The ISS' crew size doubled to six with the addition of the new residents

Dec 21, 2012 15:22 GMT  ·  By

Three new residents of the International Space Station are now safely docked and preparing to go aboard. The three astronauts left Earth two days ago aboard the Soyuz TMA-07M capsule.

NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn, Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield left the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Wednesday and spent the last two days in orbit around the Earth.

The Soyuz capsule that is carrying them is now docked with the ISS and the astronauts are going through the seal tests to check whether they can open the ports between the Soyuz and the Rassvet module of the ISS.

The three will spend the next few months aboard the ISS, part of the Expedition 34. They will also remain on board for part of Expedition 35.