A new Expedition 39 trio waits at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for its launch Tuesday night to the International Space Station. The SpaceX Falcon rocket carrying the Dragon commercial cargo craft awaits its launch planned for Sunday evening from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

The gantry arms begin to close around the Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft to secure the rocket at the launch pad on Sunday, March 23, 2014, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for 5:17 p.m. EDT, March 25 and will send Expedition 39 Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, Flight Engineer Steven Swanson of NASA, and Flight Engineer Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos on a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station.

Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky