Iss Expedition 10 Crew Endorsed

MOSCOW. Aug 28 (Interfax) – Chief of the Russian Federal Space Agency, (Roscosmos) Anatoly Perminov, has authorized the crew list for the next expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), Roscosmos press secretary Vyacheslav Davidenko told Interfax on Saturday.

The members of the Expedition 10 crew to the ISS will be Russian cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov and NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao.

The third chair in the Soyuz spacecraft to deliver the crew to the ISS will be occupied by Lt. Col. Yury Shargin of the Russian Space Forces.

The standby crew will include Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev and NASA astronaut William McArthur.

The launch is scheduled for October 9. The preparations have begun at the Russian space center Baikonur in Kazakhstan.

Sharipov and Chiao will relieve the Expedition 9 crewmembers, Gennady Padalka and Michael Fincke, who will have worked onboard the orbiting outpost for half a year.

The third crewmember, Shargin, will stay 10 days onboard the station to perform an extensive research program and will return to Earth together with Padalka and Fincke.

American millionaire Gregory Olsen and Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky earlier trained to fly to the station as space tourists. However, both were found unfit for the flight for medical reasons.