The image of Yuri Gagarin looms over Expedition 39/40 backup Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev of Roscosmos as he began.

At the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, the image of Yuri Gagarin, the first human to fly in space, looms over Expedition 39/40 backup Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev of Roscosmos as he and his crewmates began two days of qualification exams March 4. The prime crew – Steve Swanson of NASA and Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos are preparing to launch to the International Space Station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 26, Kazakh time, in their Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft for a six-month mission.

NASA/Stephanie Stoll