At the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, Expedition 40/41 backup crewmembers Terry Virts of NASA (left) and Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency (right) share a light moment May 15 during ceremonies to mark the crew’s departure for their launch site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for final pre-launch training. Virts, Cristoforetti and Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) are the backups to the prime crew -- NASA Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman, Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency and Soyuz Commander Max Suraev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) -- who will launch on May 29, Kazakh time, in the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft from Baikonur for a 5 ½ month mission on the International Space Station.
NASA/Stephanie Stoll
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