A Soyuz Spacecraft Approaches the Space Station
			
		
		
			Credit : 
ISS Expedition 11 Crew, 
NASA
		
		
			Last month, a Soyuz TMA-7 spacecraft docked with the International Space Station.  
The spacecraft was 
launched a few days earlier from the 
Baikonur Cosmodrome 
in Kazakhstan.  
Pictured above, the approaching 
Soyuz spacecraft 
carried the new 
Expedition 12 crew to the Earth-orbiting 
International Space Station (ISS), as well as 
fee-paying spaceflight participant.  
The Expedition 12 crew is expected to stay on the ISS for about six months, 
while replacing the 
Expedition 11 crew who had been on the station for about six months themselves.  
About a week after this image was taken, the 
Expedition 11 crew returned to Earth in the Soyuz capsule, along with the 
spaceflight participant.  
The Expedition 12 crew will carry out repairs on the 
ISS, explore new methods of living in space, and conduct 
research in space including a 
kidney stone
experiment.