The orbiter Endeavour finally chased down the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday and docked with the platform at 1625 GMT.

The shuttle is delivering a new crew to the ISS. Expedition Five will stay on the orbiting outpost for four and a half months.

Endeavour astronauts will also continue construction work on the station.

In the next few days, spacewalkers will repair the wrist joint in the platform's robot arm, and install a base on which the arm can be moved about the exterior of the station more easily.

Medical experiments

There are also supplies to be delivered - almost three tonnes of provisions and science gear will be unloaded from Endeavour - and rubbish to be bagged up and returned to Earth.

The Expedition Five crew comprises Commander Valery Korzun and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev.

Dr Whitson's involvement is particularly significant. The 42-year-old biochemist will be the first real research scientist to live on the platform.

In between her maintenance duties on the ISS, she will work on plants, crystals, fluids, liver cells, radiation and vibration monitoring, and a number of medical experiments involving lung function and kidney stones.

New mark

Expedition Four - Yuri Onufrienko, Carl Walz and Daniel Bursch - have been packing up ready to return to Earth aboard Endeavour on 17 June.

They have been on the station for more than six months.

By the time they touch down, Walz and Bursch will have set a new endurance record for Americans in space.

Their 194 days aloft will surpass the current US mark of 188 days, set by Shannon Lucid during a stay aboard the Russian Mir complex in 1996.