Next space crew will have an Indian flavour

Sunita Williams, person of Indian origin, among four members designated to go to space station

BY A CORRESPONDENT
May 4, 2006

NASA astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria and Sunita Williams and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin have been named as the 14th crew of the International Space Station. Expedition 14 is scheduled to begin this fall.

Sunita Williams

Lopez-Alegria, a veteran of three space flights, will command Expedition 14 and serve as the NASA station science officer for the six-month mission. He and Tyurin, a veteran station crew member from Expedition 3, are in training to launch aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in September 2006. Tyurin will serve as flight engineer and Soyuz commander.

Williams will join Expedition 14 in progress and serve as a flight engineer, after traveling to the station on space shuttle mission STS-116. This will be Williams's first space flight.

Selected as an astronaut in 1992, Lopez-Alegria flew his first shuttle mission, STS-73, in 1995 and later visited the station on shuttle missions STS-92 in 2000 and STS-113 in 2002, conducting five spacewalks during the station assembly complex. He has logged more than 42 days in space, including 34 hours spacewalking. Lopez-Alegria
is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and received a Master of Science degree from the Naval Postgraduate School.

Williams was selected as an astronaut in 1998. She also is a graduate of the Naval Academy and received a Master of Science degree from the Florida Institute of Technology. Williams was designated a Naval aviator in 1989 and graduated from the Naval Test Pilot School in 1993. She has logged more than 2,770 flight hours in 30 different
types of aircraft. At NASA, Williams has served as a liaison in Moscow supporting Expedition 1 and has supported station robotics work.

Tyurin was selected as a cosmonaut in 1993 and was a flight engineer aboard the station for Expedition 3 in 2001. He has spent 125 days in space. Tyurin is a graduate of the Moscow Aviation Institute.

Astronaut Peggy Whitson is the backup commander for Expedition 14. Astronaut Clay Anderson is backup flight engineer. Cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko is the backup Soyuz commander and flight engineer.