Expedition 31 crewmembers Gennady Padalka, Joe Acaba and Sergei Revin have arrived in Baikonur a couple of days ago ahead of their 15 May launch to the International Space Station.
Expedition 31 crewmembers are welcomed to Baikonur (Credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov)
One of the most experience cosmonauts, with over 585 days in space and two previous long duration stays on the ISS, Gennady Padalka will command their Soyuz TMA-04 spacecraft.
Scheduled to arrive at the ISS on 17 May, they will be welcomed on board by current ISS residents Oleg Kononenko, André Kuipers and Don Pettit. Whilst Oleg, André and Don are scheduled to return to Earth on 1 July, Gennady, Joe and Sergei will remain on board the ISS until mid-September.
More photos of the preparations for their spaceflight are available in the Nasa2Explore Flickr photoset. Video of their departure from Star City in Moscow is available on the NASAtelevision YouTube channel.
More about the new Expedition 31 crewmembers on the PromISSe mission website.
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