On board with Ansari were Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and US astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, who were to join German astronaut Thomas Reiter on the station just over 48 hours after liftoff.

• 与安萨里同行的是俄罗斯宇航员米凯尔·秋林和美国宇航员迈克尔·洛佩兹-阿里格利亚，他们将在48个多小时后和已在空间站的德国宇航员托马斯·里特会合。