‘Incompatible’ ISS Crew Ditched, THE MOSCOW TIMES
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Emerging Markets DatafileFebruary 05, 2004
THE MOSCOW TIMES
RUSSIA
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‘Incompatible’ ISS Crew Ditched, THE MOSCOW TIMES
Simon Saradzhyan
RUSSIA
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Cosmonauts Gennady Padalka, left, Andre Kuipers, center, and Michael Fincke will go to the ISS as the Expedition 9 crew in April.
The crew lined up for the next flight to the international space station in April will be changed after cosmonaut Valery Tokarev and U.S. astronaut Leroy Chiao developed “a psychological incompatibility” during training, Russian space officials said Wednesday.
The switch will be the second for the Expedition 9 crew, which is scheduled to lift off for the ISS on April 19. NASA replaced its first choice astronaut for the flight, William McArthur, with Chiao on Jan. 12, saying McArthur had experienced “temporary medical issues.”
Chiao had been preparing with Tokarev at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City outside Moscow, but the two didn’t hit it off, a Russian Aviation and Space Agency official said by telephone Tuesday.
“One of the factors was a psychological incompatibility,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
So the trip instead will be made by cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and U.S. astronaut Michael Fincke, who were previously slated to fly to the ISS in the fall as Expedition 10, the official said.
Also going on the April flight is the European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers of the Netherlands.
Kuipers will spend a few days aboard the ISS before returning to Earth with cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri and U.S. astronaut Michael Foale, who are currently living on board the station.
Tokarev and McArthur — who has already overcome his health problems – - are now planned to fly as Expedition 10, the space official said.
He said NASA was already aware of the planned switch and it would take about two weeks to complete the paperwork giving the U.S. side notification of the plan.
Sergei Remezov / Reuters
Valery Tokarev and Leroy Chiao undergoing training at the Gagarin Center on Jan. 21. NASA spokeswoman Deborah Rahn said by telephone from Washington that she had “no official information” about the switch.
A NASA representative in Moscow confirmed he knew about the plan but said he had not heard of any personal conflicts between Chiao and Tokarev.
Although Padalka and Fincke are now in line to become the next ISS crew, they may end up grounded if either develops health problems or fails to pass a final check at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in April, the Russian space official said.
Chiao and cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov are now training as their backup crew in Star City, he said.
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