New Delhi: A Russian spacecraft, Soyuz MS-02, carrying three new residents to the space- two Russian cosmonauts and one American astronaut has successfully docked with International Space Station (ISS).
The trio was taken off by the spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 19th October. According to Sputnik news, the new members, the three crew members- Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko and US astronaut Shane Kimbrough -- are expected to move to the space station in the next several hours.
These three new members has joined three other ISS crew members - Kate Rubins of NASA, Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency - who are on board since July.
The spacecraft is scheduled to undock from ISS on October 30 with the previous crew. Its landing on the earth is planned for the same day, the space centre added.
The new two-day flight plan aims at testing all systems of the new spacecraft, according to Russia's space agency Roscosmos.
The Soyuz MS is the latest and most advanced version in the Soyuz TMA family. It features modernised communications and navigation systems, and also has more efficient solar panels, which will significantly increase its energy performance, RT news reported.
The launch of the spacecraft had been postponed in September due to technical problems.
The other remaining launches in 2016 include the Soyuz MS-03 manned spacecraft, which will be launched on November 16 and the Progress MS-04 space freighter launch on December 1.
(With IANS inputs)
