WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

Astronaut Leroy Chiao (bottom), Expedition 10 commander and NASA International Space Station (ISS) science officer, cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov (center), Russia’s Federal Space Agency flight engineer and Soyuz commander, and Russian Space Forces cosmonaut Yuri Shargin (top) along with other personnel exit the plane at Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The crew will prepare for their launch on the Soyuz TMA-5 spacecraft October 14, 2004, to the ISS. Chiao and Sharipov will spend six months on the Station, while Shargin will return to Earth October 23 (U.S.A. time) with cosmonaut Gennady I. Padalka, Expedition 9 commander, and astronaut Edward M. (Mike) Fincke, NASA ISS science officer and flight engineer, who have been in space since April.