Russian spaceship docks with orbiting International Space Station

Published March 28, 2013

Associated Press

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  The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with a Soyuz TMA-04M spaceship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, blasts off from the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan, Tuesday, May 15, 2012. The Russian rocket is carrying U.S. astronaut Joseph Acaba along with Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)AP2012

A Soyuz capsule carrying three astronauts has successfully docked with the International Space Station, bringing the size of the crew at the orbiting lab to six.

Chris Cassidy of the United States and Russians Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin traveled six hours in the capsule before linking up with the space station's Russian Rassvet research module. It was the first time a space crew has taken such a direct route.

The incoming crew will spend five months in space before returning to Earth.

Their mission began with a late-night launch from the Russian-leased Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan.

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