Russian Soyuz Successfully Docks With ISS in Manual Mode

A new Russian-American crew has been delivered to the International Space Station (ISS), Russian Ekho Moskvy radio reported on 16 October.

Russian-manned spaceship Soyuz TMA-5 successfully docked with ISS at 0415 gmt.

The spaceship captain, Salizhan Sharipov, had to perform the docking in a manual mode, after the spaceship failed to dock with the station automatically, Russian ITAR-TASS news agency reported at 0418 gmt on 16 October, quoting a source in the Russian Mission Control Centre.

The crew consists of the American astronaut, Leroy Chiao, the Russian cosmonaut, Salizhan Sharipov, as well as the first ever representative of the Russian Space Troops, Lt-Col Yuriy Shargin.

Sources:

Ekho Moskvy radio, Moscow, in Russian 0430 gmt 16 Oct 04

ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0418 gmt 16 Oct 04