ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst as the hatch opens separating the Soyuz spacecraft and the International Space Station, his new home for six months.
The launch of Expedition 40/41 with Alexander Gerst, NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman and Roscosmos commander Maxim Suraev from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan took place six hours earlier.
Their spacecraft, Soyuz TMA-13M was propelled to the International Space Station at 21:57 CEST. Alexander has 100 experiments planned for his Blue Dot mission.