 Russia has been providing the supply-line for the ISS |
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying replacement crew has docked at the International Space Station after a two-day journey from Earth. Two of the three spacemen, from Russia and the US, will spend 175 days on the ISS. The third will return to Earth with the two current ISS crew members.
The Soyuz craft took over all trips to and from the space station following the Columbia shuttle disaster in 2003.
The US space agency (Nasa) says it will resume shuttle flights next month.
New record
The Soyuz spacecraft is expected to return to Earth in 10 days.
 Vittori (l) will return, while Phillips and Krikalev take over on the ISS |
Returning astronauts Salizhan Sharipov, from Russia, and Leroy Chiao, from the US, have been on the ISS since October. Russian Sergei Krikalev and American John Phillips will take over for a six-month stint on the space station, while the third Soyuz astronaut, Italian Roberto Vittori, will return with the departing crew.
Krikalev, on his sixth flight, is expected to set a new record.
At the end of this mission, the 46-year-old veteran of the ISS and the Russian space station Mir will have clocked up more than 800 days in space - more than any other person.
Nasa has been testing its Discovery shuttle, hoping to send it to the ISS during a launch window lasting from 15 May to 3 June.
A redesigned external fuel tank was successfully filled with cryogenic propellants at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday.
The US space shuttle fleet, which used to serve the ISS, has been grounded since February 2003, when the Columbia orbiter burnt up on re-entering the atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts on board.
One-Minute World News 
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