Soyuz Commander Oleg Kononenko, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren took a five-and-half-hour, four-orbit ride to the space station. Four orbital maneuvers were conducted during the rendezvous of Soyuz TMA-17M with the station: one during the first orbit and three during the second revolution around the Earth. The spacecraft made a total of four revolutions around the Earth at the time of the rendezvous with the ISS.

The autonomous rendezvous with the station was scheduled to begin at 03:40:26 Moscow Time on July 23 (8:40 p.m. EDT on July 22). The final maneuvers including flyaround, a short station-keeping period and berthing was scheduled to be initiated at 05:24:58 Moscow Time on July 23 (10:24 p.m. EDT on July 22).

Shortly after docking, crew members confirmed that the stuck solar panel on Soyuz had finally deployed. However, according to NASA, the solar panel actually opened around seven minutes before docking, when the transport ship was around five meters away from the station. The moment of the panel release was captured by a TV camera onboard the station, as the Soyuz was approaching its destination on the night side of the Earth.

The hatches between Soyuz TMA-17M and the Rassvet MIM1 module were opened shortly before 1 a.m. EDT, 08:00 Moscow Time. The newly arrived crew is expected to stay in orbit until December 2015, logging 163 days in space.

After 141 days aboard the International Space Station, ISS, the crew of the Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft was to conclude the 45th expedition on the outpost. According to the Russian space agency, during their the final week in orbit, Oleg Kononenko, Kimiya Yui and Kjell Lindgren conducted two landing simulations to refresh their knowledge of necessary procedures.

By December 8, in preparation for landing, aircraft and other assets of the Central Military District were deployed at airfields in Kazakhstan, Interfax reported. A total of 180 members of the military personnel, 12 Mi-8 helicopters, four An-12 and An-26 aircraft and 18 ground vehicles were to be involved into search and rescue operation.

On December 9, Deputy Chief of Gagarin Training Center Maksim Kharlamov announced that the crew had been fully ready for landing.

The return to Earth operations began with the hatch closure between Soyuz TMA-17M and the ISS at 09:32 Moscow Time (1:32 a.m. EST) on December 11.

The scheduled landing time was 16:12 Moscow Time (8:12 a.m. EST, 7:12 p.m. Kazakhstan time), however the factual moment of touchdown could not be immediately confirmed due to darkness and bad weather at the landing site. The Russian mission control confirmed successful landing around six minutes after the scheduled touchdown time. Recovery teams reportedly saw strobe light of the descent module still in the air under the parachute and then found the capsule resting on its side in the snow-covered ground.