>> The Soyuz has now closed to within 500 meters
of its docking port at the Rassvet module,
and we're moments away from the initiation of the fly
around that will precisely align the forward docking probe
on the Soyuz with the Rassvet docking port.
This fly around will take about seven minutes to execute,
beginning at a range of 400 meters, concluding at a range
of 160 meters -- a fly around angle of just over 57 degrees,
and as you can see down below,
255 miles below the international space station
and the Soyuz vehicle, the sands of Mauritania
in the northwest corner of the continent of Africa.
And this view of course coming from the Soyuz vehicle,
just a bit jumpy, but a very good view
of the international space station.
You can see the center crosshairs.
That is ultimately what will align the visual aspect
of the Soyuz approach for docking
for not only Roman Romanenko on board the Soyuz vehicle,
but for Oleg Novitskiy and Evengy Tarelkin
who are inside the Svevnev [assumed spelling] service
module monitoring the approach of the Soyuz for its linkup
to the Rassvet docking port.
>> [Foreign language
in background] The target is aligned with crosshairs.
Everything is normal.
The range rate is perfect.
Standing by for contact.
It's time already.
Everything is fine.
Half a meter.
[Inaudible] shadows.
Contact them.
>> Contact and capture.
Docking confirmed over northern Kazakstan
at eight 0 nine am central time,
six 0 nine pm Moscow time near the capital of Astana,
the capital of Kazakstan.
Docking confirmed.
The Soyuz sleigh has pulled into port
at the international space station with a holiday gift
of three new crew members.
[ Background speech in Russian followed by silence ]
>> And the hatch is open.
Tom Marshburn floating in for his second visit
to the international space station.
Chris Hadfield [inaudible] become the first Canadian
commander of the international space station,
returning after 11 and a half years.
[ Silence ]
>> And the Soyuz commander, Roman Romanenko.
All three crew members
on the Soyuz now aboard the international space station
that has returned to a six man crew capability.
[ Silence ]
>> Never shy for a camera, the three crew members,
the Russian crew members on the international space station,
posing for photos before they all move
into the Svevnev service module to don headsets
for their congratulatory phone calls.
>> Hey, it's great to see you guys on orbit.
As your patch says, off the earth, for the earth.
What a great slogan.
You guys did great things for us here on the earth
and we'll think about you every day up there
in space enjoying the space station.
Take care of the space station.
Enjoy yourselves.
Do a lot of great research.
I'll turn it now over to the, to Paul from CSA.
>> Hi [inaudible] crew.
It's Paul Engle from the CSA and I, you know, three days ago,
all of Canada, Canadians coast to coast to coast tuned
in to watch that absolutely picture perfect launch
and today, three days later,
a flawless rendezvous approach and docking.
Absolutely extraordinary sight for a [inaudible] technician.
Wish you all the best.
There's a lot of fun
and technology innovation that's going to deliver benefits
for all of us here on Earth.
Good luck with the mission.
[Silence ]