Credit: NASA

Yuri Shargin, a lieutenant-colonel in Russia's Air Force, will fill the third seat in the Soyuz with the Expedition 10 crewmembers. He will spend eight days aboard the Station conducting scientific experiments before returning to Earth with the Expedition 9 crew.

Shargin is a test cosmonaut for the Russian Space Forces making his first flight into space.

Shargin was born on March 20, 1960, in Engelstown, Saratov, Russia. He graduated from high school in Engels in 1977 and entered the Air Force Mozhaisky Military Engineer Institute in Leningrad. He graduated from the Institute as an aircraft mechanical engineer in 1982. Upon graduation, he served in Strategic Missile Forces at the Baikonur launch site as an engineer and senior engineer until 1986. From 1987 to 1996 he served as a military representative at RSC ENERGIA, performing the duties of a lead engineer assistant, lead engineer and group lead.

Shargin was selected as a cosmonaut-researcher candidate of the Strategic Missile Forces in May 1996. He attended basic training from June 1996 to March 1998; upon completion of his training, he was qualified for flight assignment as a test cosmonaut. In September 1998 he joined the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center cosmonaut corps as a test cosmonaut. He began advanced training for his flight aboard the International Space Station in October 1998. In February 2002 he passed to the control of the Russian Defense Ministry Space Force Commander.

Shargin has been a member of the GCTC cosmonaut corps as a Russian Defense Department representative since May 2002.