Right in the space for only six hours

SOYUZ space capsule docked at the International Space Station after a trip of less than six hours. Teams of three members is the first follow the shortest path, which uses only four orbits around the earth. The trip usually takes two days to a Russian space ship.

Arrival of Russia, Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin and American Chris Cassidy will lead to six the number of crew present at the space station.

The team departed from the Baikonur Spaceport in Kazakhstan. After being up around 9 pm, they went into orbit and began to use complex ballistic maneuvers, which reduced about 30 revolutions around the earth and 45 hour flight to the station.

Before the flight, the shortest route that successfully tested three times the cargo space ship Progress of Russian production. This vessel is unmanned version SOYUZ and used to send supplies to the station.

The three astronauts will stay in space until September. Three others are there between December and will return in May. Over the next six months, the crew will conduct 137 investigations in the segment of the station run by Americans and 44 in the Russian segment. Investigations will include research on human life, biological and physical sciences, technology development, and land observation.