WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan -- The Soyuz rocket is erected at the launch pad. Expedition Seven is scheduled to launch onboard the Soyuz April 26, 2003. Cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, commander, and astronaut Ed Lu, NASA science officer and flight engineer, were named as the primary crew, Expedition 7, for the launch to the International Space Station. Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri and NASA astronaut Michael Foale are the backup crewmembers to Malenchenko and Lu. Expedition 6 Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA Space Station Science Officer Don Pettit will return to Earth aboard the Soyuz TMA-1 craft in May 2003. The three Expedition 6 crewmembers were launched on Nov. 23, 2002. They have been aboard the Station since November 25. They were originally scheduled to return in March aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis during the STS-114 mission. Malenchenko and Lu will continue to operate the science payloads already on board, as well as maintaining the Station.