In the pre-dawn hours at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center at Star City, Russia on 8 December 2011, the prime and backup crew members who will round out Expedition 30 on the International Space Station pose for pictures in front of the statue of Vladimir Lenin prior to their departure for the launch site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. From left to right are backup Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko, backup NASA Flight Engineer Suni Williams, prime NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit, prime Soyuz Commander Oleg Kononenko, prime Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers from ESA and backup Flight Engineer Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.