On March 15, 2019, Soyuz MS-12 manned spacecraft successfully docked the docking unit of Rassvet small research module of the Russian segment of the International Space Station. The docking took place at 04:02 MSK. At 06:10 MSK, the crew members of Soyuz MS-12 manned transport vehicle passed on board the International Space Station (ISS).

The flight program envisioned the four-orbit rendezvous. The approach was done automatically under control of the specialists of the Chief operational crew for the management of the Russian segment of the ISS at the Mission Control Center and of the Russian members of the station and spacecraft’s crews.

Soyuz-FG launch vehicle carrying Soyuz MS-12 manned spacecraft took off on March 14, 2019, at 22:14 MSK. 

Members of ISS Expedition 59, which includes Oleg Kononenko (Roscosmos, Russia), Aleksey Ovchinin (Roscosmos, Russia), Anne McCLain (NASA, USA), Nick Hague (NASA, USA), Christina Koch (NASA, USA), and David Saint-Jacques (CSA, Canada), began their joint work onboard the station.

The program of ISS Expedition 59 includes applied scientific research and experiments, implementation of scheduled tasks associated with the station’s maintenance and outfitting the station with equipment delivered by the cargo transports, as well as the EVA performance.