Space Mission Preparations

Behind-the-scenes images of astronauts preparing for launch, donning space suits and undergoing checks before their missions to the ISS.

Expedition 25 Soyuz Commander Alexander Kaleri has his Russian Sokol Suit pressure checked at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday, Oct. 8, 2010. (
Expedition 25 Soyuz Commander Alexander Kaleri has his Russian Sokol Suit pressure checked at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday, Oct. 8, 2010. (
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11-11-56:In the Integration Facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 38/39 Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA climbs aboard the Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft Nov. 3 during the crews final fit check dress rehearsal. Mastracchio, Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin and Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will launch Nov. 7, Kazakh time, for a six-month mission on the International Space Station.NASA/Victor Zelentsov
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Expedition 65 crew members NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, left, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos, center, and Russian cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos arrive for Soyuz qualification exams Saturday, March 20, 2021 at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC) in Star City, Russia, in advance of their scheduled launch April 9 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station.
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Expedition 64 Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos is seen while having his Sokol suit pressure checked during the Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft fit check, Monday, Sept. 28, 2020, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Ryzhikov, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, and Russian cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of Roscosmos are preparing for launch to the International Space Station in their Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on October 14, Baikonur time.
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NASAs SpaceX Crew-4 Splashdown. NASA astronaut Robert Hines is seen inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom spacecraft onboard the SpaceX recovery Megan ship after he, along with NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Jessica Watkins, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, landed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, Friday, Oct. 14, 2022. Lindgren, Hines, Watkins, and Cristoforetti are returning after 170 days in space as part of Expeditions 67 and 68 aboard the International Space Station.
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jsc2018e084489 - At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 57 crewmember Nick Hague of NASA undergoes a pressure and leak check in his Russian Sokol launch and entry suit Sept. 26 as part of pre-launch training activities. Hague and Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos will launch Oct. 11 in the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome for a six-month mission on the International Space Station...NASA/Victor Zelentsov.
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Technicians conduct a leak check on the spacesuit of Expedition 8 Soyuz Commander Alexander Kaleri at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2003, prior to his departure for the launch pad with Expedition 8 Commander and NASA Science Officer Mike Foale and European Space Agency astronaut Pedro Duque of Spain. The trio were launched on a Soyuz TMA-3 vehicle to the International Space Station, arriving on Oct. 20.
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Expedition 60 crewmember Nick Hague of NASA is carried to a medical tent by NASA Chief Astronaut Pat Forrester, left, and NASA Flight Surgeon Blake Chamberlain, right, after he and fellow Expedition 60 crewmember Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos and visiting astronaut Hazzaa Ali Almansoori of the United Arab Emirates landed in their Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019. Hague and Ovchinin are returning after 203 days in space where they served as members of the Expedition 59 and 60 crews onboard the International Space Station. Almansoori logged 8 days in space during his first flight as an astronaut.
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Expedition 9 Science Officer and Flight Engineer Mike Fincke waits as his crew prepares to do their final Soyuz fit check at building 254 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Wednesday, April 14, 2004, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
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Expedition 69 Soyuz Landing. Expedition 69 NASA astronaut Frank Rubio is carried to a medical tent shortly after he, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin and Sergey Prokopyev landed in their Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023. The trio are returning to Earth after logging 371 days in space as members of Expeditions 68-69 aboard the International Space Station. For Rubio, his mission is the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut in history.
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Expedition 10 Commander and NASA Science Officer Leroy Chiao, right, Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander Salizhan Sharipov donned their launch and entry suits and climbed aboard their Soyuz TMA-5 spacecraft Friday, October 5, 2004, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a dress rehearsal of launch day activities leading to their liftoff October 14 to the International Space Station. Chiao and Sharipov, the first crew of all-Asian extraction, will spend six months on the Station. Shargin will return to Earth October 24 with the Stations' current residents, Expedition 9 Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA Flight Engineer and Science Officer Mike Fincke.
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Expedition 32 NASA Flight Engineer Sunita Williams lies in a chair to have her Russian Sokol suit pressure checked in preparation for his launch onboard the Soyuz TMA-05M on Sunday, July 15, 2012 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The launch of the Soyuz spacecraft with Williams, Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko and JAXA Flight Engineer Akihiko Hoshide is scheduled for the morning of Sunday, July 15, local time.
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Expedition 62 astronaut Jessica Meir is seen outside the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft after she landed with NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Friday, April 17, 2020. Meir and Skripochka returned after 205 days in space, and Morgan after 272 days in space. All three served as Expedition 60-61-62 crew members onboard the International Space Station.
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Expedition 38 Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency waves hello to family members gathered to watch him through glass as he and fellow crew mates, Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, and, Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA, have their Russian Sokol suits pressure checked a few hours ahead of their launch, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Tyurin, Wakata, and, Mastracchio will launch in their Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft to the International Space Station to begin a six-month mission.
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Astronaut Suni Williams gets suited up in preparation for the Boeing/United Launch Alliance emergency egress system demonstration at Cape Canaveral Air Force Stations Launch Complex 41 in Florida on June 19, 2018. The emergency egress system features seats that attach to slide wires. It can carry astronauts and ground crew more than 1,300 feet away from the crew access tower and the launch vehicle in the unlikely event of an emergency before liftoff.
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Expedition 26 European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli has his Russian Sokol suit pressure checked at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010. Nespoli and fellow Expedition 26 crew members Soyuz Commander Dmitry Kondratryev and NASA Flight Engineer Catherine Coleman launched in their Soyuz TMA-20 rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan the following morning at 1:09 a.m. local time. (
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Expedition 18 Commander Michael Fincke waves goodbye to family and friends from the bus that will take him and fellow crew members Flight Engineer Yuri V. Lonchakov and American spaceflight participant Richard Garriott to the Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft for launch, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2008 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The three crew members are scheduled to dock with the International Space Station on Oct. 14. Fincke and Lonchakov will spend six months on the station, while Garriott will return to Earth Oct. 24 with two of the Expedition 17 crew members currently on the International Space Station.
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NASAs SpaceX Crew-6 Splashdown. NASA astronaut Warren "Woody" Hoburg helped out of the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft onboard the SpaceX recovery ship MEGAN after he, NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen, UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev landed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, Monday, Sept. 4, 2023. Bowen, Hoburg, Alneyadi, and Fedyaev are returning after nearly six-months in space as part of Expedition 69 aboard the International Space Station.
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Expedition 25 Flight Engineer Oleg Skripochka has his Russian Sokol Suit pressure checked at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday, Oct. 8, 2010. (
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Work Request Description: Expedition 55 Preflight, Launch
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jsc2018e049999 - In the Integration Facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 56 crewmember Serena Aunon-Chancellor of NASA undergoes a spacesuit leak check May 20 during the first Soyuz fit check dress rehearsal activities. Aunon-Chancellor, Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency and Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos will launch June 6 on the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft from Baikonur for a six-month mission on the International Space Station...NASA/Victor Zelentsov.
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Expedition 22 Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi of Japan has his Russian Sokol suit prepared for launch by a technician at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Sunday, Dec. 20, 2009. Soichi and fellow Expedition 22 crew members NASA Flight Engineer Timothy J. Creamer of the U.S., Soyuz Commander Oleg Kotov of Russia launched in their Soyuz TMA-17 rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday, Dec. 21, 2009. (
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NASA astronaut Christina Koch is helped out of the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft just minutes after she, Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, and ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano, landed in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020. Koch returned to Earth after logging 328 days in space --- the longest spaceflight in history by a woman --- as a member of Expeditions 59-60-61 on the International Space Station. Skvortsov and Parmitano returned after 201 days in space where they served as Expedition 60-61 crew members onboard the station.
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spaceflight participant Hazzaa Ali Almansoori of the United Arab Emirates and backup spaceflight participant Sultan Al-Neyadi take a photograph a few hours ahead of Almansooris launch on a Soyuz rocket with Expedition 61 crewmembers Jessica Meir of NASA and Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Meir, Skripochka, and Almansoori will launch on the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station.
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Expedition 36 NASA Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg ,left, and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano are seen talking to family members after donning their Russian Sokol suits in preparation for their launch aboard the Soyuz rocket, Tuesday, May 28, 2013, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket will send Nyberg, Parmitano and Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin on a five and a half-month mission aboard the International Space Station.
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In the Integration Facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 50-51 crewmember Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency boards the Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft Nov. 2 during a fit check dress rehearsal. Pesquet, Peggy Whitson of NASA and Oleg Novitskiy of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) will launch Nov. 18, Baikonur time, for a six-month mission on the International Space Station.NASA/Alexander Vysotsky
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Expedition 10 Commander and NASA Science Officer Leroy Chiao, right, Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander Salizhan Sharipov donned their launch and entry suits and climbed aboard their Soyuz TMA-5 spacecraft Friday, October 5, 2004, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a dress rehearsal of launch day activities leading to their liftoff October 14 to the International Space Station. Chiao and Sharipov, the first crew of all-Asian extraction, will spend six months on the Station. Shargin will return to Earth October 24 with the Stations' current residents, Expedition 9 Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA Flight Engineer and Science Officer Mike Fincke.
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NASA Chief, Astronaut Office, Johnson Space Center Peggy Whitson, center, STS-135 Astronauts, Rex Walheim, left, and Commander Chris Ferguson are seen as the entire crew plays a traditional card game at the NASA Kennedy Space Center Operations and Checkout Building prior to them leaving for the launch pad, on Friday, July 8, 2011 in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The point of the game is that the commander must use up all his or her bad luck before launch, so the crew can only leave for the pad after the commander loses. The launch of Atlantis, STS-135, is the final flight of the shuttle program, a 12-day mission to the International Space Station.
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In the Integration Facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 36/37 Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg of NASA checks her gloves during a portion of a suited dress rehearsal fit check” exercise May 17. Nyberg, European Space Agency Flight Engineer Luca Parmitano and Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin will launch May 29, Kazakh time, in their Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft to begin a 5 ½ mission on the International Space Station.NASA/Victor Zelentsov
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At the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 46-47 crewmember Tim Peake of the European Space Agency took a turn in a spinning chair to test his vestibular system Dec. 9 as part of his pre-launch training. Peake, Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Tim Kopra of NASA will launch Dec. 15 on their Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft for a six-month mission on the International Space Station.NASA/Victor Zelentsov
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Expedition 69 Soyuz Landing. Expedition 69 Roscosmos cosmonaut Dmitri Petelin is seen outside the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft after he landed with Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023. The trio are returning to Earth after logging 371 days in space as members of Expeditions 68-69 aboard the International Space Station. For Rubio, his mission is the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut in history.
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jsc2020e017085 - Expedition 63 Preflight - Expedition 63 crewmember Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos has his Sokol suit pressure checked ahead of his launch on a Soyuz rocket with Ivan Vagner of Roscosmos, and Chris Cassidy of NASA, Thursday, April 9, 2020 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. A few hours later, they lifted off for a six-and-a-half month mission on the International Space Station.
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Boeing Crew Training. From left, NASA astronaut Suni Williams, Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT) pilot, and Mike Fincke, CFT backup spacecraft test pilot, do a fist bump during a crew validation test inside the Astronaut Crew Quarters at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 18, 2022. Williams and Fincke, along with Barry “Butch” Wilmore, CFT commander, with assistance from the Boeing team, successfully completed the validation test during which they suited up and tested out the pressurized crew module to ensure seat fit, suit functionality, cabin temperature, audio system, and day of launch operations. Boeings CFT is scheduled to launch in April 2023.
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ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti gives a thumbs-up in the suit room inside Kennedy Space Centers Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building during Crew-4 dry dress rehearsal on April 20, 2022. Cristoforetti, along with fellow Crew-4 astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines, and Jessica Watson, is scheduled to lift off from Kennedys Launch Complex 39A at 5:26 a.m. EDT on April 23, 2022. SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon, named Freedom by the Crew-4 crew, will launch the astronauts to the International Space Station as part of NASAs Commercial Crew Program.
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In the Operations and Checkout Building, STS-100 Mission Specialist Yuri V. Lonchakov okays the adjustment of his launch suit. He and the rest of the crew Commander Kent V. Rominger, Pilot Jeffrey S. Ashby and Mission Specialists Chris A. Hadfield, Scott E. Parazynski, John L. Phillips and Umberto Guidoni are taking part in Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test activities, from emergency escape training at the pad to a simulated launch countdown. An international crew, Hadfield is with the Canadian Space Agency, Guidoni the European Space Agency and Lonchakov the Russian Aviation and Space Agency. The mission is carrying the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Raffaello and the Canadian robotic arm, SSRMS, to the International Space Station. Raffaello carries six system racks and two storage racks for the U.S. Lab. The SSRMS is crucial to the continued assembly of the orbiting complex and has a unique ability to switch ends as it works, inchworming” along the Station’s exterior. Launch of
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - STS-112 Pilot Pamela Ann Melroy (left) conducts a last-minute inspection of some cables inside Space Shuttle Atlantis at Launch Pad 39B prior to the launch of her mission. The STS-112 crew also includes Commander Jeffrey S. Ashby and Mission Specialists David A. Wolf, Sandra H. Magnus, Piers J. Sellers, and Fyodor N. Yurchikhin of the Russian Space Agency. Launch of the mission was postponed today to no earlier than Thursday, Oct. 3, while weather forecasters and the mission management team assess the possible effect Hurricane Lili may have on the Mission Control Center located at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
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jsc2018e097773 - At the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 58 crewmember Anne McClain of NASA conducts vestibular system response training on a tilt table Nov. 27 as part of pre-launch training. McClain, David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency and Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos will launch Dec. 3 on the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a six-and-a-half month mission on the International Space Station...NASA/Victor Zelentsov.
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Expedition 60 crewmember Nick Hague of NASA is carried to a medical tent by NASA Chief Astronaut Pat Forrester, left, and NASA Flight Surgeon Blake Chamberlain, right, after he and fellow Expedition 60 crewmember Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos and visiting astronaut Hazzaa Ali Almansoori of the United Arab Emirates landed in their Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019. Hague and Ovchinin are returning after 203 days in space where they served as members of the Expedition 59 and 60 crews onboard the International Space Station. Almansoori logged 8 days in space during his first flight as an astronaut.
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Expedition 31 NASA flight engineer Joe Acaba, left, Soyuz Commander Gennady Padalka and flight engineer Sergei Revin, third from left, stand at attention before senior officials for their final qualification test in preparation for flight, Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. Acaba, Padalka and Revin are set to launch to the International Space Station May 15 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
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Expedition 58 Flight Engineer Anne McClain of NASA, who is in quarantine, puts her hand up to the glass to meet her mother at the conclusion of a press conference, Sunday, Dec. 2, 2018 at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for Dec. 3 that will carry McClain, Soyuz Commander Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) into orbit to begin their six and a half month mission on the International Space Station.
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Expedition 65 backup crew member, Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos is seen during Soyuz qualification exams Saturday, March 20, 2021 at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC) in Star City, Russia, in advance of the Expedition 65 launch April 9 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station.
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nhq201704100034 (April 10, 2017) --- Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos is carried into a medical tent shortly after he, NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Borisenko of Roscosmos landed in their Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Monday, April 10, 2017 (Kazakh time). Kimbrough, Ryzhikov, and Borisenko are returning after 173 days in space where they served as members of the Expedition 49 and 50 crews onboard the International Space Station.
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Expedition 69 Soyuz Landing. Expedition 69 NASA astronaut Frank Rubio is seen resting and talking with NASA ISS Program Manager Joel Montalbano, kneeling left, NASA Flight Surgeon Josef Schmid, red hat, and NASA Chief of the Astronaut Office Joe Acaba, outside the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft after he landed with Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023. The trio are returning to Earth after logging 371 days in space as members of Expeditions 68-69 aboard the International Space Station. For Rubio, his mission is the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut in history.
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STS79-E-5131 (20 September 1996) --- Astronauts Shannon W. Lucid and John E. Blaha, sharing a third flight together in Earth-orbit (twice on the Space Shuttle Atlantis, once on the Space Shuttle Columbia), hold a brief-debrief session about their soon-to-be exchanged roles, during Flight Day 5. Blaha becomes a Mir-22 cosmonaut guest researcher for several months and Lucid ends a period of over six months aboard Mir as a cosmonaut guest researcher, having spent time with two Mir crews.
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jsc2018e097774 - At the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 58 crewmember Anne McClain of NASA conducts vestibular system response training on a tilt table Nov. 27 as part of pre-launch training. McClain, David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency and Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos will launch Dec. 3 on the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a six-and-a-half month mission on the International Space Station...NASA/Victor Zelentsov.
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Date: 03-07-2022Location: SCTF, NBLSubject: 68S astronaut Frank Rubio with Victor Glover in ISS EVA Maintenance 7 training at NBLPhotographer: James Blair
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Flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer Mike Fincke looks at a desert tulip just outside the gates to the Soyuz launch pad, Wednesday, April 14, 2004 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
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Expedition 59 crewmembers Christina Koch of NASA, Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos and Nick Hague of NASA, talk with family and mission management prior to their launch, Thursday, March 14, 2019 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Hague, Koch, and Ovchinin launched March 14, U.S. time, on the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome for a six-and-a-half month mission on the International Space Station.
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Astronaut Edward T. Lu, Expedition 7 NASA International Space Station Science Officer and Flight Engineer, talks on the telephone after landing in the Soyuz TMA-2 spacecraft in Kazakhstan on Monday, October 27, 2003 at 9:41 p.m. (EST).
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At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 32/33 Flight Engineer Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency climbs into his Russian launch and entry suit July 3, 2012 for the suited fit check” in the Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft that will launch him, Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA Flight Engineer Sunita Williams to the International Space Station on July 15.NASA/Victor Zelentsov
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S66-50816 (12 Sept. 1966) --- Astronaut Richard F. Gordon Jr., pilot of the Gemini-11 spaceflight, undergoes suiting up operations in the Launch Complex 16 suit trailer during the Gemini-11 prelaunch countdown. At right is suit technician Clyde Teague. Later, astronaut Gordon and Charles Conrad Jr., command pilot, entered a transport van which carried them to Pad 19 and their waiting spacecraft. The liftoff was at 9 42 a.m. (EST), Sept. 12, 1966.
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jsc2019e053719 - At the Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 61 crewmember Jessica Meir of NASA (left) and spaceflight participant Hazzaa Ali Almansoori of the United Arab Emirates (right) share a game of chess Sept. 18 as part of pre-launch activities. Along with Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos, they will launch Sept. 25 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft for a mission on the International Space Station...NASA/Victor Zelentsov