Russian spacecraft docks at int'l station

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft has transferred two astronauts and a space tourist into the International Space Station (ISS). 

According to the Russian centre for the control of space flights (TSOUP), the spacecraft docked on Saturday at 1305 hours GMT, with Hungarian-born US space tourist, Charles Simonyi, Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and American astronaut Michael Barratt on board. 

This is Simonyi's second experience aboard the Russian/US jointly operated space station, for which he has paid US$35 million. His first stay cost him US$25 million in 2007. 

"The spacecraft, which took off Thursday from Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan, was forced to dock in manual mode due to an engine failure." reported a TSOUP representative. 

"One of the engines experienced a computer failure and the ship began to move away from the space station at a speed of 1 mile per second," head of the ISS Vladimir Soloviev confirmed at a press conference. 

The experienced crew managed to dock the ship successfully.