Two Russian cosmonaut crews have been named for the final mission to the Mir space station to be launched in February 2000. The prime crew is rookie Sergei Zaletin and Alexander Kaleri, a Mir veteran.
A two-person back-up crew has been named as Salizham Sharipov - who flew on the US Space Shuttle in 1998 - and another Mir veteran, Pavel Vinogradev.
This crew would fly another mission to Mir if Russian space officials can locate funds.
NASA, meanwhile, has named Frank Culbertson to replace Ken Bowersox on the International Space Station (ISS) Expedition Crew 3 mission, to be launched on a Soyuz booster in 2001. Bowersox resigned from the mission for personal reasons but will still serve as back-up to William Shepherd on the ISS Expedition Crew 1 in 2000.
An already-named Expedition Crew 2 will fly next year. Culbertson, who has been grounded for five years while he has served as manager of the Shuttle-Mir and ISS programmes, will fly with Vladimir Dezhurov and Mikhail Turin, and will be designated ISS Commander.
Source: Flight International
