Vladimir Popovkin, Head of the Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) answers a reporter’s question during a Soyuz post-docking press conference at the Russian Mission Control Center in Korolev, Russia on Friday, June 10, 2011. The Soyuz TMA-02M docked to the International Space Station carrying Expedition 28 Soyuz Commander Sergei Volkov, NASA Flight Engineer Mike Fossum and JAXA (Japanase Aerospace Exploration Agency) Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Vladimir Popovkin, Head of the Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) speaks during the State Commission meeting to approve the Soyuz launch of Expedition 29 to the International Space Station, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011, at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The mission is set to launch November 14 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Vladimir Popovkin, Head of the Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) speaks during the State Commission meeting to approve the Soyuz launch of Expedition 28 to the International Space Station, Monday, June 6, 2011, at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The mission is set to launch on Tuesday, June 8, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

General Director of the Russian Federal Space Agency, ROSCOSMOS, Vladimir Popovkin, waits at the Soyuz launch pad 31 to say farewell to Expedition 33/34 crew members, Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy, Flight Engineer Kevin Ford, and Flight Engineer Evgeny Tarelkin ahead of their boarding the spacecraft for launch to the International Space Station on Tuesday, October 23, 2012, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Ford, Novitskiy and Tarelkin will be on a five-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

General Director of the Russian Federal Space Agency, ROSCOSMOS, Vladimir Popovkin, is seen at launch site 31 after the arrival of the Soyuz rocket, on Sunday, October 21, 2012, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for October 23 and will send Expedition 33/34 Flight Engineer Kevin Ford of NASA, Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy and Flight Engineer Evgeny Tarelkin of ROSCOSMOS on a five-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Expedition 33/34 Russian Cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Evgeny Tarelkin is escorted to the Soyuz rocket by Roscosmos Director of Human Space Flight Program Department Alexei Krasnov, left, and General Director of the Russian Federal Space Agency, ROSCOSMOS, Vladimir Popovkin, prior to his launch onboard a Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft with fellow crew members, NASA Astronaut and Flight Engineer Kevin Ford, and, Russian Cosmonaut and Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy, Tuesday, October 23, 2012, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket will send Ford, Novitskiy and Tarelkin on a five-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/GCTC/Andrey Shelepin)

Expedition 31 Flight Engineer Joe Acaba, left, Soyuz Commander Gennady Padalka, and, Flight Engineer Sergei Revin, right, receive a formal go for launch from Vitaly Alexandrovich Lopota, President of Energia, left, and Vladimir Popovkin, Director of Roscosmos prior to their launch onboard the Soyuz TMA-04M on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz spacecraft with Padalka, Revin, and Acaba onboard, launched at 9:01 a.m. Kazakhstan time on Tuesday, May 15. Photo Credit: (NASA/GCTC/Andrey Shelepin)

Expedition 29 Flight Engineer Sergei Volkov shakes hands with Federal Space Agency head Vladimir Popovkin as he is welcomed home in Star City, Russia on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011. Russian Cosmonaut Volkov, Expedition 29 Commander Mike Fossum, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa returned to Arkalyk, Kazakhstan earlier in the day from over five months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedtion 28 and 29 crews. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

At the headquarters of the Russian Federal Space Agency, the head of Roscosmos, Vladimir Popovkin (far left) and the head of Piloted Space Programs, Alexei Krasnov (to Popovkin’s left) spend time with the Expedition 30/31 prime crewmembers Dec. 6, 2011 prior to their departure Dec. 8 for their launch site in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. On the right from top to bottom are Joel Montalbano, NASA’s Head of Human Spaceflight Programs in Russia, NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit, European Space Agency Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers and Soyuz Commander Oleg Kononenko. Pettit, Kuipers and Kononenko will launch to the International Space Station Dec. 21 in their Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft. Credit: NASA

Expedition 32 Flight Engineer Sunita Williams, right, shakes hands with Vladimir Popovkin, Director of Roscosmos prior to her launch onboard the Soyuz TMA-05M on Sunday, July 15, 2012 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Williams is seen with Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko, center, and JAXA Flight Engineer Akihiko Hoshide. The Soyuz spacecraft with Malenchenko, Williams and Hoshide onboard launched at 8:40 a.m. later that morning Kazakhstan time. Photo Credit: (NASA/Victor Zelentsov)

Expedition 32 Flight Engineer Sunita Williams, right, Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko and JAXA Flight Engineer Akihiko Hoshide, left, receive a formal go for launch from Vitaly Alexandrovich Lopota, President of Energia, left, and Vladimir Popovkin, Director of Roscosmos prior to their launch onboard the Soyuz TMA-05M on Sunday, July 15, 2012 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz spacecraft with Malenchenko, Williams and Hoshide onboard launched at 8:40 a.m. later that morning Kazakhstan time. Photo Credit: (NASA/Victor Zelentsov)

At the headquarters of the Russian Federal Space Agency, the head of Roscosmos, Vladimir Popovkin (fourth from the left) and Alexei Krasnov (third from the right) pose for pictures with the Expedition 30/31 prime and backup crewmembers Dec. 6, 2011 prior to their departure Dec. 8 for their launch site in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. From left to right are prime crewmembers NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit, Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers of the European Space Agency and Soyuz Commander Oleg Kononenko, Popovkin, backup Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko, Krasnov, backup NASA Flight Engineer Suni Williams and backup Flight Engineer Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Pettit, Kuipers and Kononenko will launch to the International Space Station Dec. 21 in their Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft. Credit: NASA

(26 April 2012) -- At the headquarters of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Expedition 31 prime and backup crewmembers pose for a photo with Roscosmos officials. From left: Expedition 31 prime crew of NASA flight engineer Joe Acaba, Soyuz Commander Gennady Padalka and flight engineer Sergei Revin. At center: Vladimir Popovkin, Head of Roscosmos; Alex Krasnov Director, Piloted Programs, Russian Federal Space Agency; and Expedition 31 backup crewmembers - cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin, and Kevin Ford of NASA. Padalka, Revin and Acaba are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station May 15 in their Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft. Photo credit:NASA

At the headquarters of the Russian Federal Space Agency, the head of Roscosmos, Vladimir Popovkin (far left) and other Russian space officials spend time with the Expedition 30/31 prime crewmembers Dec. 6, 2011 prior to their departure Dec. 8 for their launch site in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. On the right from top to bottom are Joel Montalbano, NASA’s Head of Human Spaceflight Programs in Russia, NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit, European Space Agency Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers and Soyuz Commander Oleg Kononenko. Pettit, Kuipers and Kononenko will launch to the International Space Station Dec. 21 in their Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft. Credit: NASA

William Gerstenmaier (second from right), NASA Associate Administrator Human Exploration and Operations speaks at a press conference following the successful single-day launch-to-docking of the Soyuz TMA-08M with the International Space Station on Friday, March 29, 2013 at the Baikonur Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The Soyuz reached the station in less than six hours and after only four orbits, instead of its usual two-day route, carrying the Expedition 35 crew of Soyuz Commander Pavel Vinogradov, NASA Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy and Russian Flight Engineer Alexander Misurkin. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Expedition 33/34 crew members, NASA Astronaut and Flight Engineer Kevin Ford, front left, Russian Cosmonaut and Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy, and Russian Cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Evgeny Tarelkin, back left, stop at the base of the Soyuz rocket for a formal farewell from President of the S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia Vitaly Lopota, back right, General Director of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, Vladimir Popovkin, right center, and NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations William Gerstenmaier prior to the crews launch onboard a Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft to the International Space Station, Tuesday, October 23, 2012, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket will send Ford, Novitskiy and Tarelkin on a five-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/GCTC/Andrey Shelepin)

(26 April 2012) -- At the headquarters of the Russian Federal Space Agency, the head of Roscosmos, Vladimir Popovkin (center left), and other Russian space officials spend time with the Expedition 31 prime and backup crew members April 26, 2012 prior to their departure May 2 for their launch site in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. On the right from top to bottom are Expedition 31 backup crewmembers Kevin Ford, Evgeny Tarelkin and Oleg Novitskiy, and prime crewmembers -- Soyuz Commander Gennady Padalka (right center), flight engineer Sergei Revin and NASA Flight Engineer Joe Acaba. Padalka, Revin and Acaba are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station May 15 in their Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft. Photo credit: NASA

Expedition 33/34 crew members, Russian Cosmonaut and Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy, NASA Astronaut and Flight Engineer Kevin Ford, and Russian Cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Evgeny Tarelkin, board their Soyuz rocket just a few hours before their launch to the International Space Station on Tuesday, October 23, 2012, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Launch of a Soyuz rocket later in the afternoon will send Ford, Novitskiy and Tarelkin on a five-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)