NASA and its International Partners Assign Space Station Crews

HOUSTON — NASA and its international partners have assigned five new International Space Station crews and made changes to four previously assigned station crews.

Among the newly announced crews for future station missions is the assignment of NASA astronauts Ron Garan, who was born in Yonkers, N.Y.; Mike Fossum, who grew up in McAllen, Texas; Dan Burbank, who considers Yarmouthport, Mass., his hometown; and Don Pettit, who was born in Silverton, Ore. European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers and Satoshi Furukawa, an astronaut with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, also have been assigned to upcoming crews.

Changes were made to previously announced station crews that include multiple alterations to Russian cosmonaut assignments: Alexander Skvortsov replaces Alexander Kaleri as the Soyuz 21 commander and Expedition 24 commander; Feodor Yurchikhin replaces Skvortsov as the Soyuz 23 commander and Expedition 24/25 flight engineer; Kaleri replaces Dmitri Kondratiev as the Soyuz 24 commander and Expedition 25/26 flight engineer; and Kondratiev replaces Andrew Borisienko as the Soyuz 25 commander and joins Expedition 26 as a flight engineer.

Additional cosmonauts assigned to upcoming crews are Alexander Samkutyayev, Sergei Volkov, Anton Shkaplerov, Sergei Revin and Oleg Kononenko.

Details of future station expeditions, along with the Soyuz spacecraft aboard which the crew members will launch and land, are:

Expedition 27 (begins in March 2011, with the undocking of Soyuz 24):
— Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratiev, station commander (Soyuz 25)
— NASA astronaut Catherine Coleman, flight engineer (Soyuz 25)
— European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli (Soyuz 25)
— Russian cosmonaut Alexander Samokutyayev (Soyuz 26)
— Russian cosmonaut Andrei Borisienko (Soyuz 26)
— NASA astronaut Ron Garan (Soyuz 26)

Coleman and Nespoli also are members of the Expedition 26 crew.

Expedition 28 (begins with Soyuz 25 undocking):
— Russian cosmonaut Andrei Borisienko, station commander (Soyuz 26)
— Russian cosmonaut Alexander Samokutayev (Soyuz 26)
— NASA astronaut Ron Garan (Soyuz 26)
— Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov (Soyuz 27)
— NASA astronaut Mike Fossum (Soyuz 27)
— JAXA astronaut Satoshi Furukawa (Soyuz 27)

Expedition 29 (begins with Soyuz 26 undocking):
— NASA astronaut Mike Fossum, station commander (Soyuz 27)
— JAXA astronaut Satoshi Furukawa (Soyuz 27)
— Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov (Soyuz 27)
— Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov (Soyuz 28)
— Russian cosmonaut Sergei Revin (Soyuz 28)
— NASA astronaut Dan Burbank (Soyuz 28)

Expedition 30 (begins with the Soyuz 27 undocking):
— NASA astronaut Dan Burbank, station commander (Soyuz 28)
— Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov (Soyuz 28)
— Russian cosmonaut Sergei Revin (Soyuz 28)
— Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko (Soyuz 29)
— European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers (Soyuz 29)
— NASA astronaut Don Pettit (Soyuz 29)

Expedition 31 (begins with the Soyuz 28 undocking):
— Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, station commander (Soyuz 29)
— ESA astronaut Andre Kuipers (Soyuz 29)
— NASA astronaut Don Pettit (Soyuz 29)

Three additional crew members for Expedition 31 have yet to be assigned. They will travel to and from the station aboard Soyuz 30.

For more information about the space station and its crew, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station

To find out how to see the station from your backyard, visit: http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings