As part of its phasing maneuvers to catch up with the ISS, 3.5 and 4.5 hours into the mission, the Soyuz Spacecraft performed two large SKD Main Propulsion System Burns changing the vehicle's speed by 41.5 m/s and 23.9 m/s, respectively.

The station crew of Padalka, Revin and Acaba got up early changing their sleep cycles to support the rendezvous and docking operations of the Soyuz.

Although the rendezvous and docking sequence is fully automated, cosmonaut Malenchenko and Russian mission controllers in Korolev, Moscow monitored the systems as well.

At a distance of 300 meters to the space station, Russian flight controllers issued a "GO" for the Flyaround to align Soyuz TMA-05M with the docking port on the Rassvet Module.

Soyuz TMA-05M completed a successful docking at 4:51 GMT while the space station was flying high above North-East Kazakhstan: one minute earlier than planned.