The Soyuz spacecraft carrying Jeff Williams, 58, a grandfather of three grandchildren, and Russian cosmonauts Oleg and Alexei Skripotchka Ovtchinine, docked Saturday at the ISS at 3:09 GMT, the agency said NASA American space.
It took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9:26 p.m. GMT Friday.
The ship then made four times around the Earth in orbit in six hours, according to Nasa.
The Soyuz, launched to the ISS was threatened until the last moment by strong winds, is decorated with a portrait of the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, in which Russia will celebrate April 12 the 55 years of the legendary flight of 1961.
“ We will definitely celebrate on 12 April. the day Yuri Gagarin went conquer space, we will meet all around a festive meal “, told reporters Skripotchka Oleg, 46, shortly before leaving for Baikonur early March.
“ We still have a lot of work, but it will be a day of celebration “, also assured Jeff Williams.
After this trip expected to last about six months, his third in the ISS, Williams has spent a total of 534 days above the Earth.
He thus surpass the 520 days accumulated by his compatriot Scott Kelly, 52, who returned March 1 of a mission of 340 days on board the ISS, a continuous record time in the station, where he made four trips in total.
The absolute record remains held by Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, returned from his last mission in September 2015 after accumulated 879 days in space.
Ovtchinine Alexei, 44, this is his first flight in space, while Oleg Skripotchka will make his second mission to the ISS.
They join three other members of the station crew – Russian Yuri Malenchenko, American Tim Kopra and Briton Timothy Peake – to continue the hundreds of biology experiments, biotechnology, physics and geophysics are underway.
– “ Many enthusiasm ” –
“ I feel really ready to return to the ISS (…) c It is a great privilege “, said Jeff Williams, a native of Wisconsin (northern US), television NASA.
This former pilot, who was part of the parachute team of the Military Academy at West Point (Northeast US), in particular stayed in the ISS in 2006 when the station consisted of only two modules.
“ I did the math recently and I think I’ve been in orbit on the ISS with 45 different people in total ,” detailed Mr. Williams, promising to share his experience on social networks.
Since its arrival in Baikonur there about two weeks, he shared on Twitter several pictures and videos explaining the preparations for the launch of the Soyuz rocket and praising the “ peaceful “Kazakh steppes.
“ On launch day! There is some snow in the air and enthusiasm ,” he wrote Friday on Twitter, hours before take-off to the ISS.
Meanwhile, Alexei Ovtchinine told the press carry with him into space a pink stuffed owl, a toy for his daughter.
“ My daughter loves owls, and she was kind enough to give me this toy that will make me remember my family throughout the flight ” Has -he told the official news agency TASS.
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