[2] Daisuke Enomoto was originally scheduled to be the spaceflight participant, but on 21 August 2006, he was determined to be unfit for the flight for medical reasons, and replaced by Anousheh Ansari, his back-up crew member.
It is of note because for three days, from 18–21 September 2006, it marked the first time since before the Columbia accident that twelve humans have been in space simultaneously; three aboard the International Space Station (Expedition 13), three aboard Soyuz TMA-9, and six aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis, flying mission STS-115.
The capsule launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a Soyuz-FG rocket at 09:08 MDS (04:08 UTC) on Monday 18 September 2006.
[3] It docked with the ISS on Wednesday 20 September to begin a six-month stay on the orbiting laboratory.
Anousheh Ansari, the spaceflight participant launched by TMA-9, returned to Earth alongside Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeffrey Williams of the Expedition 13 crew aboard Soyuz TMA-8 on 29 September 2006 at 01:13 UTC.