The Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying an American millionaire and two astronauts docks safely with the international space station.
U.S. video game developer Richard Garriott, the son of U.S. astronaut Owen Garriott, were welcomed onto the station by Sergei Volkov, whose father Alexander was orbiting the earth when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
Space tourist Garriott, U.S. astronaut Michael Fincke and Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sunday.
Fincke will serve as commander of the six-month Expedition 18 mission which will focus on preparing the station to house six crew members on longer-duration missions.
After 10 days in space Garriott will return to Earth with the ISS's former crew aboard a Soyuz re-entry vehicle, a three-person capsule which has malfunctioned on its last two flights.
