Russia, which provides the only link to the International Space Station from Earth, named on Saturday three new crew members to replace the current two-man crew in October, Interfax news agency reported. Anatoly Perminov, head of Russia's space agency Roskosmos, was quoted as saying Russian Salizhan Sharipov, NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao and Yuri Shargin, a lieutenant-colonel in Russia's space forces, were due to blast off on October 9. Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and NASA's Michael Fincke have been manning the 16-nation station since mid-April and they will return home aboard a Soyuz spacecraft with Shargin, who will stay aboard the space station for 10 days to carry out experiments. The latest crew will be the 10th for the station. Russia has launched all manned and cargo ships to it since February 2003, when the United States grounded its shuttle fleet after Columbia disintegrated on re-entry, killing the seven astronauts on board.
