Visiting and Expedition 45 Crew Arrive at the International Space Station

After launching in their Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sept. 2, Kazakh time, Expedition 45 Soyuz Commander Sergey Volkov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and visiting crew members Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency and Aidyn Aimbetov of the Kazakh Space Agency (Kazcosmos) arrived at the International Space Station on Sept. 4 following a 34-orbit, two-day rendezvous.
They docked their craft to the Poisk module on the Russian segment of the complex. A few hours after docking, Volkov, Mogensen and Aimbetov opened hatches and were greeted by station Commander Gennady Padalka of Roscosmos, NASA Flight Engineers Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren, Flight Engineer Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Russian Flight Engineers Mikhail Kornienko and Oleg Kononenko. As the hatches were opened, the families of the newly arrived crew members and Russian, European and Kazakh officials viewed the activities from the Russian Mission Control Center in Korolev, outside Moscow.