The Russian Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday. The three crew members aboard the shuttle manually docked the spacecraft. They had to because the automatic docking system had malfunctioned according to the Russian mission control.

Actually, the steering of the spacecraft in order to dock with the ISS was made by the Russian member of the crew, Expedition 19 commander Gennady Padalka, an air force colonel. Although the maneuver was carried out smoothly, the incident raised some questioned about Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft that is well-known for its reliability.

The autopilot signal went off just a few minutes before the docking was about the take place. Onw of the engines had malfunctioned, according to Roscosmos flight director Vladimir Solovyov. The Associated Press reported.

"At the last stage of the docking process, the crew had to switch into manual mode, which Padalka did. This is not unusual," mission control spokesman Valery Lyndin said according to Reuters. "Now everything is fine."

The Soyuz, which blasted off on Thursday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is also carrying a space tourist who paid $35 million for this journey. The wealthy tourist is Charles Simonyi, a Hungarian-born, Bellevue businessman and former Microsoft executive. He is at his second trip and now he paid $10 million more. The 60-year old businessman is the first space tourists to make the journey twice. However, he may be the last space tourist because the population aboard the ISS will soon grow due to the fact that the hosting capabilities of the space station have increased with the installation of the final set of solar wings.