Expedition 17 Pre-launch Images from Kazakhstan

JSC2008-E-032248 (7 April 2008) --- At their crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 17 Commander Sergei Volkov (center), Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko (right) and South Korean spaceflight participant So-yeon Yi clasp hands for photographers on April 7, 2008, the eve of their launch to the International Space Station. Volkov, Kononenko and Yi are scheduled to launch to the station on the Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 8 and arrive at the ISS on April 10 to begin what will be six months in space for Volkov and Kononenko. Yi will be in space nine days on the complex, returning to Earth with two of the Expedition 16 crewmembers currently on the station. Photo Credit: NASA /Victor Zelentsov