Expedition 41 Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), right, receives the traditional blessing from a Russian Orthodox priest at the Cosmonaut Hotel prior to his launch on the Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station (ISS), Thursday, Sept. 25, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Samokutyaev, Flight Engineer Elena Serova of Roscosmos, left, and Flight Engineer Barry Wilmore of NASA, not pictured, will spend the next five and a half months living and working aboard the ISS. Wilmore chose not to participate in the blessing.