Expedition 11 Press Conference

Expedition 11 backup crew Robert Thirsk of Canada, left, American Dan Tani, Russian Commander Mikhail Tyurin and prime Expedition 11 crew Commander Sergei Krikalev, fourth from left, Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer John Phillips and European Space Agency Astronaut Roberto Vittori of Italy, right, talk to the press, Thursday, April 14, 2005, prior to the April 15 launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. 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)