New ISS Crew Confirmed

The crew for the next mission to depart for the International Space Station on Tuesday has been confirmed.

Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeny Tarelkin, as well as NASA astronaut Kevin Ford will depart from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan on a Soyuz TMA-06M on Tuesday afternoon local time and will dock with the ISS on October 25.

Novitsky has been named the commander of the new mission on the ISS and Ford thanked the ground services for preparing the new crew for the space flight.

"We are completely prepared to complete our mission," Ford said in Russian after being confirmed a member.

This will be Novitsky and Tarelkin's first time in space; however, Ford already has space experience, flying on an American shuttle in 2009. This will be the first time Ford travels to the ISS on a Russian Soyuz rocket.

They will join the current crew consisting of NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yury Malenchenko and Japan's Akihiko Hoshide.

Source: RIA Novosti