The International Space Station Expedition Seven crew will be launched in a Soyuz capsule from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, no earlier than April 26, 2003. The crew will dock with the Space Station two days later.

The Expedition Seven crew has not been formally named for the rotation flight. Two NASA astronauts, Ed Lu and Michael Foale, and two Russian cosmonauts, Russian Air Force Col. Yuri Malenchenko and Alexander Kaleri, are training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, Star City, Russia. The Station International Partners will select one astronaut and one cosmonaut for Expedition Seven in mid-March.

The Partners agreed to launch only two crewmen on the Soyuz flight. The decision to reduce the crew size was based on the temporary grounding of the Shuttle fleet, which limits the capability to deliver consumables, such as water, to the Station. A planned, unmanned Russian Progress supply vehicle will be launched to the Station in June. The Expedition Six crew, Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA Station Science Officer Don Pettit, will return to Earth aboard the Soyuz TMA-1 craft in May, 2003.

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