A three-man crew successfully arrived on board the international space station on Friday.
Three astronauts from USA, Russia and Italy lifted off in a Soyuz capsule from the Russia-leased launch pad in Kazakhstan.
Just over eight hours later, they entered the space station to join NASA's Jack Fischer and Peggy Whitson, as well as the veteran Russian Cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin.
The incoming crew will contribute to more than 250 experiments conducted at the orbiting lab in fields such as biology, human research, physical sciences and technology development.
