The Expedition 27 prime and backup crewmembers participated in ceremonial activities involving the raising of the Russian U.S. and Kazakh flags.

Outside their Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, the Expedition 27 prime and backup crewmembers participated in ceremonial activities involving the raising of the Russian, U.S. and Kazakh flags on March 23, 2011. Pictured from left to right are prime crewmembers Ron Garan of NASA, Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev and Andrey Borisenko and their backups, Dan Burbank, Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin. Garan, Samokutyaev and Borisenko are scheduled to launch on April 5 (April 4, U.S. time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station on the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft that has been dubbed “Gagarin”, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the launch of Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961 to become the first human to fly in space. Credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov