Debra Rahn/Allard Beutel<br />Headquarters, Washington April 1, 2003<br />(Phone: 202/358-1638/4769)<br /><br /><br />Rob Navias<br />Johnson Space Center, Houston<br />(Phone: 281/483-8651)<br /><br /><br />RELEASE: 03-127<br /><br /><br />EXPEDITION 7 CREW SET TO LAUNCH <br /><br /><br /> Veteran Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko (Col., <br />Russian Air Force) and veteran NASA astronaut Ed Lu have <br />been named as the primary crew for the planned April 26, <br />2003, launch of a Russian Soyuz TMA-2 spacecraft to the <br />International Space Station.<br /><br /><br />Malenchenko and Lu will be called the Expedition 7 crew. <br />Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri and NASA astronaut <br />Michael Foale are the backup crewmembers to Malenchenko and <br />Lu.<br /><br /><br />Expedition 6 Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai <br />Budarin and NASA Space Station Science Officer Don Pettit <br />will return to Earth aboard the Soyuz TMA-1 craft in May <br />2003. The three Expedition 6 crewmembers were launched on <br />November 23, 2002. They have been aboard the Station since <br />November 25. They were originally scheduled to return in <br />March aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis during the STS-114 <br />mission.<br /><br /><br />Malenchenko commanded a four-month mission aboard the Mir <br />Space Station in 1994. He participated in the STS-106 <br />mission aboard Atlantis in 2000 to prepare the International <br />Space Station for permanent human occupancy.<br /><br /><br />Lu is a veteran of two Shuttle flights. In 1997, he flew <br />aboard Atlantis to the Mir Space Station on the STS-84 <br />mission to exchange U.S. residents on the Russian complex, <br />and he joined Malenchenko on STS-106. Malenchenko and Lu <br />were originally scheduled to fly with Kaleri on Expedition 7 <br />to the Station, which had been scheduled to launch on the <br />STS-114/ULF-1 (Utilization and Logistics Flight-1) mission <br />in March. Malenchenko and Lu will continue to operate the <br />science payloads already on board, as well as maintaining <br />the Station.