It is here at Baikonur that Russia launches its cosmonauts into space, on the same launch pad that sent Yuri Gagarin on his historic flight. Very early this morning we visited the Soyuz assembly building to see the rocket rollout. Two days before the launch, the Soyuz is placed on the flatbed of a train and transported to the launch pad. It was freezing cold, but there was a huge crowd of military dignitaries, NASA people, and the media all here to
see this beautiful event. In the early morning darkness, the doors were opened and the rocket was carefully placed on the train. Once it was secured it began its slow trip across the 2500 acre cosmodrome to the launch pad. Our group caught up with it on the 
open steppes just as the sun began to peek above the horizon. Gathered here were many well known cosmonauts and astronauts including Mike Barrett who is on the backup crew for this mission. He is scheduled to fly on Expedition 19 in late March, and has been living and training in Star City. Since he is technically in quarantine in 
case he has to replace an Expedition 18 crew member, we had to stand back to chat with him. Also in the crowd was astronaut Sunni Williams, who flew on Expedition 15 to the ISS. She made a little space history by running in the Boston marathon, from space! She registered for the race before she left Earth, and when the time came, strapped herself to the treadmill on the International Space Station and ran the marathon in 4 hours and 20 minutes. Considering that she was also orbiting Earth as she ran, she technically covered over 71,000 miles!
After about an hour, we could see the train off in the distance. It slowly approached, carrying its massive load. From a distance, it was hard to appreciate the size of the Soyuz, but once it came closer, it was impressive. One interesting note: in the United States, we transport our launch rocket, the space shuttle, standing upright, but in Russia they transport their launch rockets horizontally. As it got even closer, we could see
the 5 massive rocket engines. They would supply the power to lift the Expedition 18 crew over 200 miles into space! From there we drove to the launch pad to see the rocket raised from the train to its final upright 
position. On the side of the white outer shroud that covers the Soyuz spacecraft, we could see the flags of Russia and the United States, symbolizing the cooperation between out two countries. What a change from the Cold War of the 1950s and 1960s! As we watched, the green crane that had held the rocket in place began to slowly raise the rocket skyward.
It was an impressive sight against the pale blue sky.Owen Garriott, father of space participant Richard Garriott, was on hand to watch the event. Mr. Garriott is a former NASA astronaut who flew on our country's first space station, Skylab. Now his son is flying to our latest space station, the ISS. They are the first American parent and
child to fly in space. Richard Garriott grew up in Houston , Texas, where the astronauts live and train. It was always his dream to become an astronaut, but he discovered that his poor eyesight would disqualify him. Now, years later
, his dream is coming true. Through the company Space Adventures, Richard purchased a seat on the Russian Soyuz traveling to the ISS. His father, Owen, took a moment to chat with Renita Fincke, the wife of astronaut Mike Fincke, who is commander of Expedition 18. Fincke is due to launch on October 12th for a 6 month stay aboard the ISS. The rocket was ready, and all that was left was to place a crew inside of it. That would come on Sunday at 1:01 PM Kazakhstan time. Until then, we would have to wait. Our group spent time touring the rest of the facilities at the cosmodrome, anticipating launch day.
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