NASA astronaut Anne McClain, Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques and Oleg Kononenko of the Russian space agency Roscosmos launch to the International Space Station aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The Soyuz is a Soviet crewed spacecraft, developed to perform lunar missions with crew. This version called 7K will fly 4 times on the giant launcher N1, and several tens of times on Proton to fly over the Moon, which will be successful during the mission Zond 4. Soyuz will become the first spacecraft to transport living beings on the Moon during the flight of Zond 5, with two turtles. Thereafter, it is adapted to the low orbit and will fly on the Soyuz launcher to supply the Soviet Salyut and Mir stations, and the ISS.