Expedition 27 Prelaunch. NASA public domain image colelction.

Expedition 27 NASA Flight Engineer Ron Garan, left, Expedition 27 Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev and Expedition 27 Flight Engineer Andrey Borisenko, right, talk to officials 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)