Expedition 14 Preflight

American spaceflight participant Anousheh Ansari, left, Soyuz Commander and Expedition 14 Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin and Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, right, await to go through pressure checks on their Russian Sokol suits at the Baikonur Cosmodrome prior to launch, Monday, Sept. 18, 2006, in Kazakhstan. Their Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 10:09 a.m. local time. Ms. Ansari, will spend nine days on the International Space Station under a commercial agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)