Soyuz TMA-8 mission launch, March 2006. This is the Soyuz TMA-8 mission, the 29th manned flight to the International Space Station (ISS). The astronauts are in the uppermost stage, mounted above the rocket. This Soyuz rocket lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on 30 March 2006. On board were the ISS Expedition 13 Crew, Commander Pavel Vinogradov (Russia) and Flight Engineer Jeffrey Williams (USA). Also on board was Flight Engineer Marcos Pontes, Brazil's first astronaut. Pontes returned to Earth with the ISS Expedition 12 Crew in the TMA-7 return capsule, but the Expedition 13 Crew remained on board the ISS. Photographed on 30 March 2006.