Expedition 50 NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, left, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos, center, and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet receive a traditional blessing from a Russian Orthodox Priest prior to departing the Cosmonaut Hotel, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016 in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Whitson, Novitskiy, and Pesquet launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan the morning of November 18 (Kazakh time)(Nov. 17 Eastern.) All three will spend approximately six months on the orbital complex.