Expedition 27 Prelaunch, Russian Space Program

Expedition 27 Russian Flight Engineer Andrey Borisenko, far right, Expedition 27 Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev and Expedition 27 NASA Flight Engineer Ron Garan, third from right, talk to Mike Suffredini, Manager, International Space Station (ISS) Program, far left, prior to their launch on board the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft to the International Space Station, Tuesday, April 5, 2011 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz, which has been dubbed “Gagarin”, is launching one week shy of the 50th anniversary of the launch of Yuri Gagarin from the same launch pad in Baikonur on April 12, 1961 to become the first human to fly in space. Photo Credit: (NASA/Victor Zelentsov)