An Orthodox priest blesses Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy (center0 and members of the Expedition 33/34 crew at the Cosmonaut Hotel on the morning of their Soyuz launch to the International Space Station October 23, 2012 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for October 23 and will send Expedition 33/34 Flight Engineer Kevin Ford of NASA, Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy and Flight Engineer Evgeny Tarelkin of ROSCOSMOS on a five-month mission aboard the International Space Station.

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Size: 4450px × 3918px
Location: Baikonur, Kazakhstan
Photo credit: © NASA Photo / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: astronaut, baikonur, blessing, cosmodrome, cross, horizontal, iss, kazakhstan, launch, mission, nasa, orthodox, priest, religion, roscosmos, russian, soyuz, space