Soyuz Trio and Olympic Torch Arrive at ISS

The Soyuz TMA-11M crew has arrived at the International Space Station, just six hours after launch.

Soyuz commander Mikhail Tyurin of The Russian Federal Space Agency, Rick Mastracchio of NASA, and Koichi Wakata of JAXA, successfully docked their Soyuz spacecraft to the Rassvet Module of the International Space Station at

Hatches between the Soyuz and the station were opened and the three new  station crew members were greeted by the rest of the Expedition 37 crew, before making their way to the Zvezda Service Module in the Russian segment of the ISS to talk to friends and family.

Nine crew members aboard the ISS

This marked the first time that there have been more than six astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the orbiting complex without the presence of a space shuttle since October 2009. Three separate crews will live and work together for four days, before it's time for Fyodor Yurchikin, Karen Nyberg and Luca Parmitano to head for home, having spent the past five months living and working aboard the ISS.

Also arriving to the station aboard the Soyuz TMA-11M is the Olympic torch, which is making the longest leg of its relay leading up to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russian. Flight Engineers Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy will take the Olympic torch outside the station during a symbolic spacewalk, scheduled for November 9.