A Soyuz FG launch vehicle successfully launched the Soyuz TMA-018M spacecraft carrying three crew to the International Space Station at 0437 GMT on 2 September 2015. The launch was from the Baikonur Cosmodrome near Tyuratam in Kazakhstan. The crew carried aboard were the Russian Cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, Kazakh Cosmonaut Aydyn Aimbetov and ESA Astronaut Andreas Mogensen. Cosmonaut Aimbetov replaced British singer and would-be space tourist, Sarah Brightman, after she withdrew for family reasons from mission training early in 2015 and the back-up Satoshi Takamatsu also withdrew.
For orbital transfer reasons, the flight plan used a traditional two-day approach to the space station rather than the new-style six-hour approach to the station. Soyuz TMA-018M docked at the Poisk module at 0739 GMT on 4 September 2015.
Note: The timings are from NASA via Jonathan McDowell.
