The Russian Soyuz TMA-21 manned spacecraft – nicknamed ‘Gagarin’ – docked with the International Space Station (ISS) Thursday, the mission control said.
The spacecraft has been named ‘Gagarin’ to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Yury Gagarin’s first flight in space.
It is carrying Russian cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyayev and Andrei Borisenko, and American astronaut Ronald Garan.
The new ISS crewmembers blasted off from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan Tuesday and will stay on board the space station for about 160 days.
The arriving team will join the current crew comprising Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev, European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli and NASA astronaut Catherine Coleman.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
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