WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

Astronaut Leroy Chiao (right), Expedition 10 commander and NASA International Space Station (ISS) science officer; cosmonaut Salizhan S. Sharipov (center), Russia’s Federal Space Agency Expedition 10 flight engineer and Soyuz commander; and Russian Space Forces cosmonaut Yuri Shargin (left) donned their launch and entry suits and climbed aboard the Soyuz TMA-5 spacecraft October 5, 2004, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a dress rehearsal of launch day activities leading to their liftoff October 14 to the ISS. Chiao and Sharipov, the first crew of all-Asian extraction, 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.