spacetoday.net: Soyuz launched to ISS

Posted: Mon, Sep 18, 2006, 7:00 AM ET (1100 GMT)
Soyuz TMA-9 launch (RSC Energia)

A Soyuz spacecraft carrying the next ISS crew and a private passenger lifted off early Monday. A Soyuz rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 12:09 am EDT (0409 GMT) Monday, placing the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft into low Earth orbit. On board the spacecraft are two members of the ISS Expedition 14 crew, Mikhail Tyurin and Michael Lopez-Alegria. The third passenger on the Soyuz is Anousheh Ansari, a private passenger widely considered to be the first female space tourist. The Soyuz is scheduled to dock with the ISS at 1:24 am EDT (0524 GMT) Wednesday. Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria will spend the next six months on the station, while Ansari will return about a week after the docking with returning members of the Expedition 13 crew.