Stock Photo - Astronaut Edward M. (Mike) Fincke (left), NASA International Space Station (ISS) science officer and flight engineer; European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andre Kuipers (center) of the Netherlands; and cosmonaut Gennady I. Padalka (right), Russia's Federal Space Agency Expedition 9 mission commander, arrive at building 254 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, for their final fit check in the Soyuz. The trio is scheduled to launch on April 19, 2004, to the ISS for arrival on April 21. Padalka and Fincke will spend six months on the ISS, replacing the Expedition 8 crew, which has been aboard the Station since October 20, 2003. Kuipers, who is flying under a commercial contract between ESA and Russia's Federal Space Agency, will return to Earth with the Expedition 8 crew on April 30, 2004.

Stock Photo: Astronaut Edward M. (Mike) Fincke (left), NASA International Space Station (ISS) science officer and flight engineer; European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut.

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