jsc2017e100901

jsc2017e100901 (July 18, 2017) --- Expedition 52-53 backup crewmembers Mark Vande Hei of NASA (left), Alexander Misurkin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos, center) and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA, right) watch as an amateur rocket takes flight by the statue of Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space, in the town of Baikonur, Kazakhstan July 18 during traditional pre-launch ceremonies. They are serving as backups to Randy Bresnik of NASA, Sergey Ryazanskiy of Roscosmos and Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency, who will launch July 28 on the Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome for a five-month mission on the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov