spacetoday.net: Soyuz docks with ISS

Soyuz docks with ISS

Posted: Fri, Oct 2, 2009, 11:48 AM ET (1548 GMT)
ISS crew on 2009 October 2 (NASA)

A Soyuz spacecraft carrying two new ISS crew members and a space tourist docked with the space station early Friday. The Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft docked at the aft end of the Zvezda service module at 4:35 am EDT (0835 GMT), and hatches separating the spacecraft and station opened a little over two hours later. On board the Soyuz were NASA astronaut Jeff Williams, Russian cosmonaut Max Suraev, and Canadian space tourist Guy Laliberté. Williams and Padalka will replace current ISS crew members Mike Barratt and Gennady Padalka, who will return to Earth with Laliberté on October 10. This is the first time three Soyuz spacceraft have been docked to the ISS, as the size of the station's crew increased from three to six earlier this year.