Video: Soyuz MS-01 leaves the space station for landing

Bill Shepherd, a former Navy SEAL-turned astronaut who arrived at the International Space Station 20 years ago Monday to begin the continuous occupancy of the orbiting research outpost, says the experience gained by NASA and its global partners over the last two decades provides a blueprint for missions to the moon, Mars, and beyond.

These photos show the stacking of Japan’s eighth H-2B rocket inside an assembly building at the Tanegashima Space Center over the past few weeks, followed by rollout of the 186-foot-tall vehicle to its launch pad Tuesday.

Track the progress of the Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft and its three-man crew through Tuesday’s countdown, launch and docking with the International Space Station.