Expedition 14 Preflight

American spaceflight participant Anousheh Ansari gives a thumbs up as she prepares for pressure checks on her Russian Sokol suit at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Monday, Sept. 18, 2006, in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 10:09 a.m. local time carrying Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, Soyuz Commander and Expedition 14 Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin and American spaceflight participant Anousheh Ansari, who will spend nine days on the International Space Station under a commercial agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)