File:Soyuz TMA-17M crew lays flowers in front of the statue of Yuri Gagarin in Star City.jpg

At the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, Expedition 44/45 prime crewmembers Kjell Lindgren of NASA and Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency lay flowers at the statue of Yuri Gagarin, the first human to fly in space, during traditional ceremonies July 8 as crewmate Oleg Kononenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) waits his turn. At the right waiting to lay their flowers are the backup crewmembers, Timothy Peake of the European Space Agency, Yuri Malenchenko of Roscosmos and Timothy Kopra of NASA. Lindgren, Kononenko and Yui will launch on their Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan July 23 for a five-month mission on the International Space Station.