jsc2017e136096 - Expedition 54-55 backup crewmembers Jeanette Epps of NASA (left), Sergey Prokopyev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos, center) and Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency (right) arrive at the launch site at the Baikonur

jsc2017e136096 - Expedition 54-55 backup crewmembers Jeanette Epps of NASA (left), Sergey Prokopyev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos, center) and Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency (right) arrive at the launch site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Dec. 4 following a flight from their training base in Star City, Russia. They are serving as backups to the prime crew, Scott Tingle of NASA, Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), who will launch Dec. 17 on the Soyuz MS-07 spacecraft for a five-month mission on the International Space Station...Andrey Shelepin/Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.