The next crew members of the International Space Station left on Saturday for the launchpad in Kazakhstan from where they will blast off on April 15. Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, NASA astronaut John Phillips and Italian Roberto Vittori of the European Space Agency left the Star City flight training center outside Moscow for Baikonur in the Kazakh steppe, from where they are to blast off to the station on board a Russian Soyuz ship on Friday at 0046 GMT. They will dock at the station two days later. Vittori is to return to Earth in another Soyuz after a 10-day stint on the station, along with the current crew, Russian Salizhan Sharipov and American Leroy Chiao, who have been on the space station since October. Krikalev and Phillips will stay on the station. Their six-month mission will involve the U.S. space shuttle's return to flight.
