Expedition 56-57 Crew Docks to the Space Station

DescriptionAfter launching June 6 in their Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 56-57 Soyuz Commander Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos and Flight Engineers Serena Aunon-Chancellor of NASA and Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency arrived at the International Space Station June 8 to complete a two-day journey, docking their vehicle to the Rassvet module on the Russian segment of the complex. A few hours after docking, Prokopyev, Aunon-Chancellor and Gerst opened hatches and were greeted by station Commander Drew Feustel of NASA and Flight Engineers Ricky Arnold of NASA and Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos. As the hatches were opened, the families of the newly arrived crewmembers and American, Russian and European space officials viewed the activities from the Russian Mission Control Center outside Moscow and offered their congratulations to the newest residents of the outpost.