Expedition 14 Preflight

Expedition 14 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria receives a blessing at the Cosmonaut Hotel the morning of his launch onboard the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft, Monday, Sept. 18, 2006 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome 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)