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Astronauts from Russia, Japan and the United States Thursday docked successfully with the International Space Station under six hours after they launched.
 The Soyuz TMA 17M rocket - carrying cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, US astronaut Kjell Lindgren and Kimiya Yui of Japan - had roared skyward from Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome in the barren Kazakh steppe at 2102 GMT.
 After a fly-around at a distance of around 350 metres, the rocket manoeuvred to rendezvous with the ISS at 0246 GMT.
 “We have contact,” a NASA announcer said, as the craft soared high above the coast of Ecuador, 400 kilometres over the Pacific.
 One solar power array  did not deploy on time, but this did not affect the rocket’s flight as the others were still operating, the US space agency said.

 Scientists and space enthusiasts around the world were watching the launch closely, and with some concern, since the mission had been delayed by two months because of a Russian rocket failure.
 Russia was in May forced to put all space travel on hold after the unmanned Progress freighter taking cargo to the ISS crashed back to Earth in late April.
 The doomed ship lost contact with Earth and burned up in the atmosphere. The failure, which Russia has blamed on a problem in a Soyuz rocket, also forced a group of astronauts to spend an extra month aboard the ISS.
 Russian officials earlier breathed a sigh of relief, with the space agency Roscosmos saying that the third stage of the Soyuz rocket separated on time and the crew were “feeling well”.
 “Everything is okay, everything is according to plan,” said veteran cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, providing live commentary of the liftoff on television.
 A workhorse of space that dates back to the Cold War, the Soyuz is used for manned and unmanned flights.
 “Training... check. Equipment... check. Rocket... check. Press conference... check. We are ready to fly!!” 42-year-old Lindgren said on Twitter before the liftoff.

 Japan’s Yui, 45, is now the 10th Japanese astronaut to have travelled in space.
 Ahead of the launch, the three men met with 81-year-old cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first man to walk in space and one of the Apollo-Soyuz commanders.
 Sending the first man into space in 1961 and launching the first Sputnik satellite four years earlier are among key accomplishments of the Russian space programme and remain a major source of national pride in the country.
 But over the past few years, Russia has suffered several major setbacks, notably losing expensive satellites and unmanned supply ships to the ISS.
 NASA has funnelled US$4.2 billion to Boeing and US$2.6 billion to SpaceX to help the companies build a successor to the space shuttle and to encourage competition in the aerospace industry.
 In the meantime, the world’s astronauts fly to the ISS aboard Russian Soyuz spaceships at a cost of US$70 million per seat.



New crew arrives at the International Space Station after two-month delay

Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, right, is greeted as he boards the International Space Station, early Thursday. Photo: NASA/AP

The Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft carrying the International Space Station crew of Kjell Lindgren of the U.S., Oleg Kononenko of Russia and Kimiya Yui of Japan blasts off from the launch pad at the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. Photo: Reuters

 Members of main crew expedition at their sending-off ceremony before boarding the Soyuz rocket. Photo: EPA

 Astronauts, front row from left, Kimiya Yui, of Japan, Oleg Kononenko, of Russia, and Kjell Lindgren, of the United States, wave after they boarded the International Space Station, early Thursday. Joining the new crew are, rear row from left, astronauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka, from Russia, and Scott Kelly, of the U.S. Photo: NASA/AP

SpaceX rocket with cargo for International Space Station explodes minutes after take-off

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket explodes, and the Dragon spacecraft breaks apart, shortly after lift-off from Cape Canaveral. The rocket was carrying supplies to the International Space Station. Photos: TNS, AFP, AP

An unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket explodes after lift-off from Cape Canaveral. Photo: Reuters

China says improved space docking technology will help future missions

Three Chinese astronauts blast off in a rocket in 2013 at the start of a 15-day mission to dock with the nation's experimental space laboratory. Photo: Xinhua

Photo: Xinhua

Chinese scientist Gong Dezhu says spacecraft need a good guidance system when docking because any slight deviation can lead to disaster, like the one in the film 'Interstellar', starring Matthew McConaughey (left), Anne Hathaway (centre), and David Gyasi. Photo: MCT

Corruption and scandal threatens Russia's new HK$44billion space cosmodrome

The launchpad at the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia's far eastern Amur region, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has described as the country's biggest construction project. Russia currently uses Kazakhstan's Baikonur cosmodrome.Photos: AFP, AP

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 A Soyuz space capsule carrying a Russian, an American and a Japanese has docked smoothly with space station. 


New crew arrives at the International Space Station after two-month delay

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;} A Soyuz space capsule carrying a Russian, an American and a Japanese has docked smoothly with space station.

A Soyuz space capsule carrying a Russian, an American and a Japanese has docked smoothly with space station.