Soyuz TMA-17M was a 2015 flight to the International Space Station. It transported three members of the Expedition 44 crew to the International Space Station. TMA-17M was the 126th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft; the first having occurred in 1967. The crew consisted of a Russian commander accompanied by Japanese and American astronauts. The capsule remained docked to the space station for about five months until the scheduled departure of Expedition 45 in December 2015. Soyuz TMA-17M landed safely on the steppes of Kazakhstan on 11 December, 2015, in a rare night landing.

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.