Expedition 42/43 crew members Terry Virts of NASA, Roscosmos commander Anton Shkaplerov, and ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti 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.