Expedition 31 Preflight

Expedition 31 NASA backup crew member Kevin Ford signs for his Soyuz vehicle simulation test card before senior officials at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, Monday, April 23, 2012 in Star City, Russia, while his fellow crew members Oleg Novitskiy (far left) and Evgeny Tarelkin look on. Expedition 31 prime crew members commander Gennady Padalka, flight engineers Joe Acaba and Sergei Revin practiced similar scenarios nearby in advance of their final approval for launch to the International Space Station, scheduled for May 15, 2012. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)