ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano has arrived on the International Space Station following a six-hour flight in the Russian Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft alongside NASA astronaut Drew Morgan and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov.

The trio were launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 16:28 GMT (18:28 CEST) on Saturday 20 July and orbited Earth four times before docking to the Station’s Zvezda service module at 22:50 GMT (00:50 CEST).

This mission to the International Space Station is the second for Luca, the third for Alexander and the first for Drew. They were warmly welcomed by NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Nick Hague and current International Space Station commander Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, bringing the number of humans in orbit to six.

This clip shows highlights from the launch, docking and hatch opening as the crew start to settle into their new home and workplace.

Luca will live and work in orbit for the six-month duration of his Beyond mission. There, he will support over 50 European experiments and more than 200 international experiments in microgravity.

During the latter part of his mission, Expedition 61, he will take up the role of Space Station commander. He is the first Italian and third European astronaut ever appointed to this role, after ESA astronauts Alexander Gerst in 2018 and Frank De Winne in 2009.

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