Yuri Kochetkov / EPA

International Space Station expedition 40/41 crew members, NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman (right) of the United States, Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suraev (center) and European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst (left) of Germany, practice in Star City, outside Moscow, Russia, on Jan. 23, 2013.

A group of astronauts set out on a camping trip in a snowbound forest outside Moscow on Wednesday, as they took part in a training exercise to practice survival techniques in case of a crash landing. 

The team of three — an American, a Russian and a German — are preparing for a mission to the International Space Station in May 2014.

-- Reuters, European Pressphoto Agency 

Yuri Kochetkov / EPA

Maxim Suraev (left) and Reid Wiseman gather wood to build a shelter.

Sergei Remezov / Reuters

(From left) Maxim Suraev, Gregory Wiseman and Alexander Gerst stand by their shelter.

Sergei Remezov / Reuters

(From left) Maxim Suraev, Alexander Gerst and Gregory Wiseman try to keep warm.

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Bill Ingalls / AFP - Getty Images

Carol Armstrong, wife of Neil Armstrong, and Piper Van Wagenen, one of 10 grandchildren, seen during a memorial service celebrating the life of Neil Armstrong, Friday, at the Camargo Club in Cincinnati. Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, died August 25, 2012. He was 82.

Bill Ingalls / NASA via EPA

Carol Armstrong, wife of Neil Armstrong, and Piper Van Wagenen, one of the late astronaut's 10 grandchildren, watch an honor guard pass by during a memorial service on Friday at the Camargo Club in Cincinnati.

Bill Ingalls / NASA Handout via EPA

Apollo 11 Astronauts Michael Collins, left, and Buzz Aldrin talk at a private memorial service celebrating the life of Neil Armstrong, at the Camargo Club in Cincinnati, Ohio, Friday.

Roberto Gonzalez / Getty Images

The U.S. flag flies at half mast outside the Vehicle Assembly Building in honor of Neil Armstrong at the Kennedy Space Center, Friday in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

NBC News and news services:  U.S. flags flew at half-staff on Friday in memory of Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, who was honored by fellow astronauts and other VIPs as a "brave, reluctant hero."

Ohio-born Armstrong passed away on Aug. 25 at the age of 82, due to complications that arose from heart surgery earlier in the month. President Barack Obama ordered that flags be flown at half-staff as a mark of respect for Armstrong, who landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, with Apollo 11 crewmate Buzz Aldrin.

It was Armstrong, the mission commander, who first emerged from the lunar module and placed the first human footprint on a celestial body beyond Earth. "That's one small step for a man — one giant leap for mankind," he declared. 

Read the full story.

• See images from the career of astronaut Neil Armstrong
• NASA Flickr site with all images from the service
• More space images in PhotoBlog

Pete Marovich / EPA

Tourists at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum look at the Apollo 11 Command Module on display in Washington, D.C., USA, on Friday.

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AFP - Getty Images

Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force fighter pilot Liu Yang, left, together with her two male colleagues, Jing Haipeng, center, and Liu Wang, right, in their spacesuits as they pose for an official photo at the Jiuquan space base, in China's Gansu province. Picture taken on June 12, 2012 and made available on June 15.

Jason Lee / Reuters

Liu Yang answers a question during a news conference on June 15, 2012.

China will send its first woman into space Saturday along with two other astronauts for the nation's first crew-controlled docking with a temporary space station, taking a key step toward setting up a permanent base in orbit.

Liu Yang, a 34-year-old air force pilot, and two male colleagues will be launched Saturday aboard the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, which will dock with the bus-sized Tiangong 1 space module now orbiting 213 miles above Earth. Read the full story.

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Slideshow: A month of cosmic marvels

NASA, ESA, CXC, JPL, Caltech and

See out-of-this-world views of a solar eclipse, the high points of a milestone space mission and other stunning cosmic images from May 2012.

Launch slideshow

Shamil Zhumatov / Reuters

The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft, named after the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, is transported to its launch pad at Baikonur cosmodrome on April 2, 2011. The International Space Station crew of U.S. astronaut Ronald Garan and crew mates Russian cosmonauts Alexandr Samokutyaev and Andrey Borisenko is scheduled to launch on April 5.

Shamil Zhumatov / Reuters

The Soyuz is transported to its launch pad by train.

Reported by Space.com
A veteran NASA astronaut and two rookie cosmonauts are poised to begin their journey into space Monday by launching into orbit aboard a Russian spaceship named Gagarin.

The spaceflyers were due to liftoff from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome at 6:18 p.m. EDT aboard the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft, nicknamed the Yuri Gagarin in honor of the 50th anniversary of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's first human spaceflight on April 12, 1961. 

Flying on the Soyuz Gagarin will be NASA astronaut Ron Garan and cosmonauts Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev, who are beginning a planned six-month mission to the International Space Station. They will join three other crew members already living aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Click here to read the full story.

Denise Chow of SPACE.com reports: A Russian Soyuz spacecraft landed in Kazakhstan today, bringing NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and two Russian cosmonauts safely back to Earth after a months-long stay at the International Space Station.

The Soyuz TMA-01M capsule touched down in Kazakhstan about 50 miles north of the town of Arkalyk on the snowy steppes of Central Asia at about 3:54 a.m. EDT.

Dmitry Kostyukov / AFP - Getty Images

A Russian Soyuz capsule with Russian cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka, Alexander Kaleri and US astronaut Scott Kelly on board lands near the town of Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan on March 16. The capsule carrying the previous crew of the International Space Station (ISS) landed successfully, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Onboard the Soyuz were the space station's Expedition 26 commander Scott Kelly of NASA and Russian flight engineers Oleg Skripochka and Alexander Kaleri. They landed under harsh conditions, with ankle-deep snow and 30-knot winds reported by recovery crews.

"The Soyuz landed on its side, but in good shape," NASA spokesman Rob Navias said from the landing zone.

The wind apparently dragged the spacecraft by its parachute about 75 feet (nearly 23 meters), Navias added.

"You would think that was a scene out of the North Pole," Navias said, calling it "viciously cold" at one point. "It was a bull's-eye landing under very harsh conditions."

Dmitry Kostyukov / AFP - Getty Images

A Russian Soyuz capsule with Russian cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka, Alexander Kaleri and US astronaut Scott Kelly on board lands near the town of Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan on March 16.

Kelly is the twin brother of fellow NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, who is set to command the space shuttle Endeavour on its final mission to the space station next month. Mark Kelly is the husband of injured Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who is recovering after being shot in the head during a Jan. 8 attack in Tucson that injured 13 people and killed six others.

Scott Kelly has said that he hopes to help his sister-in-law with her recovery when he returns home to Houston.

Read the full story.