Soyuz Drops Astronauts Off At Space Station

A Soyuz capsule carrying three astronauts has successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS).

NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg, Russia's Fyodor Yurchikhin and Italy's Luca Parmitano travelled six hours in the capsule before linking up with the ISS's Russian Rassvet research module.

The incoming crew will spend five months in space conducting a variety of experiments before returning to Earth.

It takes the size of the workforce at the orbiting lab to six.

Their mission began with a midnight launch from the Russian-leased Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan.

The Soyuz took a shortcut that slashed the travel time from two days to just six hours thanks to a special orbit that blasted the astronauts directly to their destination.

The abridged journey has rarely been tried in the past because it puts a bigger stress on the astronauts' bodies.

But one such trip was successfully completed earlier this year and Russia decided to repeat the experience with a view to making the six-hour journey the norm for future travel to the ISS.

"The Soyuz capsule and crew inside are now safely in orbit," NASA commentator Rob Navias announced from the Johnson Space Center in the United States.

"The launch went exactly according to plan," said Navias.