On September 2^nd at 07:37 (Moscow time) specialists of Roscosmos (Federal Space Agency) carried out the anniversary 500^th launch from the launch site No.1 of Baikonur spaceport – Soyuz FG launch vehicle with Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft was launched, press-service of Roscosmos reports.

"Soyuz TMA-18M separated from the third stage of the launch vehicle in 528 seconds at the planned orbit," said in the statement.

"Soyuz TMA-18M manned spacecraft approached the International Space Station (ISS) using a two-days program. The spacecraft docked with ISS on September 4^th. Estimated duration of Sergey Volkov’s spaceflight as a member of ISS-44, ISS-45 and ISS-46 missions is 188 days. Andreas Mogensen and Aidyn Aimbetov will spend 10 days in space," the press-service explained.