KOROLYOV, Russia, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- A Russian spaceship with three new crew for the International Space Station docked with the station Thursday, Russia's Flight Control Center said.
"The docking went ahead by command from Earth at the designated time in automatic regime," a source from the center in the city of Korolyov near Moscow told RIA Novosti.
After the successful docking, a hatch between the Russian Soyuz TMA-06M capsule and the station was opened at 11:30 EDT.
Joining three crewmembers already on the station are Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeny Tarelkin and NASA astronaut Kevin Ford.
The new crew will conduct scientific experiments on the station and participate in handling several cargo craft, including the undocking of the privately built American Dragon capsule Oct. 28 and a Russian Progress ship on Oct. 31.
Greeting the arriving crew were Russian cosmonaut Yury Malenchenko, U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams and Japanese astronaut Akihido Hoshide.
