Expedition 42/43 crew members Roscosmos commander Anton Shkaplerov, ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and Terry Virts of NASA, before having their Russian Sokol suit pressure checked in preparation for the launch, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on 23 November 2014.
On this mission, Samantha is flying as an ESA astronaut for Italy’s ASI space agency under a special agreement between ASI and NASA.