Spacecraft docks at orbiting Space Station

From left, U.S. astronaut Michael Hopkins, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy, crew members of the mission to the International Space Station, ISS, walk to a bus prior the launch of Soyuz-FG rocket at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013. AP

MOSCOW — A Soyuz capsule carrying three astronauts successfully docked with the International Space Station early Thursday, bringing the size of the crew at the orbiting outpost to six.

Michael Hopkins of the United States and Russians Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazansky traveled six hours in the capsule from the Russian-leased launch pad in Kazakhstan before linking up with the space station’s Russian Poisk research module at 6.45 a.m. Moscow time (0245GMT).

Kotov is the most experienced member of the crew with two six-month missions in space under his belt while Hopkins and Ryazansky are both on their first missions.

The incoming crew entered the station nearly two hours later where they were welcomed by Russia’s Fyodor Yurchikhin, NASA’s Karen Nyberg and Italy’s Luca Parmitano who has been on the orbiting lab since May and will be returning to Earth in November.

The crew’s six-month mission will include a spacewalk with the Olympic torch.

Kotov and Ryazansky will have the honor of taking the Olympic torch into open space in November as part of the relay of the Olympic flame ahead of the Winter Games being held in Russia’s Sochi in February. The torch will not be lit however, because of safety concerns and will only arrive at the station in November with the next crew.