Karen, Fyodor and Luca

NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg (left), cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano (right) at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre, November 2012.

Luca, Karen and Fyodor are the Soyuz TMA-07M back-up crew, the prime crew will be launched to the International Space Station in December 2012.

Luca is assigned engineer on a long duration mission to the International Space Station planned for 2013.