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JSC2004-E-19710 (18 April 2004) --- The Expedition 9 prime and backup crewmembers talk to reporters from behind glass during a press conference held at the Cosmonaut Hotel, Baikonur, Kazakhstan. They are from left to right: astronaut Edward M. (Mike) Fincke, NASA International Space Station (ISS) science officer and flight engineer; cosmonaut Gennady I. Padalka, Russia’s Federal Space Agency Expedition 9 mission commander; European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andre Kuipers of the Netherlands; astronaut Leroy Chiao, NASA backup commander; cosmonaut Salizhan S. Sharipov, Russia’s Federal Space Agency backup flight engineer; and ESA backup astronaut Gerhard J. P. Thiele of Germany. Expedition 9 is scheduled to launch on April 19, 2004, to the ISS for an 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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