"We have to assume that the shuttle will be grounded for an extended period of time," the US space agency chief told lawmakers in the House of Representatives, explaining that an agreement had been reached with Moscow to use Soyuz rockets to relieve the current space station crew and replace them with a new team.

"As of yesterday, we have agreed to use the Russian Soyuz emergency egress spacecraft that are rotated twice a year to rotate the crew aboard the International Space Station.

"The next flight will be going up late April, early May, to bring back the current three members of the crew," O'Keefe said.

James Oberg in a report for NBC News said cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and astronaut Ed Lu will be launched aboard Soyuz TMA-2 May 5 . NASA has not yet officially confirmed the selection of these two veteran spacemen, but internal NASA documents about the crew were obtained by NBC.

Originally, the Soyuz TMA-2 had been slated for launch April 27, but delays in the final fabrication of the vehicles has pushed this back to around 5, with launch soon after midnight GMT (8pm EST May 4).

Oberg's NBC report said, this would lead to a Soyuz TMA-1 landing on about May 13, after 195 days of flight. A Soyuz TMA has a certified maximum mission duration of 210 days, but Russian engineers think this could be safely pushed out a few more weeks.

The Soyuz TMA-2 crew will replace US astronauts Ken Bowersox and Don Pettit and Russian cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin. In his testimony to Congress, O'Keefe said Russian officials have agreed to "accelerate the flights of the Progress," the vehicles that bring supplies to the station.

During the same hearing on NASA's 2004 fiscal-year budget, Texas Democrat Nick Lampson announced a bill that would allow NASA to finance the Soyuz and Progress missions if Washington deems the financing necessary to guarantee the crews' safety. Such financing is not permitted under current US law.

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