I started training this week with my Expedition 25/26 backup crewmembers Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko (2 Russian Cosmonauts that I spent time with on the ISS during STS-124 - Together we are the back-up crew for the Soyuz that will launch this October).

Tomorrow is the 2nd of 3 Soyuz simulator training sessions. Today we practiced rendezvous and docking with the Space Station and also an emergency re-entry to Earth. Tomorrow we will climb into the Soyuz simulator in our full Sokol spacesuits and practice all the pre-launch and launch procedures. I’m sure the training team will also input allot of malfunctions for us to deal with.  I’m ½ through my 3rd of 5 weeks of training this trip to Star City. It has been a very busy trip this time but I’m coming up to speed fast on all the Soyuz systems and the Russian Segment of the ISS.  When I return home to Houston in a week and a half I’ll have a week there before heading out to Japan for more ISS training.