Expedition 42/43 crew members Terry Virts of NASA, Roscosmos commander Anton Shkaplerov, and ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti wave farewell to family and friends, as they depart the Cosmonaut Hotel to suit-up for the Soyuz launch to the International Space Station, 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.