American Commander William Shepherd and Russians Yury Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalyov will blast off on the Russian space craft Soyuz, said Valery Riumin, director of the Russian side of the ISS programme, cited by ITAR-TASS news agency.

Meanwhile the Russian constructors of the Zvezda service module -- which is to be the living and working quarters of the crews on the ISS -- said Zvezda was technically ready for its launch on July 12, at a meeting Monday in Korolyov, near Moscow.

"All the queries that emerged during the tests have been ironed out," said Riumin, vice-president of space construction firm Energiya, on RTR state television.

Zvezda will be launched from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan by a Proton rocket.

Its construction cost Russia 320 million dollars, according to ITAR-TASS.

If the module does not automatically with the ISS within two days, two Russian cosmonauts, Gennady Padalka and Nikolai Budarin will be dispatched into space to carry out a manual docking on August 10.

The international space station, a project which involves 16 countries, including the United States, Canada, Japan and Russia, will be a 100-meter (yard) long complex of more than 100 components weighing more than 450 tonnes.

The giant station is due to remain in orbit until at least 2013.

The ISS is currently comprised of two modules -- the US-built Unity and the Russian module Zarya.

ISS Portal at NASA

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Satellite Launch To Boost DTH In India
Calcutta, India (SPX) Dec 28, 2005
The successful launch Thursday of India's heaviest satellite from spaceport of Kourou in French Guyana may have boosted the country's space research efforts to yet another level, but it has also lifted the spirits of at least three Direct-To-Home televisions broadcasters, one of which has been waiting for years to launch its services in India.