Samantha survival training

European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti (left), NASA astronaut Terry Virts (center) and Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov (right) during survival training near Star City, Russia, 28 June 2013.

Survival training is an important part of all Soyuz mission training. When a Soyuz spacecraft returns to Earth there is always the possibility that it could land in water.

Samantha Cristoforetti has been assigned to be launched on a Soyuz spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in 2014 for a long-duration mission aboard the International Space Station.