NASA TV coverage of docking will begin at 10:45 a.m. CST (1645 GMT). NASA TV coverage of the hatch opening will begin at 1 p.m. (1900 GMT).

Additional BBC coverage of Tim Peake's launch and journey to the space station:

• Tuesday (Dec. 15) at 10:30 a.m.: Blast Off Live

  Join Brian Cox and Dara O Briain on 15 December as British astronaut Tim Peake launches to the International Space Station.

• Tuesday (Dec. 15) at 7:00 p.m.: Brit in Space

  Professor Brian Cox and Dara O Briain present live coverage of British astronaut Tim Peake's arrival at the International Space Station. At the Science Museum in London they are joined by astronauts including former ISS commander Chris Hadfield and Helen Sharman, who can give them the low down on the journey through space, life aboard and what Tim will face from his very first night on the ISS. Plus Dallas Campbell reports live from Kazakhstan with Tim Peake's first phone call home from space.

On Sunday (Dec. 13), the Soyuz-FG rocket topped with the TMA-19M spacecraft was rolled out to the launch pad by train and erected into position.

Good luck @astro_timpeake and team from all at #DoctorWho. If you bump into any Daleks, give us a call!

Gennady Padalka flew a manual docking by design during the relocation of Soyuz TMA-16M in August of this year. He earlier had to take control of another Soyuz, TMA-14, in 2009 after a glitch aborted the autonomous docking.

Salizhan Sharipov flew a manual docking with Soyuz TMA-5 in 2004 after an onboard alarm warned the crew about a higher than normal rendezvous velocity (it was later determined an onboard flight control system had supplied faulty data on the acceleration of the craft).

After switching to manual controls, it took the Soyuz commander two attempts to put the spacecraft into right orientation and complete the docking. During the first try, the spacecraft began a seemingly faster-than-normal approach to the station and then, suddenly, turned sideways just meters from the docking port and deviated from its approach.

Shortly after docking, Malenchenko explained mission control that during his first manual approach attempt he could not see the docking port clear enough and only realized the problem at the last minute.

...according to industry sources, the Soyuz commander's problems likely stem from poor lighting, which prevented him from clearly seeing docking targets on the MIM1 Rassvet module. Yet, instead of waiting for better conditions, the pilot pressed ahead with a nearly blind approach only to find his ship positioned out of alignment with the docking port and moving above the speed limit for safe berthing, sources said. Critics suggest that the pilot might have been under pressure from mission control to complete docking as soon as possible.

• 3:22 a.m. CDT (0822 GMT):
  Soyuz TMA-19m deorbit burn (4 minutes, 37 seconds duration)

• 3:26 a.m. CDT (0826 GMT):
  Soyuz deorbit burn complete

• 3:49 a.m. CDT (0849 GMT):
  Soyuz module separation (altitude 87 miles [140 km])

• 3:52 a.m. CDT (0852 GMT):
  Soyuz atmospheric entry (altitude 62 miles [100 km])

• 4:00 a.m. CDT (0900 GMT):
  Command to open parachute (6.7 miles [10.8 km])

• 4:14 a.m. CDT (0914 GMT):
  Soyuz TMA-19M landing southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan

"Back in Europe during my stopover in Bodø, Norway on the way to ESA - European Space Agency's astronaut centre in Cologne, Germany."

quote:

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Originally posted by robsouth:
Just heard that the Soyuz spacecraft that returned Tim Peake and his crewmates back from the ISS is going to be destroyed!

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Happy to be #home from @Space_Station.