The Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft carrying US and Russian cosmonauts successfully docked with the International Space Station six hours after its launch from the Baikonur space center. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka have joined the ISS space crew.

      "During the docking the crew didn't have to interfere with work of automatic docking system – the spacecraft smoothly docked with the ISS,” a source at Baikonur told the Russian media.

      Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko will spend one year on the ISS, returning to Earth on the Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Gennady Padalka will stay aboard for six months.

      The crew is expected to conduct 49 scientific experiments in the sphere of medicine. They will also be working with Russian 'Progress' cargo vessels and make one spacewalk.