A Soyuz craft carrying the international space station's first female commander and Malaysia's first space traveler docked Friday at the orbital outpost after a two-day trip from Russia's launch facility in Kazakhstan. The spacecraft docked on schedule automatic pilot, Russian Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said. It carried the station's new American commander, astronaut Peggy Whitson of Beaconsfield, Iowa, as well as veteran Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor of Malaysian. "Everything is great," Malenchenko told Mission Control shortly after the docking, which took place about 220 miles over Central Asia. A NASA commentator called it "flawless." After hatches were opened, the three entered the station, the Associated Press quoted Lyndin as saying. --MORE
