The astronauts are expected to spend more than 200 days in orbit conducting scientific experiments, RT reported.
The Russian Soyuz spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 7:23 p.m. Moscow time on September 11. Just over three hours later, it docked with the ISS.
"Today at 22:32 Moscow time, the Soyuz MS-26 manned spacecraft connected to the Rassvet module in automatic mode," the Russian space agency Roscosmos wrote on Telegram on September 11.
Soyuz MS-26 mission commander Aleksey Ovchinin, as well as NASA flight engineers Ivan Vagner and Don Pettit, were greeted by the ISS crew.
The trio are part of the Expedition 72 crew, joining the Expedition 71 crew currently on the ISS — including Roscosmos' Oleg Kononenko, Nikolay Chub and Aleksandr Grebenkin, as well as NASA's Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore.
Williams and Wilmore were originally scheduled to return to Earth in June, but the Boeing Starliner spacecraft experienced technical problems, leaving the two American astronauts stranded in space indefinitely. The Starliner returned without crew, landing in New Mexico last week, according to NASA.
Soyuz MS-26 is the 10th Russian launch vehicle to be launched into space this year. According to Roscosmos, the 72nd mission is scheduled to take on two cargo spacecraft – Progress MS-29 and Progress MS-30 – during its planned 202 days in orbit.
