ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, commander Sergei Volkov and Aidyn Aimbetov prepare for their launch to the International Space Station at Baikonur Cosmodrome. <br />Pre-launch activities include door signing and a traditional blessing, before leaving the Cosmonaut Hotel for suiting up, pressure check and the bus ride to the launchpad, before boarding their spacecraft. <br />Mogensen, Volkov and Aimbetov launched to the ISS on 2 September at 06:37:43 CEST (04:37:43 UTC) from Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. <br />During his 10-day mission to the International Space Station Andreas will test technology, new ways of running space missions and swap a spacecraft. <br />Follow the whole mission with live updates via the iriss mission blog http://blogs.esa.int/iriss and on Twitter via @esaoperationsConnect with Andreas at: http://andreasmogensen.esa.int/
