Expedition 64 Space Station Crew Departs for Kazakh Launch Site

The International Space Station’s Expedition 64 crew, Soyuz Commander Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos, Flight Engineers Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of Roscosmos and Kate Rubins of NASA and their backups, Oleg Novitskiy and Petr Dubrov of Roscosmos and Mark Vande Hei of NASA, participated in traditional prelaunch ceremonies at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, outside Moscow on Sept. 27. Afterward, they departed for the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to complete their training for the launch of Ryzhikov, Kud-Sverchkov and Rubins from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in the Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft for a six-month mission on the International Space Station.