spacetoday.net: Soyuz docks with the ISS

Posted: Fri, Dec 23, 2011, 12:37 PM ET (1737 GMT)
Soyuz TMA-03M arriving at ISS (NASA)

A Soyuz spacecraft carrying three people docked with the International Space Station Friday morning, restoring the station to normal six-person operations. The Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft docked with the station's Rassvet module at 10:19 am EST (1519 GMT) Friday, two days after launch from Baikonur. On board the Soyuz are the three new members of the Expedition 30 crew, Don Pettit of NASA, Oleg Kononenko of Roscosmos, and Andre Kuipers of ESA. The docking allows the station to resume normal six-person operations for the first time since September, when the delayed launch of a replacement crew because of a Soyuz launch failure forced the station to reduce in size to three people. The station was temporarily at six people last month during a crew changeover.