Soyuz docks at Space Station

HOUSTON, March 28 (UPI) -- The Soyuz TMA-14 docked with the International Space Station Saturday, bringing new crew members and a space tourist.

The two spacecraft opened their hatches at 12:36 p.m. EDT, NASA announced.

Commander Gennady Padalka, a veteran Russian cosmonaut, and Flight Engineer Michael Barratt of NASA will participate in the 19th International Space Station expedition with Koichi Wakata, a Japanese astronaut. Wakata traveled to the station with the shuttle Discovery.

Charles Simonyi, a top Microsoft developer who went on to found his own company, will return to Earth with the Soyuz TMA13. He is the first person to make two paid trips into space, having spent 13 days in transit and on the space station in 2007.

Commander Mike Fincke and Flight Engineer Yury Lonchakov, who have been in space since Oct. 12, are also returning to Earth.

Discovery landed successfully Saturday afternoon in Florida after doing an extra 90-minute Earth orbit because of bad weather.