A Russian spacecraft carrying a three-man crew has docked at the International Space Station.
The Soyuz craft, carrying NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Russian cosmonaut Max Surayev and German Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency, arrived at the International Space station on Thursday at 01:44 a.m. Greenwich Meridian Time.
The astronauts took off just under six hours earlier from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The trio joins two Russians and an American who have been at the station since March, and Mission Control in Moscow has congratulated the astronauts on a successful docking.
The Russian and U.S. space agencies have continued to cooperate despite friction between the two countries over Ukraine. NASA depends on the Russian spacecraft to ferry crews to the ISS and pays Russia nearly U.S.$71 million per seat for each trip to the station.
European Space Agency's astronaut Alexander Gerst, left, Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suraev, center, and NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, crew members of the mission to the International Space Station, ISS, gesture prior the launch of Soyuz-FG rocket at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, May 28, 2014. (AP Photo/Sergei Ilnitsky, Pool)
European Space Agency's astronaut Alexander Gerst, left, Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suraev, center, and NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, crew members of the mission to the International Space Station, ISS, report to members of the state Committee prior the launch on Wednesday, May 28, 2014. (AP Photo)
The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-13M space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, flies in the sky at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, May 29, 2014. (Dmitry Lovetsky/ Associated Press)
