Next destination: space

16 May 2013 - ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano left for Baikonur, Kazakhstan today, his last stop before heading to the International Space Station on 28 May. His launch on a Soyuz rocket will be the culmination of more than two years of preparation that has seen Luca training in Russia, Canada, Japan, Europe and the US at facilities of the Station partners. Luca and his crewmates, cosmonaut commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg, spent the last few weeks in Moscow, Russia passing their final exams for flying the Soyuz spacecraft. They received their official tickets to the Space Station on 10 May when the Soyuz examination board declared them qualified to fly. The trip from Moscow to Baikonur is more than 2000 km, roughly five times the distance to their next home in space. Luca's Soyuz will arrive at the orbital outpost in under seven hours - only two hours longer than today's plane journey to the launch site. The crew will stay at the traditional Cosmonaut Hotel for the last days before launch.