Soyuz docks with space station

A Russian Soyuz spaceship has docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on the first manned mission to fly into orbit since the US shuttle Columbia disintegrated in February.

Perfect docking for the Soyuz "taxi"

The docking took place at 0556 GMT, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) above Russian territory.

The Soyuz TMA-2 capsule, which was launched on Saturday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, was carrying a Russian cosmonaut and a US astronaut.

Yuri Malenchenko and Ed Lu will take over from the current three-man team - Expedition Six - which has been manning the platform since November.

Crew conference

Russian space officials congratulated the crews on the successful docking procedure and opening of hatches between the Soyuz and the ISS.

"The entire world was watching you," head of the Energiya Aerospace Corporation Yuriy Semenov said in a live communication to the ISS.

Lu and Malenchenko (far right) reflect on the docking with Expedition Six

"It was a very important phase. We wish you success on this difficult mission. We are confident that you will be successful."

Yuri Malenchenko replied: "We are in high spirits and feel wonderful."

The new arrivals, together known as Expedition Seven, will have a short period of hand-over with US astronauts Kenneth Bowersox and Donald Pettit and Russian cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin.

Malenchenko and Lu must give the departing crew a refresher on how to operate the Soyuz capsule.

Expedition Six should have been returning in the Atlantis shuttle. Now, they must journey to Earth on 3 May in the Soyuz ship already docked to the station; the one carrying Lu and Malenchenko will remain in orbit as an "emergency lifeboat" should catastrophe ever strike the platform.

Old hands

Friends and family of the spacemen watched the docking from Russia's mission control near Moscow.

"I am just so happy and proud to see everything work out so well," Lu's mother, Snowlily, said.

Relief and applause from the families

She was joined by the astronaut's brother Rick and his fiancee, Christine Romero. They cheered when the vessels established a connection.

"This is amazing... It gives me a lot of relief to see that they're up there," Romero said.

"Everyone is proud not just for what Ed is doing, but for Nasa and the International Space Station and for the space programme as a whole, especially after the Columbia."

Lu and Malenchenko have visited the ISS before in 2000, before it was permanently occupied. They worked on the exterior of the platform together.

The men are scheduled to remain onboard until October.