Expedition 36 Preflight

Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA Director-General, center, talks with unidentified ESA manager as an Orthodox Priest waits for Expedition 36/37 Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), Flight Engineers: Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg of NASA, and, Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency, so that he may preform the traditional blessing prior to the three crew members departing the Cosmonaut Hotel for launch onboard a Soyuz to the International Space Station, Tuesday, May 28, 2013, Baikonur Kazakhstan. The crew's Soyuz rocket is scheduled to launch at 2:31a.m., Wednesday May 29, Kazakh time. Yurchikhin, Nyberg, and, Parmitano, will remain aboard the station until mid-November. Photo credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)