At 22:48 GMT (00:48 CEST) on Saturday 20 July the Russian Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft carrying ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano, NASA astronaut Drew Morgan and Roscosmos commander Alexander Skvortsov docked to the Zvezda service module of the International Space Station.

During their six-hour journey to the Space Station, the trio orbited Earth four times. Their arrival brings the Station’s population to six, with NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexy Ovchinin already living and working onboard.

Throughout his six-month Beyond mission, Luca will support more than 50 European experiments and over 200 international experiments in microgravity.

In the latter part of his mission, Luca will take up the role of Space Station commander. He is also expected to participate in a series of spacewalks to repair the cooling systems of dark matter hunter, AMS-02.

 Follow Luca and the Beyond mission via http://lucaparmitano.esa.int/ and visit the blog for regular updates.