Expedition 36/37 Flight Engineer Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency boards the spacecraft.

At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 36/37 Flight Engineer Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency boards the Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft in the Integration Facility May 24 in support of the final “fit check” dress rehearsal by the prime and backup crews. Parmitano, and his crewmates, Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg of NASA and Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin are preparing for launch May 29, Kazakh time, in the Soyuz to begin a 5 ½ month mission on the International Space Station.

NASA/Victor Zelentsov