NINTH CREW OF INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

The ninth crew of the International Space Station rocketed into orbit from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome at 11:19 p.m. EDT on April 18, 2004, headed for a rendezvous with their orbital home two days later. After their Russian Soyuz spacecraft docks with the station, Expedition 9 Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA ISS Science Officer Mike Fincke will replace the current Expedition 8 crew, Mike Foale and Alexander Kaleri. European Space Agency Astronaut Andre Kuipers will arrive with Padalka and Fincke, and return with Foale and Kaleri on April 29. (UPI Photo/Bill Ingalls/NASA)