ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti performs the traditional door signing at the Cosmonaut Hotel prior to departing the hotel for launch in a Soyuz rocket, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on 23 November 2014.
With Samantha are Russian Soyuz commander Anton Shkaplerov and NASA astronaut Terry Virts. All three are part of the Station’s Expedition 42/43 crew.
On this mission, Samantha is flying as an ESA astronaut for Italy’s ASI space agency under a special agreement between ASI and NASA.