Spaceship with 3-man crew docks to space station

5/28/2014
ASSOCIATED PRESS
  • Kazakhstan-Russia-Space-33

    The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-13M space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, blasts off at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, May 29, 2014. The Russian rocket carries European Space Agency's astronaut Alexander Gerst, Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suraev, and NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)

    ASSOCIATED PRESS

    • MOSCOW — A Russian spacecraft carrying a three-man crew docked successfully to the International Space Station following a flawless launch.

    The Soyuz craft, carrying NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Russian cosmonaut Max Surayev and German Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency arrived at the station at 5:44 a.m. (0144 GMT) Thursday. They lifted off just less than six hours earlier from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

    The Mission Control in Moscow congratulated the trio on a successful docking.

    They are joining two Russians and an American who have been at the station since March.

    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 space station and pays Russia nearly $71 million per seat.