Soyuz arrives at space station

2004-10-16 08:15

Korolyov - A Soyuz spacecraft carrying two cosmonauts and an American astronaut docked smoothly on Saturday at the international space station, where another Russian-United States team has spent six months.

The Soyuz TMA-5, carrying Russians Salizhan Sharipov and Yuri Shargin and American Leroy Chiao, docked with the station at 08:16, just over 49 hours after lifting off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday.

It is the fourth time a Soyuz has filled in for US space shuttle flights, suspended since the Columbia burned up on re-entry in February 2003.

Mission Control staff monitoring the docking at Korolyov, outside Moscow, broke into applause after the spaceship entered its berth.

Manual landing

Mission Control said the Soyuz's approach to the station had proceeded normally, but announced at the last minute that the crew would guide the spaceship in manually. Officials gave no indication why.

Soyuz spacecraft are normally guided by autopilot on their approach to the station and during the docking, but the crew is trained to operate the capsule manually in case of computer failure. Sharipov was to take over the controls in that case, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported, citing Russian Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin.

In a rare rupture with a tradition of having at least one crewman with previous experience in piloting the capsule, none of the astronauts aboard the Soyuz had flown it before. But space officials downplayed the lack of experience, saying the crew had undergone sufficient training.

Sharipov and Chiao are to replace Russian Gennady Padalka and American Mike Fincke, who are ending a half-year mission on the orbiting station. Padalka and Fincke will return to Earth with Shargin on October 24.

During their six-month mission, Sharipov and Chiao will conduct experiments to research new Aids vaccines and study plant growth, and will take at least two space walks.

While the new crew was en route to the 16-nation station, Padalka and Fincke were preparing berths for their colleagues and trying to get a good night's sleep before the docking, ITAR-Tass reported. Lyndin said the two would have to wake up six hours earlier than usual.

"When Soyuz approaches the station we can contact our guys and find out what hot dishes to cook for their lunch," Padalka joked. There are no heaters for food on the spaceship, he said.- AP

- SAPA