With the statue of Vladimir Lenin serving as a backdrop at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, the Expedition 39/40 prime and backup crewmembers pose for pictures March 13 before boarding a plane for the flight to their launch site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. From left to right are backup crewmembers Barry Wilmore of NASA and Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), and prime crewmembers Steve Swanson of NASA, Alexander Skvortsov of Roscosmos and Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos. Swanson, Skvortsov and Artemyev will launch to the International Space Station March 26, Kazakh time , in the Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft for a six-month mission.
NASA/Stephanie Stoll
Details