Advertisers compelled to take the Russian route face a complicated, transoceanic and transatmospheric journey if they want to promote goods and services aboard the new station -- and that trailblazing path leads first through Moscow, then to a launch site at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

In each of the recent cases, corporate intermediaries that are well connected in the world of Russian aerospace brokered the deals.

Space Media Inc., a subsidiary of the U.S. firm Spacehab, worked to get both LEGO and Popular Mechanics onboard the station.

Radio Shack and LunaCorp primarily did their business through MirCorp, a commercial space exploration company that is based in Amsterdam but has offices co-located with Russian aerospace giant RSC Energia in Moscow.

Pizza Hut's research and development unit worked with the Russian Institute of Baking for almost a year to come up with a recipe for a pizza that could be launched to the station and safely consumed by its resident tenants.

There were microbiology tests to make certain that no bacteria would spawn within pizza dough, sauce or toppings and other tests aimed at making certain the product would have a stable shelf life aboard the international station.

Ultimately, a recipe featuring salami was selected because researchers found that pepperoni would not withstand a rigorous 60-day testing process, the results of which were reviewed by no fewer than three Russian aerospace and food service organizations.

Radio Shack's talking picture frames were subjected to vacuum chamber and flammability tests, and the frames ultimately had to be fixed up with wires that had Teflon rather than PVC insulation to make certain they would pose no safety hazard aboard the outpost.

The plastic used to manufacture LEGO's toy robots -- and the glue that holds them together -- also were tested before the Mars Planet Protector and 300 miniature "aliens" were given a green light for the Soyuz flight to the station.

Nonetheless, the companies all seemed to think the hassle was worth the trouble. For Pizza Hut, the company can now lay claim to delivering the first pizza to outer space, Popular Mechanics is now the first consumer magazine ever delivered to the International Space Station.

Radio Shack now has a catchy television commercial airing nationally at a time when people nationwide are scrambling to find just the right Father's Day gift for Dad.

The LEGO Company -- which has a long history of involvement with space education programs -- now has an unusual tool with which to market its recently debuted "Life on Mars" toy series. The toy manufacturer is now launching a traveling truck show featuring its space-tested toys along with a nationwide contest aimed at inspiring a new generation of engineers and astronauts.

"Basically, the reason we went up there was twofold: One, it was to tell people about our cool product and two, it was to conduct an [educational] experiment," said Melinda Carter, a spokeswoman for LEGO Americas in Enfield, Connecticut.

Stringing a spindly "Martian surveillance robot" along a slingshot-like device inside the space station, Musabayev and Baturin carried out an experiment aimed at showing how the mass of an object can be gauged by measuring the way it oscillates when put in motion in weightlessness.

They also toted 300 "miniature alien" toys to and from the station, about 200 of which will be awarded to the winners of a national contest that challenges children use LEGOs to build robots and spaceships like those that could survive trips to Mars.

"We can't deny the fact that we're trying to get people to recognize our product. It's always good, no matter how strong your brand is, to continue to get it out to the public," Carter said.

"But what we are so excited about -- especially after we've seen what all the other companies have done [on the station] -- is that we stuck to the values of the company and tied it into an educational program."