Soyuz arrives at the ISS

The Russian Soyuz spacecraft has successfully docked with the International Space Station. It is the second model of this new generation of Soyuz craft, which after the retirement of the American space shuttle will be the sole means of liasing with the ISS.

Soyuz brings a three-man team; a Russian, an American and a Japanese astronaut to join three men currently manning the ISS. With six people on board, the ISS is now at full capacity.

The new team has a 161-day mission involving some 40 experiments. For Sergei Volkov, himself the son of a cosmonaut, this is his second visit. America’s Mike Fossum is in space for the third time, while this is Satoshi Furukawa’s maiden space flight.

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