Expedition backup crewmember Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos signs for the start of final qualification exams.

At the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, Expedition 49-50 backup crewmember Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos signs in Aug. 30 for the start of final qualification exams. Misurkin, Mark Vande Hei of NASA and Nikolai Tikhonov of Roscosmos are serving as backups to prime crewmembers Shane Kimbrough of NASA and Andrey Borisenko and Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos who will launch on Sept. 24 (Kazakh time) on their Soyuz MS-02 vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a five-month mission on the International Space Station.

NASA/Stephanie Stoll