Commission approves crew of next ISS expedition

REUTERS

"Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin, NASA astronaut Kathleen Rubins and the Japanese Space Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi have been approved as the main crew members," Roscosmos said, TASS wrote.

Read alsoMcCain presses U.S. Air Force, Pentagon over Russian enginesThe launch of the Soyuz-FG carrier rocket with the Soyuz MS spacecraft is scheduled for 04:36 Moscow time on July 7. The spacecraft is expected to dock to the Russian ISS segment at 07:12 Moscow time on July 9.

It will be the second spaceflight for Ivanishin, and Rubens and Onishi have not flown into space so far.