NASA formally announces Expedition 7 station crew Apr 02, 2003 ( taken from SpaceFlightNow )

Veteran Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko (Col., Russian Air Force) and veteran NASA astronaut Ed Lu have been named as the primary crew for the planned April 26, 2003, launch of a Russian Soyuz TMA-2 spacecraft to the International Space Station.

Cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko (foreground) and astronaut Ed Lu train at Johnson Space Center's virtual reality lab. Photo: NASA

Malenchenko and Lu will be called the Expedition 7 crew.Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri and NASA astronautMichael Foale are the backup crewmembers to Malenchenko andLu.

Expedition 6 Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer NikolaiBudarin and NASA Space Station Science Officer Don Pettitwill return to Earth aboard the Soyuz TMA-1 craft in May2003. The three Expedition 6 crewmembers were launched onNovember 23, 2002. They have been aboard the Station sinceNovember 25. They were originally scheduled to return inMarch aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis during the STS-114mission.

Malenchenko commanded a four-month mission aboard the MirSpace Station in 1994. He participated in the STS-106mission aboard Atlantis in 2000 to prepare the InternationalSpace Station for permanent human occupancy.

Lu is a veteran of two Shuttle flights. In 1997, he flewaboard Atlantis to the Mir Space Station on the STS-84mission to exchange U.S. residents on the Russian complex,and he joined Malenchenko on STS-106. Malenchenko and Luwere originally scheduled to fly with Kaleri on Expedition 7to the Station, which had been scheduled to launch on theSTS-114/ULF-1 (Utilization and Logistics Flight-1) missionin March. Malenchenko and Lu will continue to operate thescience payloads already on board, as well as maintainingthe Station.

Malenchenko and Lu flew aboard Atlantis in 2000. This is a dramatic image of that launch showing the shock wave condensation collars backlit by the sun during ascent. Photo: NASA