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.