high res (0.9 M) low res (87 K)
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JSC2004-E-19674 (14 April 2004) --- Astronaut Edward M. (Mike) Fincke (left), NASA International Space Station (ISS) science officer and flight engineer, gives a thumbs up as he walks to the Soyuz capsule along with cosmonaut Gennady I. Padalka (right), Russia’s Federal Space Agency Expedition 9 mission commander, and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andre Kuipers of the Netherlands (left, out of frame) at building 254, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. The crew performed a final fit check in the Soyuz. The trio is scheduled to launch 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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