Cosmonaut Dropped From Joint Mission

A senior Russian cosmonaut was dropped from the first U.S.-Russian crew bound for NASA’s planned international space station amid a struggle over which nation will command the orbiting outpost, said U.S. officials in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Space flight veteran Anatoly Solovyev was to be a member of the first crew assigned to the space station, along with U.S. astronaut William Shepherd. But earlier this month, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was told Solovyev would not fly and cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko would replace him.