April 14, 2005. Baikonur Cosmodrome.

A meeting of the State Board was held at which the Soyuz TMA-6 and ISS-11 prime and backup crews were approved, as well as a decision was made to continue the Soyuz-FG/Soyuz TMA-6 rocket & space complex processing for filling and launch within the scheduled time – on April 15, 2005, at 4:46 a.m. Moscow time.

The prime crew consists of: Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev, spacecraft commander and ISS-11 commander, flight cosmonaut of RF, test cosmonaut of S.P. Korolev Rocket&Space Corporation Energia; Dr. John Lynch Phillips, spacecraft flight-engineer, ISS-11 flight-engineer, NASA astronaut; Roberto Vittori, spacecraft flight-engineer, ISS visiting crew flight-engineer, Lieutenant Colonel of the Italian Air Force.

The backup crew consists of: Mikhail Vladislavovich Tyurin, spacecraft commander and ISS-11 commander, flight cosmonaut of RF, test cosmonaut of S.P. Korolev Rocket&Space Corporation Energia; Daniel Michio Tani, spacecraft flight-engineer, ISS-11 flight-engineer, NASA astronaut; Dr. Robert Brent Thirsk, spacecraft flight-engineer, ISS-11 flight-engineer, Canadian Space Agency astronaut.