The capsule docked with the space station about six hours after blasting off early Saturday from Russia's manned space launch complex in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
Russians Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka and NASA's Jeff Williams are beginning a six-month mission. At the end of it, Williams would notch the American record for cumulative days in space— 534 over three missions.
Russian Gennady Padalka holds the world record at 878.
The Russian space agency Roscosmos said the new crew boarded the station about an hour after docking. They joined American Tim Kopra, Russia's Yuri Malenchenko and Briton Tim Peake flying for the European Space Agency.
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