spacetoday.net: ISS partners confirm April launch of replacement crew

Posted: Sat, Mar 29, 2003, 7:05 PM ET (0005 GMT)
Soyuz launch (Energia file photo)

A Soyuz spacecraft will launch late next month carrying a two-person replacement crew for the International Space Station, the ISS partner nations confirmed this week. The Soyuz TMA-2 spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 26 at 10:50 am EDT (1450 GMT), according to a statement issued by the Russian space agency Rosaviakosmos on Thursday. The Soyuz will carry a two-man "caretaker" crew for the station to replace the three-man Expedition Six crew currently on the station; that crew will return to Earth in the Soyuz spacecraft currently docked to the station. In the wake of the Columbia accident in February, the partners agreed to use two-person crews on the station to conserve resources until the shuttle returns to flight. The crew will not be officially named until April 18, Rosaviakosmos officials said, but will likely include American astronaut Ed Lu and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko. Florida Today reported Friday that an internal NASA status report named Lu and Malenchenko as the members of the crew, while collectSPACE published a version of the Expedition Seven mission patch that lists Lu and Malenchenko.