Image above: The Expedition 15 (back row) and Expedition 16 crews along with Malaysian spaceflight participant Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor gather in the Destiny laboratory to receive congratulations from mission representatives on the ground. Credit: NASA TV

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Ham radio trio arrive at space station

Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson, KC5ZTD, Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko, RK3DUP, and spaceflight participant Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, 9W2MUS, have arrived at the International Space Station.

Their Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft docked to the Earth-facing port of the station’s Zarya module at 10:50 a.m. EDT Friday. The station’s new residents and their Malaysian guest launched at 9:22 a.m. EDT Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, RN3FI, and Flight Engineers Oleg Kotov and Clay Anderson, KD5PLA, welcomed the new crew aboard the station when the hatches were opened at 12:22 p.m.

Both crews will work together for about nine days before Yurchikhin, Kotov and Shukor depart in their Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft.

Anderson will remain onboard with Expedition 16 and return to Earth next month aboard Discovery on its STS-120 mission.