Expedition 41 Crew Blessing

Expedition 41 Flight Engineer Elena Serova of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), left, receives the traditional blessing from a Russian Orthodox priest at the Cosmonaut Hotel prior to her launch on the Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station (ISS), Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. She and fellow crew mates, Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev of Roscosmos, right, and Flight Engineer Barry Wilmore of NASA, not pictured, will spend the next five and a half months living and working aboard the ISS. Wilmore chose not to participate in the blessing. Serova will become the fourth Russian woman to fly in space and the first Russian woman to live and work on the station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)