time crew since permanent occupation began two years ago this Saturday, were launched to the outpost June 5. When they land aboard Endeavour on Nov. 21, they will have logged 169 days in space.

Their replacements - Expedition 6 commander Kenneth Bowersox, flight engineer Nikolai Budarin and science officer Donald Pettit - plan to remain aboard the station for at least four months before returning to Earth around March 13.

As mentioned above, Saturday marks the second anniversary of the permanent occupation of the international space station. The first full-time crew, launched aboard a Soyuz spacecraft, docked with the station Nov. 2, 2000. The outpost has been manned ever since, by five three-person crews.

"In the past 12 months, 33 people have visited or lived aboard the orbiting complex," NASA said in a press release Thursday. "A total of 112 visitors have been aboard the station since it was launched, including men and women from six nations. The first crew members docked with the station to begin its permanent occupancy on November 2, 2000. Five three-person crews have lived aboard for durations ranging from four to more than six months. In its second year of occupancy, astronauts and cosmonauts have conducted 16 spacewalks for maintenance and assembly of the station."

Over the past two years, the station has grown by more than 200,000 pounds and its internal volume has increased "from that of an efficiency apartment to a three-bedroom house," NASA said in the press release.

This year, station assembly has focused on construction of a huge solar array truss that eventually will stretch longer than a football field, carrying more than an acre of solar panels. Two of the 11 segments needed to complete the truss are in place and Endeavour's crew - commander James Wetherbee, pilot Paul Lockhart and spacewalkers Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington - will deliver the third. That will increase the beam's length to 133 feet and complete the station's primary cooling system.

Video coverage for subscribers only:
   VIDEO: DOCKING AS SEEN BY CAMERA ON THE SOYUZ QT or RV
   VIDEO: VIEW FROM STATION'S S1 CAMERA OF DOCKING QT or RV
   VIDEO: TAXI CREW ENTERS STATION AFTER HATCH OPENING QT or RV
   VIDEO: LAUNCH OF THE SOYUZ ROCKET QT or RV
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