The Russian Soyuz TMA-4 spacecraft carrying a three-member crew successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, two days after blasting off from the Russian Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The docking took place automatically as planned at 0501 GMT, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

Aboard the spacecraft are Russian astronaut Gennady Padalka, NASA astronaut Michael Fincke and Dutchman Andre Kuipers from the European Space Agency (ESA).

Padalka and Fincke will replace Russia's Alexei Kalery and US astronaut Michael Foale, who have been working at the ISS since October.

Fincke and Padalka are expected to stay for six months and carry out two space walks in June and August to install equipment necessary for a European-built new automated transfer vehicle, due to arrive at the station in April 2005.

The Dutchman is making his first voyage into space on behalf of the ESA to conduct experiments, and will stay at the ISS for nine days before returning to earth on April 30 along with Foale and Kalery.

ISS, the 16-nation floating space hub, used to be heavily reliant on US shuttle flights. But since the US shuttle program has been grounded after NASA's Columbia spaceship disintegrated on February 1, 2003, killing all seven crew on board, Russian Soyuz crew capsules and Progress cargo ships remain the sole means of transportation to the space station.

(Xinhua News Agency April 22, 2004)