As the day progresses this page will give an overview of what has happened, in reverse order… To find out what will be next head over to our detailed launch timeline.

Hatch opening at 19:58 GMT

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Docking at 17:33 GMT

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Visual contact of Soyuz TMA-19M:

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Sixth of six smaller impulse burns to orient with the International Space Station at 16:58 GMT

Fifth of six smaller impulse burns to orient with the International Space Station at 16:55 GMT

Visual contact with International Space Station:

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Fourth of six smaller impulse burns to orient with the International Space Station at 16:50 GMT

Soyuz closes to 15 km from Space Station

Third of six smaller impulse burns to orient with the International Space Station at 16:08 GMT

Soyuz 200 km from Space Station.

Second of six smaller impulse burns to orient with the International Space Station at 15:44 GMT

First of six smaller impulse burns to orient with the International Space Station at 15:24 GMT

Commence automatic rendezvous at 15:15 GMT

Fourth orbit burn to catch up with the International Space Station at 14:19 GMT

Third orbit burn to catch up with the International Space Station at 13:31 GMT

First contact with the astronauts in space at 12:34. They confirmed the engine firings went as planned and tested the manual control system.

Second orbit burn to catch up with the International Space Station at 12:32 GMT

First orbit burn to catch up with the International Space Station at 11:48 GMT

Liftoff at 11:03 GMT!

Liftoff! Credits: ESA-S. Corvaja

Liftoff! Credits: ESA-S. Corvaja

The service structure that helped fuelling and getting the astronauts to the top of the rocket was retracted at 10:20 GMT.
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Inside the Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft the trio checked for leaks and prepared for launch. Tim Peake is sitting to the commander’s right with Tim Kopra on commander Yuri Malenchenko’s left.”

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Yuri and Tim Kopra

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Tim Peake

 

The crew arrived in their Sokol pressure suits at the launchpad by bus and quickly went into the lift that took them to their spacecraft at 8:30 GMT

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Fuelling the Soyuz rocket started at 06:04 GMT

Soyuz rocket. Credits: ESA-S. Corvaja

Soyuz rocket. Credits: ESA-S. Corvaja

Tim Peake left the hotel and signed the room door to don his Sokol suit.

Traditional door signing before launch. Credits: ESA-S. Corvaya

Traditional door signing before launch. Credits: ESA-S. Corvaya