Expedition 50 Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos performs the traditional door signing at the Cosmonaut Hotel prior to departing the hotel for launch in a Soyuz rocket with fellow members NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016 at the Cosmonaut Hotel 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.