Expedition 11 Launch Day

Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev, seated, is outfitted in his Russian Sokol suit, Friday, April 15, 2005, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Krikalev, along with Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer John Phillips and European Space Agency Astronaut Roberto Vittori, of Italy, were preparing for launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at daybreak on April 15 for a two-day trip to the International Space Station. Krikalev and Phillips will spend six months on the station, replacing Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov, while Vittori will spend eight days on the Station under a commerical contract between ESA and the Russian Federal Space Agency, returning to Earth with Chiao and Sharipov on April 25. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)