Live In Orbit: Soyuz Approaches Space Station

A Soyuz spacecraft is zooming toward a docking this morning at the International Space Station as crew size on the outpost is about to double from three to six.

Second-generation Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko is at the controls of the bug-shaped spacecraft, which is making an approach from about four kilometers below and to the starboard side of the $100 billion station. Flying along with him: Belgian astronaut Frank De Winne and Robert Thirsk of the Canadian Space Agency.

The Soyuz is expected to link-up with the outpost at 8:36 a.m., and you can watch live coverage here in The Flame Trench. Simply click the NASA TV box on the righthand side of the page to launch our NASA TV viewer, and be sure to refresh this page for periodic updates.

Now onboard the station: Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, U.S. astronaut Michael Barratt and Koichi Wakata of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. A scheduled hatch opening at 9:45 a.m. will mark not only the first six-person crew but also the first time representatives of all major project partners have been onboard the outpost at the same time.

We'll have live coverage of the hatch-opening and a historic welcome ceremony also.

Padalka and Barratt launched to the station March 28; Wakata flew up on shuttle Discovery earlier that month.

Romanenko and his crewmates launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:34 a.m. Wednesday.

ABOUT THE IMAGES: Click to enlarge and save the NASA TV screen grabs. They show the International Space Station as seen from the Soyuz spacecraft on its approach to the outpost.