• Soyuz MS-16 Mission (Rocket Launch Live)
• Live coverage: Soyuz crew launches from Kazakhstan, docks with space station (Spaceflight Now)
• Soyuz crew docks with the International Space Station (Spaceflight Now)
• Russia conducts first Soyuz 2.1a human launch; MS-16 crew arrives at Station (NASA Spaceflight)
• SOYUZ 2.1A | SOYUZ MS-16 (Everyday Astronaut)
• Crew Nears Departure Ahead of Busy Space Traffic (NASA Space Station)

A Roscosmos Soyuz-2 rocket launched the Soyuz MS-16 mission on Thursday, April 9th, 2020 at 08:05 UTC.

Soyuz MS-16 transported three members of the Expedition 62 mission:

• Commander Anatoli Ivanishin, RSA (third spaceflight)
• Flight Engineer 1 Ivan Vagner, RSA (first spaceflight)
• Flight Engineer 2 Christopher Cassidy, NASA (third spaceflight)

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the crew families and the media representatives couldn’t watch the launch in Baikonur, and the usual pre-launch traditions dating since Yuri Gagarin were cancelled.

MS-16 docked at the Poisk zenith port at 14:13:18 UTC on April 9th, about six hours and twelve minutes after launch.

This brings the population of the ISS up to 6, but only until this Friday, when commander Oleg Skripochka, and NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and physician-astronaut Drew Morgan, who have been on the ISS since September 25th, 2019, return to Earth on Soyuz MS-15 touching down around 05:17 UTC.