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At the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, Expedition 39/40 backup crewmember Elena Serova of Roscosmos signs in for the first of two days of qualification exams March 4 as her crewmate, Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev looks on. The prime crew – Steve Swanson of NASA and Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos are preparing to launch to the International Space Station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 26, Kazakh time, on their Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft for a six-month mission. NASA/Stephanie Stoll

At the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, Expedition 39/40 backup crewmember Elena Serova of Roscosmos signs in for the first of two days of qualification exams March 4 as her crewmate, Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev looks on. The prime crew – Steve Swanson of NASA and Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos are preparing to launch to the International Space Station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 26, Kazakh time, on their Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft for a six-month mission. NASA/Stephanie Stoll

Photographer NASA