On March 27, 2015 at 19:42 UTC the Russian “Soyuz TMA-16M” 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 Gennadiy Padalka (center); flight-engineer 1, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko (right); flight-engineer 2, American astronaut Scott Kelly (left).

Photo by Russian Cosmonaut training center.

The space vehicle is to dock with the International Space Station on March 28. Padalka, Kornienko and Kelly will join current ISS expedition members Shkaplerov, Christoforetti and Virts.