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With the statue of Vladimir Lenin serving as a backdrop, the Expedition 36/37 prime and backup crews pose for pictures May 16 at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. From left to right are backup Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, backup Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin and backup Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA, prime Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg of NASA, prime Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and prime Flight Engineer Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency. The activity marked the departure of the crews for their launch site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for final preparations for the launch of Nyberg, Parmitano and Yurchikhin May 29, Kazakh time, in the Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft and the start of a 5 ½ month mission on the International Space Station. NASA/Stephanie Stoll