Caption Soyuz rocket launch
Pavel Golovkin / Associated Press
The Soyuz-FG booster rocket with the space capsule Soyuz TMA-14M launched to the International Space Station from the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, in Kazakhstan, early Thursday, July 23, 2015. The Russian rocket carries Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, U.S. astronaut Kjell Lindgen and Japan astronaut Kimiya Yui. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin) ORG XMIT: XPAG128
Pavel Golovkin / Associated Press
The Soyuz-FG booster rocket with the space capsule Soyuz TMA-14M launched to the International Space Station from the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, in Kazakhstan, early Thursday, July 23, 2015. The Russian rocket carries Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, U.S. astronaut Kjell Lindgen and Japan astronaut Kimiya Yui. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin) ORG XMIT: XPAG125
.@Space_Station welcomes three new residents
Soyuz carries ISS crew @astro_kjell, JAXA's Kimiya Yui and cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko to @space_station
A Soyuz solar panel did not deploy after reaching orbit, this has happened before
Three new crew members arrived in Russia's Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station Thursday, after an almost six-hour journey from Kazakhstan.
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko and Expedition 44 Commander Gennady Padalka welcomed Soyuz Commander Oleg Kononenko, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren to the their new Earth-orbiting home.
Expedition 44 crew members NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren (left), Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko (center) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui.
A communication error led to some confusion after launch when NASA and the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos both reported the spacecraft's solar arrays open as planned and then later said the port solar panel did not deploy. When Soyuz was within view of the Space Station it became clear one of the solar panels did not actually deploy. The error did not cause problems navigating the craft or docking at the Space Station. After docking was complete the solar array deployed.
NASA posted this statement about the hiccup to their website:
"During the launch of the Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft at 5:02 p.m. EDT (3:02 a.m. on July 23 Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the port solar array on the vehicle did not deploy as planned. The starboard solar array did deploy along with all navigational antennas, is functioning normally, and is fully providing power to the spacecraft."
The Russian spacecraft has experienced difficulty with its solar arrays in the past, in Septemer 2014 a capsule launched to the Space Station did not open both panels until reaching the Space Station.
Soyuz lifted off at 3:02 a.m. on July 23, Baikonur time, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome reaching orbit about 15 minutes after launch. The manned spacecraft circled Earth four times before heading to dock at the Space Station, located about 250 miles above Earth near Ecuador.
Soyuz successfully docked at the International Space Station one minute ahead of schedule at 10:45 p.m. EDT.
The force is strong with this Space Station expedition crew. Lindgren, a big fan of Star Wars, came up with the idea of taking a Star Wars themed crew portrait resembling a movie poster. A R2D2 model could be seen floating in front of the astronauts during the first and second stage separations on Wednesday as Soyuz carried the crew and supplies into orbit.
This is the first trip to space for Lindgren and Yui. Yui told a reporters at pre-launch news conference that he was taking some sushi with him as a treat for the others. Kelly and Kornienko are more than four months into their one-year mission living in space. The new crew members will stay until the end of December 2015.
The launch was postponed by about two months after the April failure of an unmanned Russian cargo ship, which raised concerns about Russian rocketry. Another Russian cargo ship was successfully launched in early July.
By Emilee Speck
Associated Press contributed to this report.