Live coverage of the Soyuz rocket launch
Three new crew members are set to launch to the International Space Station (ISS).
The Soyuz carrying Fyodor Yurchikhin, Karen Nyberg and Luca Parmitano is expected to lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 02:31 local time on Wednesday (20:31 GMT Tuesday).
Georgian Yurchikhin and American Nyberg have both been into space before.
Italian Parmitano is a first-timer, and at 36 is the youngest person to be given a long-duration ISS assignment.
He is also the European Space Agency's (Esa) newest astronaut, having been selected for training just four years ago.
The former fighter pilot will stay on the station with Yurchikhin and Nyberg until November.
Their mission has the designation of Expedition 36. They will join three individuals already at the ISS - Russians Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin, and American Chris Cassidy.
Tuesday's flight will be only the second accelerated rendezvous with the orbiting platform.
Traditionally, Soyuz capsules have taken two days to get to the 415km-high ISS.
In March, mission controllers experimented with a six-hour re-join. It is technically more difficulty and requires some very precise orbital adjustments, but it is deemed to be easier on the crew because it means they do not have to spend so long inside the cramped capsule.
Luca Parmitano said he was excited at the prospect of going into space.
He has a packed schedule ahead of him. He will see all of the vehicles now used to service the station come and go during his time in orbit, including possibly the new Cygnus freighter which is made in part in Turin.
He is also scheduled to make two spacewalks to work on the exterior of the platform. "I've dreamt of doing that. Being an astronaut is about walking in space. For me, they are one and the same thing," he told BBC News.
Thomas Reiter, the director of human spaceflight at Esa, added: "Luca really has the full spectrum of operational and scientific tasks, and we are eagerly awaiting his launch."
Born in the Sicilian town of Paterno, Parmitano expects to bring a strong Italian flavour to his stay in orbit - literally. Italian chefs have prepared a range of special astronaut foods for him, including lasagne and risotto.
These will be delivered to the ISS in the coming weeks on the European robotic freighter Albert Einstein.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22689302#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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