On July 23, 2015 at 02:45 UTC the "Soyuz TMA-17M” spacecraft docked with the Russian "Rassvet” (MIM-1) module of the International Space Station in automatic regime.

The Soyuz TMA-17M delivered three new members of Expedition 44 to the ISS, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui (油井 亀美也) and American astronaut Kjell Lindgren. The new comers joined current ISS expedition members – Russian cosmonauts Gennadiy Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko as well as American astronaut Scott Kelly to form Expedition 44 crew of 6 members.