Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, NASA astronaut TJ Creamer and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi docked at the International Space Station (ISS) at 4:48 p.m. CST on Tuesday.
From inside the station, Expedition 22 commander Jeff Williams and flight engineer Maxim Suraev monitored the approach of the Russian Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft as it berthed to the Earth-facing port of the Zarya module.
After completion of leak checks, the hatches between the vehicles were opened shortly after 6:30 p.m. CST. Williams and Suraev, who arrived at the station Oct. 2 on TMA-16, welcomed the flight engineers aboard their orbital home for the next five months.