Expedition 14 Preflight

Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, far right, Soyuz Commander and Expedition 14 Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, second from right, American spaceflight participant Anousheh Ansari, not pictured, and their backup crew meet with Russian and American officials moments before boarding the bus to head to the Soyuz launch pad, Monday, Sept. 18, 2006, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 10:09 a.m. local time. Anousheh 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)