Expedition 16 Preflight

Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson dons her flight suit prior to launch, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Expedition 16 Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko, Whitson, and Malaysian spaceflight participant Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at sunset n their Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft bound for a docking to the International Space Station on Oct. 12. Whitson and Malenchenko will spend six months on the station, while Shukor will return to Earth Oct. 21 with two of the Expedition 15 crewmembers currently on the complex. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)