Expedition 8
The next crew of the International Space Station has been named. Expedition 8, which will launch on October 18, will consist of NASA astronaut Michael Foale and cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri, who was originally scheduled to be a member of the Expedition 7 crew, before it was decreased to two people. Interestingly, since command of ISS is rotating back to the US with Exp. 8, British-born Foale will serve both as ISS Commander and Science Officer. Foale's assignment to ISS represents a new step for NASA. Foale's five previous spaceflights included a four month incriment on Mir, giving him a total of 178 days in space already. NASA has never before assigned an astronaut to two long-duration flights, and the current U.S. duration record holder, Carl Walz, has spent only 231 days in space over several flights, including a 6 1/2 month stay on ISS. Foale's roughly 6 month stay on station will give him a total over around a year in space, far and away a new record for NASA, though not even in the top 15 worldwide (Walz, for example, ranks 30th in the world for total spaceflight duration, and Foale's stationmate Kaleri has already logged 416 days in space [Exp. 8 will likely move him up to number 5 in the all-time ranking]).
Accompanying Foale and Kaleri on their launch to ISS will be ESA astronaut Pedro Duque (perhaps best known to Americans for being a member of the STS-95 crew that also included John Glenn), who will return to Earth on Oct. 28, 8 days after docking with ISS, with Exp. 7 crewmembers Ed Lu and Yuri Malenchenko (who may or may not be married at that point).

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