The The Soyuz TMA-4 vehicle blasts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Monday, April 19, 2004 carrying Expedition 9 Commander Gennady Padalka, Flight Engineer and NASA International Space Station Science Officer Michael Fincke and European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers of the Netherlands to the International Space Station. Padalka and Fincke will spend six months on the Station, while Kuipers returns home April 30 with the Expedition 8 crew members. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls) vehicle blasts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Monday, April 19, 2004 carrying Expedition 9 Commander Gennady Padalka, Flight Engineer Mike Fincke and European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers of the Netherlands to the International Space Station. Padalka and Fincke will spend six months on the Station, while Kuipers returns home April 30 with the Expedition 8 crew members. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)