At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 42/43 Soyuz Commander Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), NASA Flight Engineer Terry Virts and Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency, completed a final “fit check” dress rehearsal on November 19; the day before their Soyuz spacecraft was mated to its booster. The crew is preparing for liftoff on Nov. 24, Kazakh time, for a five-and-a-half-month mission on the International Space Station.
