The Russian Soyuz TMA-08M utilized the new 6-hour fast rendezvous flight profile developed by the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and previously tested on Progress M-16M and M-17M, instead of the usual two-day rendezvous, making it possible for crew members to leave ground facilities and board the International Space Station in less time than a typical transatlantic flight.

Final cargo items including some time-critical experiment payloads for the Russian segment of the space station were loaded into the Soyuz at the launch pad.

[9] After the hatches opened at 4:35 GMT, the newly arrived Soyuz crew was welcomed aboard the space station by Expedition 35 commander Chris Hadfield and flight engineers Thomas Marshburn and Roman Romanenko.

At about seven minutes after entry interface, the maximum stress on the spacecraft occurred and as expected during this period of reentry communications with the Soyuz were lost.

The spacecraft carrying Vinogradov, Misurkin and Cassidy landed on the steppe of Kazakhstan (southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan) at 2:58 GMT on 11 September 2013.

The three crew members were placed in reclining chairs and due to bad weather they were quickly ushered to the medical tent setup nearby.

Shortly after landing, Cassidy and Misurkin, also participated in a post-landing activity by going through a number of exercises to assess their physiological state.