A Russian Soyuz capsule docked Thursday at the International Space Station, bringing new Russian, U.S. and Japanese crew members to orbiting outpost 350 kilometres above the Earth.
The TMA-02M capsule, which was outfitted with new digital controls, blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2:12 am (2012 GMT Tuesday), the Russian space agency Roscosmos said.
Cosmonaut Sergey Volkov and astronauts Satoshi Furukawa and Michael Fossum will remain at the ISS until November 16.
Their mission will see the last visit by a U.S. space shuttle to the ISS when the Atlantis launches in July. After the shuttle fleet is retired, U.S. astronauts will have to rely on the Soyuz for transportation to the ISS.
The new crew members are joining Russians Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev and American Ron Garan.
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