Soyuz launcher is erected on the launch pad

The Soyuz launcher carrying the Soyuz TMA-15 spacecraft is erected on the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on 25 May 2009. ESA astronaut Frank De Winne is scheduled to launch to the ISS together with Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk at 12:34 CEST on 27 May 2009. Their arrival at the ISS two days later will increase the size of the resident Expedition crew from three to six for the first time. The launch marks the start of De Winne's OasISS mission which sees him spend six months on the Station, initially as a Flight Engineer for Expedition 20. With a crew rotation due in October, he later takes over as ISS Commander for Expedition 21 - he will be the first European to take on this role.