Live in orbit: Hatch opening on tap at station

The crews of a Russian Soyuz space taxi and the International Space Station are preparing to open hatches between the two craft for a traditional welcome ceremony aboard the orbiting outpost.

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With veteran cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko at the controls, the Soyuz spacecraft glided to a smooth link-up at the station about 10:50 a.m. EDT as the joined ships crossed 220 miles over thye steppes of central Asia.

"It was a flawless, textbook docking," NASA flight commentator Rob Navias said from the Russian Mission Control Center outside Moscow.

Also onboard the Soyuz: U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson, who will become the first woman to command a station expedition, and Shiekh Muszaphar Shukor, an orthopedic doctor who is the first Malaysian to fly in space.

Whitson and Malenchenko form the nucleus of the 16th resident crew of the station. They will oversee a complex expansion project aimed at opening up European and Japanese sections of the outpost. The U.S. Harmony module, the European Columbus laboratory and the first segment of the Japanese Kibo sciennce research facility are to be delivered to the station during their six-month stay.

Navias said the expedition "arguably is one of the most complex and intricate increments in the history of the space station."

"The real focus to the first part of this expedition is really assembly of the space station and bringing onboard the international partner modules," NASA space operations chief Bill Gerstenmaier told reporters in Moscow. "We're ready to go execute, and it will be a very exciting time during this expedition."

Shukor will spend nine days performing science experiments on the station. He is scheduled to return to Earth Oct. 21 with current outpost commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineer Oleg Kotov, who have been living and working on the station since April.