A Russian Soyuz spacecraft docked at the International Space Station Wednesday with three astronauts on board, on the third manned mission to the orbiting craft since NASA halted shuttle flights after the Columbia disaster.
American Edward Michael Fincke, Dutchman Andre Kuipers and Russia's Gennady Padalka, who had blasted off two days earlier from Kazakhstan, docked at the station some 400 kilometres (250 miles) above the Earth at 9:01 Moscow time (0501 GMT).
They entered the hatch of the space station some 90 minutes later to be greeted by the two-man crew finishing their six-month mission, who offered them bread and salt according to Russian tradition.
The current Soyuz mission is the third to the ISS since the United States froze shuttle missions after Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry in February 2003.