The Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft carrying Expedition 16 astronauts Peggy Whitson of the U.S., Soyuz Commander and International Space Station flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko of Russia and astronaut Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor of Malaysia approaches the International Space Station (ISS) for docking in this image from NASA TV Oct. 12, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

 

A Russian spaceship carrying a two-man crew of the International Space Station (ISS) and a Malaysian astronaut docked with the ISS on Friday evening after traveling for two days through space.

 

The Soyuz TMA-11 ship, which streaked into the sky over the Central Asian steppe on Wednesday, hooked up with the space station at 18:50 Moscow time (1450 GMT) Friday, Mission Control outside Moscow said.

 

Aboard the vessel were Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, the sixteenth crew of the long-term expedition for the ISS, and the first Malaysian cosmonaut Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, who would enter the ISS in a few hours after a series of checks.

 

The 35-year-old Shukor will stay in orbit for 11 days, and then return with the 15th ISS resident crew Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, who have been working on the station since April. He will carry out a series of experiments in the interests of the European Space Agency (ESA) during his mission.

 

The 16th ISS crew, Malenchenko and Whitson are to work in orbit for six months. During their mission, they are expected to make three spacewalks and conduct about 80 experiments in space.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2007)