Soyuz spacecraft docks at International Space Station

Three new crew members have arrivedat the International Space Station, including Britain's first officialastronaut.

NASA's TimKopra, an American, Russia'sYuriMalenchenkoand the European Space Agency's TimPeakeof Great Britain blasted offaboarda 50-metre Soyuz TMA-19M rocketshortly after 6 a.m. ET todayfrom Kazakhstan and are en routeto the International Space Station.

They embarked on a journey of more thansix hours from Baikonur. The capsule docked at 12:23 p.m. ET.

There were no reported problems with the launch, and the capsule entered orbit about nine minutes after liftoff, at an altitude of about 212 kilometres.

Malenchenko, a former commander at Russia's Mir space station, is making his sixth trip into space, tying a national record. Kopra is making his first trip on the Soyuz and second trip into space.

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Peake will become the first Briton at the ISS. The former British army officer was selected out of 8,000 applicants.

During their six-month mission, the crew will conduct microgravity experiments, with lung health and inflammation of the astronauts to be charted.

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Expedition 46 Cmdr. Scott Kelly of NASA and crewmates Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov of Russia are currently on the station.

Kelly and Kornienko are on the first joint U.S.-Russian one-year mission. They have been on the ISS since March.

A previous three-man crew, comprised of American, Russian and Japanese members, landed safely in Kazakhstan on Dec. 11.