From left to right: Flight Engineer Konstantin M. Kozeev, Soyuz Commander Victor M. Afanasyev and Flight Engineer Claudie Haigneré.

Two Russian cosmonauts and a French astronaut delivered a new Soyuz spacecraft loaded with supplies and equipment and performed science at the International Space Station. Soyuz Commander Victor Afanasyev made his fourth trip into space, while Flight Engineer Konstantin Kozeev, both cosmonauts representing Rosaviakosmos, completed his first. Making her second flight into Earth orbit was Flight Engineer Claudie Haigneré. Though she represented CNES, or the French Space Agency, Haigneré flew for the European Space Agency under contract with Rosaviakosmos. Afanasyev and Haigneré are both veterans of previous missions to the Mir Space Station.

The Expedition Three crew poses with Soyuz 3 Taxi Flight crew inside the International Space Station.

On October 21, 2001, at 4 a.m. CDT (0900 GMT) the Soyuz 3 Taxi Flight crew launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The crew arrived at the International Space Station and docked to the Zarya Module's Earth-facing port on October 23, 2001, at 5:44 a.m. CDT (1044 GMT). After arriving the station and receiving safety briefings from the Expedition Three crewmembers, both crews began eight days of joint operations and scientific research. Haigneré led the science effort with investigations into materials research, life sciences and meteorology. The Soyuz 3 Taxi Flight crewmembers were the only visitors during Expedition Three's increment. The STS-108 shuttle mission delivered the Expedition Four crew and returned the Expedition Three crew home.

Nearly 10 days after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Taxi crewmembers undocked from the orbital outpost on October 30, 2001, at 7:39 p.m. CST (Oct. 31 at 0139 GMT). They left behind the brand new Soyuz spacecraft they arrived in and returned to Earth in a Soyuz TM-32 docked to the space station six months earlier. The Soyuz 3 Taxi Flight crew de-orbited and ended its mission with a landing on the Kazakh Steppes at 10:58 p.m. CST Oct. 30, 2001 (0458 GMT Oct. 31).