jsc2013e048416

At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 36/37 backup Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency boards the Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft in the Integration Facility May 24 in support of the final “fit check” dress rehearsal by the prime and backup crews. Wakata is supporting prime crewmembers Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg of NASA, Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency, who are preparing for launch May 29, Kazakh time, in the Soyuz to begin a 5 ½ month mission on the International Space Station. NASA/Victor Zelentsov