ESA astronaut André Kuipers prepares to take the elevator to the top of the Soyuz rocket with Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, NASA astronaut Don Pettit as they prepare for the Soyuz launch, from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on the 21 December 2011.
They will remain in space for nearly five months as part of the international crew of six onhe ISS.