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---
title: Space Station: Watch this Stunning Video of Astronauts Docking
description: It took six hours and 100,000 miles to get there
canonical: https://time.com/3893427/astronauts-docking-space-station/
author: Jeffrey Kluger
article:opinion: false
article:content_tier: free
article:published_time: 2015-05-22T15:24:24.000Z
article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:05:27.250Z
article:section: Science
og:title: Watch This Stunning Video of Astronauts Docking at the Space Station
og:description: It took six hours and 100,000 miles to get there
og:url: https://time.com/3893427/astronauts-docking-space-station/
og:site_name: TIME
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og:image:width: 1200
og:image:height: 675
og:image:alt: This still photograph shows the view from the window of the Soyuz as it approaches the International Space Station for docking on March 28, 2014.
og:type: article
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twitter:title: Watch This Stunning Video of Astronauts Docking at the Space Station
twitter:description: It took six hours and 100,000 miles to get there
twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta76f278d79fc5be4/6988514c06f2c1829533a4dc/space.jpg?branch=production&amp;width=3840&amp;quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;crop=16:9
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![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta76f278d79fc5be4/6988514c06f2c1829533a4dc/space.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9)


# Watch This Stunning Video of Astronauts Docking at the Space Station

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## Video: A Year in Space: The Mission

[Watch (HLS stream): A Year in Space: The Mission](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gEqrnCPI.m3u8) (3:59)

![A Year in Space: The Mission](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/gEqrnCPI/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2015-03-24. On March 28, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly begins a historic year in Space. Time follows Kelly and his twin brother, Mark, as they work the test the boundaries of long-term space travel._


![Jeffrey Kluger](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ba5798889b0f77d/69868efb1eebf78937370d95/jeffrey-kluger.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1:1)

by 

[Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)


![Jeffrey Kluger](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ba5798889b0f77d/69868efb1eebf78937370d95/jeffrey-kluger.jpg?branch=production&width=96&quality=75&auto=webp)

## Jeffrey Kluger


Editor at Large

May 22, 2015 3:24 PM UTC

![This still photograph shows the view from the window of the Soyuz as it approaches the International Space Station for docking on March 28, 2014.](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta76f278d79fc5be4/6988514c06f2c1829533a4dc/space.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=3:2)

This still photograph shows the view from the window of the Soyuz as it approaches the International Space Station for docking on March 28, 2014.

This still photograph shows the view from the window of the Soyuz as it approaches the International Space Station for docking on March 28, 2014.NASA

![Jeffrey Kluger](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ba5798889b0f77d/69868efb1eebf78937370d95/jeffrey-kluger.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1:1)

by 

[Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)


![Jeffrey Kluger](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ba5798889b0f77d/69868efb1eebf78937370d95/jeffrey-kluger.jpg?branch=production&width=96&quality=75&auto=webp)

## Jeffrey Kluger


Editor at Large

May 22, 2015 3:24 PM UTC

Commuting to work isn’t easy in space. After Scott Kelly, Gennady Padalka and Misha Kornienko blasted off from Kazakhstan aboard their Soyuz spacecraft in the early morning hours of March 29, it took them six hours to reach the International Space Station.

Six hours doesn’t seem like much—barely a flight from New York to London. But New York to London is a trip of only 3,459 miles (5,567 km). The Soyuz crew had to make four complete revolutions of the Earth–putting a cool 100,000 miles (161,000 km) on the odometer, in a high-speed chase that, at the end, turned into a delicate _pas de deux_.

NASA has now released the video footage of the final 15 minutes of that approach, shot from the cockpit of the Soyuz. The clip has been sped up here to just two and a half minutes, but even at that rate, it reveals what a precision job a rendezvous and docking is.

The spinning object in the foreground of the image is the Soyuz’s docking radar. The red light that flashes in the window midway through the clip is a reflection from the camera that is recording the approach. What you can’t see are the crewmembers, both in the Soyuz and aboard the station, who were responsible for the cosmic choreography. Their work has to speak for itself—and that work was remarkable.

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