Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: India-born astronaut Sunita Williams and two other space scientists reached the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday onboard Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA.
Williams, Russian Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency flight engineer Akihiko Hoshide docked to the Rassvet module at 10.22 am (IST).
However, it took couple of hours before they opened the hatch connecting to the ISS to join current station residents Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineers Joe Acaba and Sergei Revi.
The six-member crew then conducted a welcoming ceremony with family and mission officials. Sunita Williams talked to her parents. She said she is having a great time and is very happy to be at the ISS again.
However, her long hair is believed to be causing problems.
The launch and docking of Expedition 32 coincides with the 37th anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first docking of an American spacecraft with a Russian spacecraft on July 17, 1975.
The spacecraft carrying Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams, NASA astronaut Williams, had blasted off from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 15th July at 08.10 am IST.
This is the second space mission for Sunita Williams. She also holds the record of the longest spaceflight -- 195 days -- for woman space travellers.
The crew which will return home in mid-November is expected to conduct over 30 scientific missions during their stay aboard the ISS.
First Published: Tuesday, July 17, 2012, 10:20