high res (1.2 M) low res (75 K)
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JSC2004-E-19671 (14 April 2004) --- The Expedition 9 prime and backup crewmembers speak to members of the State Commission from behind glass at building 254 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, prior to their final fit check in the Soyuz. They are seated from left to right: astronaut Leroy Chiao, NASA backup commander; cosmonaut Salizhan S. Sharipov, Russia’s Federal Space Agency backup flight engineer; cosmonaut Gennady I. Padalka, Russia’s Federal Space Agency Expedition 9 mission commander; astronaut Edward M. (Mike) Fincke, NASA International Space Station (ISS) science officer and flight engineer; and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andre Kuipers of the Netherlands. European Space Agency (ESA) backup astronaut Gerhard P. J. Thiele of Germany is not pictured. Fincke, Padalka and Kuipers are scheduled to launch onboard the Soyuz TMA-4 vehicle on April 19, 2004, to the ISS for arrival on April 21. Padalka and Fincke will spend six months on the ISS, replacing the Expedition 8 crew, which has been aboard the Station since October 20, 2003. Kuipers, who is flying under a commercial contract between ESA and Russia’s Federal Space Agency, will return to Earth with the Expedition 8 crew on April 30, 2004. Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
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