The three crew members aboard the International Space Station (ISS) welcomed three more -- NASA's Ron Garan and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Andrey Borisenko -- on Wednesday evening. At 7:09 p.m. EDT, the Soyuz spacecraft (shown here minutes before) docked to the ISS' Poisk module after launching from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, late Monday afternoon.

When Soyuz connected with the ISS on Wednesday evening both crafts were flying high over the Andes Mountains in Chile. The new crew members were forced to wait inside their capsule for several hours before the hatches could be opened. Then, their welcome to the ISS consisted of a greeting ceremony and mandatory safety orientation.

"Garan, Samokutyaev and Borisenko are scheduled to live and work in space until September," according to NASA. "They will become Expedition 28 crew members when Kondratyev, Coleman and Nespoli undock from the Rassvet module in May in their Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft. Borisenko will become station commander."

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Image: NASA.