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The hatchway between the Soyuz spacecraft and the station has been opened at 3:19 a.m. EDT to allow the newest residents to float into the complex. The outpost's new crew is comprised of three Russians, two Americans and a Japanese astronaut.

Mission Control says the leak checks have been uneventful after a successful docking of the Soyuz spacecraft to the space station. Hatch opening is anticipated shortly.

On the eve of the shuttle Discovery's launch on a space station resupply mission, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft completed a smooth docking with the international lab complex early Sunday, boosting the station's crew from three to six.

Read our full story.

The docking probe on the front of Soyuz has retracted, allowing the hooks and latches to close and form a seal between the capsule and station. Pressure and leak checks will be performed over the next orbit before the hatchway is opened for the crew to enter into the station later this morning.

The hatch opening is scheduled for 3:05 a.m. EDT. However, the televised welcoming ceremony isn't expected until a communications session around 3:45 a.m. EDT.

The docking occurred as the space station flew over Kazakhstan at an altitude of 222 miles, Mission Control says.

Over the next few minutes, the Soyuz docking probe will retract to allow hooks and latches to bring the spacecraft to a firm seal with the station. Hatches between the two vehicles will be opened a little after 3 a.m. EDT.

DOCKING. The Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft has docked to the Poisk module of the space station, delivering Alexander Skvortsov, Mikhail Kornienko and Tracy Caldwell Dyson to the international outpost.

The new Expedition 23 residents join commander Oleg Kotov and flight engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi. They have been aboard the station since December.

Inside 30 feet.

Now 65 feet and closing.

The docking mechanism has been powered up.

About 150 feet left to go.

Soyuz has closed to within 200 feet from the station.

Now less than 300 feet to docking.

The range between Soyuz and station is about 400 feet.

The Russian flight control team has given approval and the final approach has commenced.

The Soyuz completed a flyaround maneuver to align with the docking port. It's now in the stationkeeping hold about 560 feet away while controllers verify all is in readiness for final approach.

About 885 feet separate the two spacecraft.

At present, the Soyuz and station are flying 222 miles over Africa. They will be coming within range of Russian ground stations shortly.

Soyuz is flying itself around the international outpost to get into the approach corridor leading to the Poisk module's docking port.

The Soyuz spacecraft is nearing the space station for docking a little more than 30 minutes from now at 1:26 a.m. EDT. You can watch live NASA Television coverage on the right-hand column of this page.

The Soyuz spacecraft carrying three new residents for the space station is scheduled for docking early Sunday.

The automated rendezvous sequence aboard the Russian-built crew transport capsule will begin about 11:06 p.m. EDT to control the night's activities via autopilot.

The day's first key engine firing is planned for 11:28 p.m. and another impulse is expected around 11:50 p.m. EDT, followed within minutes by activation of the Kurs rendezvous equipment on both the Soyuz and space station to guide the linkup.

The two spacecraft should be within 60 miles of each other by 12:14 a.m., closing to less than 10 miles by 12:39 a.m.

The television camera on the nose of Soyuz will be turned on at 12:46 a.m. to provide views of the docking.

A series of maneuvers between 12:54 and 1:01 a.m. will dramatically slow the Soyuz's closure rate, ultimately leading to the spacecraft beginning a flyaround of the space station to align with the Poisk module's docking port.

After a stationkeeping hold by the Soyuz to ensure all is in readiness for docking, the spacecraft will commence final approach at 1:17 a.m. for docking about 9 minutes later. Soyuz commander Alexander Skvortsov will be standing by to take over manual flying of the spacecraft if required.

The linkup should occur at 1:26 a.m. EDT, a few minutes after orbital sunset.

Watch this page for live coverage starting at 1 a.m. EDT.

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft roared to life and rocketed away from its launching pad in Kazakhstan early Friday, carrying two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut on a two-day flight to the International Space Station.

Read our full story.

Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO: FULL EXPERIENCE FROM LIFTOFF TO ORBIT PLAY
VIDEO: CREW DEPARTS SITE 254 FOR LAUNCH PAD PLAY
VIDEO: VIPS MEET THE CREW ON LAUNCH MORNING PLAY
VIDEO: CREW MEMBERS DON THEIR SOKOL SPACESUITS PLAY
VIDEO: LAUNCH MORNING TRADITIONS AT CREW QUARTERS PLAY
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To recap, it was succesful flight by the Soyuz vehicle today beginning with launch at 0404 GMT. The spacecraft reached orbit as planned 9 minutes later.

Here's a look at the timeline for the Soyuz's trek to the space station (all times EDT):

12:04:34 AM...Launch
12:13:19 AM...Orbital Insertion
03:39:44 AM...DV1 (36.4 mph)
04:38:38 AM...DV2 (8.8 mph)
        
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01:05:50 AM...DV3 (4.5 mph)
11:06:50 PM...AR&D Automated Rendezvous start (T0)
11:10:00 PM...U.S. to Russian attitude control handover
11:20:00 PM...ISS maneuver to dock attitude
11:28:56 PM...AR&D DV4/Impulse 1 (50.2 mph)
11:50:34 PM...AR&D Impulse 2 (3.1 mph)
11:53:00 PM...Soyuz Kurs-A Activation (T1)
11:55:00 PM...Service module Kurs-P Activation (T1)
        
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12:13:37 AM...AR&D DV5 / Impulse 3 (55.3 mph)
12:13:50 AM...Range = 62.1 miles: Soyuz VHF-2 link
12:18:10 AM...Range = 49.7 miles: Valid Kurs-P range data
12:31:45 AM...Sunset
12:39:10 AM...Range = 9.3 miles: Kurs-A & Kurs-P short test
12:46:10 AM...Range = 4.9 miles: Soyuz TV activation
12:54:11 AM...AR&D Impulse 4 (14.4 mph)
12:56:50 AM...AR&D Ballistic Targeting Point
12:59:03 AM...AR&D Impulse 5 (14.7 mph)
01:01:42 AM...AR&D Impulse 6 (4.1 mph)
01:03:44 AM...AR&D Flyaround mode start
01:05:25 AM...Sunrise
01:10:10 AM...AR&D Stationkeeping start
01:14:51 AM...Daily Orbit 2 RGS AOS
01:17:00 AM...AR&D Final Approach start

01:26:00 AM...Docking

01:37:58 AM...Daily Orbit 2 RGS LOS
01:46:00 AM...Soyuz & MRM2 hooks closed: ISS maneuver
02:03:14 AM...Sunset
02:50:00 AM...Russian to U.S. attitude control handover

Throughout much of the ascent, there has been trouble with the voice communications link between the crew and Mission Control-Moscow. But the video downlink from the cockpit continues.

Alexander Skvortsov, a colonel in the Russian air force, Mikhail Kornienko, a Russian spacecraft engineer, and California-born astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson have arrived in orbit following launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

A pair of maneuvers later today and another one Saturday will adjust the capsule's trajectory to set up for Sunday's rendezvous and docking with the space station.

The craft is completing a programmed sequence to deploy the power-generating solar arrays, as well as antennas for navigational and communication systems.

T+plus 9 minutes. CAPSULE SEPARATION! The Soyuz spacecraft is flying free after the upper stage finished its engine firing and then separated away. The capsule is in pursuit of the International Space Station for a planned docking around 1:26 a.m. EDT on Sunday.

T+plus 8 minutes. About a minute remains in the propulsion by the upper stage. The motor consumes kerosene and liquid oxygen just like the Soyuz rocket's other powerplants.

T+plus 7 minutes. The four-nozzle engine of the upper stage continues to burn.

T+plus 6 minutes. Soyuz's upper stage is firing to propel the spacecraft into a stable orbit around Earth.

T+plus 5 minutes. The core stage of the Soyuz rocket has shut down and separated, leaving the upper stage to complete the job of injecting the Soyuz capsule into orbit.

T+plus 4 minutes. The core motor continues to fire on its propellant mixture of kerosene fuel and supercold liquid oxygen.

T+plus 3 minutes. The safety escape tower and launch shroud have been jettisoned from the atop the Soyuz capsule.

T+plus 2 minutes, 15 seconds. The four strap-on boosters clustered around the Soyuz rocket's main stage have burned out and separated. The core motor continues to fire.

T+plus 60 seconds. Good performance one minute into this ascent for the Soyuz rocket and its three-person crew from the Kazakh launch base. Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko is strapped into the left-hand seat, Alexander Skvortsov is in the center seat for his role as the Soyuz commander and NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson is in the right-hand seat.

T+plus 30 seconds. The Soyuz is heading on course for a rendezvous with the space station 49 hours from now. The station currently is flying 224 miles above the Atlantic Ocean east of Brazil.

LIFTOFF! Liftoff of the Soyuz rocket, transporting a new trio of space fliers to the International Space Station for a half-year in orbit.

T-minus 25 seconds. The first umbilical arm has separated from Soyuz. The second will retract in the next few seconds.

T-minus 1 minute and counting. The Soyuz has been placed on internal power.

T-minus 2 minutes and counting. Rocket propellant tank pressurization is underway. The vehicle's onboard measurement system is activated. Oxidizer and fuel drain and safety valves of the launch vehicle have been closed.

T-minus 3 minutes and counting. The nitrogen purge of the combustion chambers of side and central engine pods of the rocket is being performed in preparation for ignition.

T-minus 4 minutes. The launch key has been inserted in the bunker for liftoff.

T-minus 5 minutes and counting. Systems of the Soyuz have switched to onboard control, the ground measurement system and the Soyuz commander's controls are being activated.

T-minus 6 minutes. The automatic program for final launch operations is being initiated.

T-minus 8 minutes and counting. The crew has closed its helmet visors.

T-minus 10 minutes. The crew inside the Soyuz capsule are starting recorders to collect data during launch.

T-minus 14 minutes and counting. The Soyuz telemetry systems are being activated. They will relay real-time data back to Earth during today's launch.

T-minus 17 minutes. At this point in the countdown, realignment of the Soyuz rocket's trajectory control system and checks of internal batteries should be complete. The Soyuz telemetry system will soon be activated and monitoring of Soyuz's thermal control system also will begin.

T-minus 20 minutes and counting. The three-stage Soyuz rocket will insert the 15,800-pound space capsule into a 143 by 118 mile orbit, inclined 51.6 degrees to the equator.

T-minus 30 minutes and counting. The emergency escape system is being armed. The system would be employed if a major malfunction occurs, propelling the Soyuz capsule off the top of the rocket to safety.

T-minus 33 minutes. Retraction of the two-piece service structure that has enclosed the Soyuz rocket during its stay at the launch pad is occurring as the towers rotate to a horizontal position. Several other umbilical arms connecting the rocket to the ground will be retracted at various times later in the countdown.

T-minus 45 minutes and counting. Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko and American astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson were awakened about eight hours ago to begin launch day activities. They signed the doors at crew quarters and received religious blessings before boarding a bus that took the three crewmates the 25-mile distance into the cosmodrome. They donned their white Sokol launch and entry suits, met with officials from their respective space agencies and then headed for the pad. Crowds of well-wishers gathered to wave goodbye as the crew reached the rocket. An elevator took the trio up to the capsule-level of the tower to begin climbing aboard the cramped spacecraft.

T-minus 90 minutes and counting. The Soyuz rocket is fueled, the crew has traveled to the launch pad and the countdown is progressing toward liftoff of the space station's Expedition 23 crew from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Here's a look at the timeline for tonight's countdown and launch (all times EDT):

09:29 PM......Crew arrives at launch vehicle
09:34 PM......Crew ingress
10:04 PM......Crew in re-entry vehicle
10:19 PM......Re-entry vehicle hardware tested
10:34 PM......Hatch sealed and tested
11:04 PM......Rocket control system preps; gyro activation
11:19 PM......Launch pad service structure halves lowered
11:24 PM......Suit leak checks
11:34 PM......Emergency escape system armed
11:39 PM......Service towers retracted
11:49 PM......Escape system to auto
11:54 PM......Gyros uncaged; on-board recorders activated
11:57 PM......Prelaunch operations complete
11:58 PM......Final launch countdown operations to auto
11:58 PM......Launch complex and vehicle systems ready
11:59 PM......CDR's controls activated; launch key inserted
        
04/02/10        
        
12:01:19 AM...Combustion chamber nitrogen purge
12:02:04 AM...Booster propellant tank pressurization begins
12:02:19 AM...Ground propellant feed terminated
12:03:34 AM...Vehicle to internal; 1st umbilical tower sep
12:03:54 AM...Ground power umbilical to 3rd stage separates
12:04:14 AM...Launch command; central/side pod engines on
12:04:19 AM...Second umbilical tower separates
12:04:24 AM...Engine turbopumps at flight speed
12:04:29 AM...Engines at maximum thrust

12:04:34 AM...Launch

Aiming for a six-month mission at the International Space Station, two rookie Russian cosmonauts and a former American space shuttle astronaut will climb inside the cramped confines of a Soyuz capsule late Thursday and then rocket into orbit early Friday.

The Soyuz rocket completed its rollout from the assembly hangar to the launch pad Wednesday at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Mounted horizontally on a railcar, the rocket began moving at 7 a.m. local time and journeyed along a winding route from the integration facility at Site 254.

Hydraulic pistons lifted the rocket upright on the pad at 9:30 a.m. and gantry swing arms moved into position to enclose the vehicle. Technicians on four levels hooked up electrical and telemetry cables between the rocket and pad.

Friday's liftoff of the three-stage, liquid-fueled booster is scheduled for 12:04 a.m. EDT (0404 GMT) from the same historic pad used since the dawn of the space age.

Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO: SOYUZ ROCKET ROLLED TO THE LAUNCH PAD PLAY
VIDEO: ASSEMBLY OF SOYUZ COMPLETED IN THE HANGAR PLAY
VIDEO: HIGHLIGHTS OF CREW'S ACTIVITIES AT BAIKONUR PLAY
VIDEO: BIOS OF SKVORTSOV, KORNIENKO AND CALDWELL DYSON PLAY
VIDEO: PREVIEW OF NEXT SIX MONTHS AT SPACE STATION PLAY
VIDEO: BIOS OF KOTOV, CREAMER AND NOGUCHI PLAY
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Following launch from Baikonur, it will take two days for the Soyuz TMA-18 capsule to the reach station. Docking to the Poisk module is expected Sunday around 1:26 a.m. EDT (0526 GMT).

The linkup will deliver Alexander Skvortsov, Mikhail Kornienko and Tracy Caldwell Dyson to the orbiting station. They will join the outpost's current crew of Russian commander Oleg Kotov, American astronaut T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi of the Japanese space agency. They have been living there for the past hundred days.

Skvortsov is a colonel in the Russian air force and also a law student. Born near Moscow in 1966, he graduated as a pilot-engineer, later attended an air defense academy and has been working on a law degree during the time before his first spaceflight. He will serve as the Soyuz capsule commander.

Kornienko was born in the Kuibyshev region of Russia. The 49-year-old's path to becoming an International Space Station flight engineer began as paratrooper in the late 1970s, then earning an engineering degree before leading a ground team that serviced the Russian space shuttle Buran. He was selected as a cosmonaut candidate in 1998.

Caldwell Dyson has the only previous spaceflight experience on the crew, having flown aboard shuttle Endeavour's STS-118 space station construction mission in 2007. Born in Arcadia, California, she worked as an electrician and holds a Ph.D. in chemistry.

Immediately following the Soyuz's arrival, the station residents will prepare for the next space shuttle visit. The cargo-delivery mission by Discovery is scheduled to launch from the Kennedy Space Center on Monday at 6:21 a.m. EDT and dock to the station next Wednesday at 3:50 a.m. EDT.

Here is an overview the key events in the Soyuz's launch countdown, as provided by NASA:

• T- 6:00:00 Batteries are installed in the booster
  
  
• T- 5:30:00 State commission gives "go" to take launch vehicle
  
  
• T- 5:15:00 Crew arrives at site 254
  
  
• T- 5:00:00 Tanking begins
  
  
• T- 4:20:00 Spacesuit donning
  
  
• T- 4:00:00 Booster is loaded with liquid oxygen
  
  
• T- 3:40:00 Crew meets delegations
  
  
• T- 3:10:00 Reports to the State commission
  
  
• T- 3:05:00 Transfer to the launch pad
  
  
• T- 3:00:00 Vehicle first and second stage oxidizer fueling complete
  
  
• T- 2:35:00 Crew arrives at launch vehicle
  
  
• T- 2:30:00 Crew ingress through orbital module side hatch
  
  
• T- 2:00:00 Crew in re-entry vehicle
  
  
• T- 1:45:00 Re-entry vehicle hardware tested; suits are ventilated
  
  
• T- 1:30:00 Launch command monitoring and supply unit prepared;
  -- Orbital compartment hatch tested for sealing
  
  
• T- 1:00:00 Launch vehicle control system prepared for use; gyro instruments activated
  
  
• T- :45:00 Launch pad service structure halves are lowered
  
  
• T- :40:00 Re-entry vehicle hardware testing complete; leak checks performed on suits
  
  
• T- :30:00 Emergency escape system armed; launch command supply unit activated
  
  
• T- :25:00 Service towers withdrawn
  
  
• T- :15:00 Suit leak tests complete; crew engages personal escape hardware auto mode
  
  
• T- :10:00 Launch gyro instruments uncaged; crew activates on-board recorders
  
  
• T- 7:00 All prelaunch operations are complete
  
  
• T- 6:15 Key to launch command given at the launch site;
  -- Automatic program of final launch operations is activated
  
  
• T- 6:00 All launch complex and vehicle systems ready for launch
  
  
• T- 5:00 Onboard systems switched to onboard control;
  -- Ground measurement system activated by RUN 1 command;
  -- Commander's controls activated;
  -- Crew switches to suit air by closing helmets;
  -- Launch key inserted in launch bunker
  
  
• T- 3:15 Combustion chambers of side and central engine pods purged with nitrogen
  
  
• T- 2:30 Booster propellant tank pressurization starts;
  -- Onboard measurement system activated by RUN 2 command;
  -- Prelaunch pressurization of all tanks with nitrogen begins
  
  
• T- 2:15 Oxidizer and fuel drain and safety valves of launch vehicle are closed;
  -- Ground filling of oxidizer and nitrogen to the launch vehicle is terminated
  
  
• T- 1:00 Vehicle on internal power;
  -- Automatic sequencer on;
  -- First umbilical tower separates from booster
  
  
• T- :40 Ground power supply umbilical to third stage is disconnected
  
  
• T- :20 Launch command given at the launch position;
  -- Central and side pod engines are turned on
  
  
• T- :15 Second umbilical tower separates from booster
  
  
• T- :10 Engine turbopumps at flight speed
  
  
• T- :05 First stage engines at maximum thrust
  
  
• T- :00 Fueling tower separates;
  -- Lift off

Watch this page for live updates and a video webcast during the final countdown and launch.

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