Expedition 16 Preflight

The Soyuz launch pad is seen prior to the arrival of the Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft, Monday, Oct. 8, 2007, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The Soyuz was transported by railcar to its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome for an October 10th launch date, when it will carry Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson, Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko and Malaysian spaceflight participant Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor to the International Space Station. Whitson and Malenchenko will spend six months on the station. Shukor, who is flying under an agreement between Malaysia and the Russian Federal Space Agency, will return to Earth October 21 with two of the Expedition 15 crew members currently on the complex. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)