Earlier Crew Will Return To Earth April 20

It's been a picture-perfect mission so far... and at 1510 EDT Monday afternoon, Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and cosmonaut Oleg Kotov of the 15th International Space Station crew docked their Soyuz TMA-10 capsule with the International Space Station, to begin a six-month stay aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Also along for the ride is Spaceflight Participant Charles Simonyi, an American space tourist flying under contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency. He will return to Earth with Expedition 14 crew members, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin, on April 20.

NASA reports the Expedition 15 crew members were welcomed by the Expedition 14 crew, including astronaut Sunita Williams, their third Expedition 15 crew member. She launched to the station aboard the STS-116 mission of Discovery on December 9.

Williams joined Expedition 14 in progress and will provide Expedition 15 with an experienced flight engineer for the early part of its increment.

As Aero-News reported, Expedition 15 launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome Saturday afternoon.

FMI: www.nasa.gov