On July 28, 2017 at 15:41 UTC the Russian “Soyuz MS-05” spacecraft was launched from Baykonur Cosmodrome. The space vehicle was orbited by the Russian “Soyuz-FG” rocket-carrier. The spacecraft is piloted by 3 cosmonauts: Commander, Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryazansky (center), American astronaut Randolph Bresnik (right) and Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli (left).

Photo by Russian Cosmonaut training center.

The space vehicle is to dock with the International Space Station at the same day (by UTC), on July 28. Ryazansky, Bresnik and Nespoli will join current ISS expedition members Yurchikhin, Whitson and Fisher.