联盟号飞船与国际空间站完成对接

运载意大利首位

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying Italy\'s first female astronaut has safely docked with the International Space Station.

The U.S. space agency NASA said Samantha Cristoforetti, along with Russians Anton Shkaplerov and American Terry Virts arrived at the space station Monday nearly six hours after taking off from Russia\'s space facility in Kazakhstan. They will remain on the station until May.

The Russian news agency Itar Tass says the astronauts brought 15 30-gram cans of caviar to the station to use in the New Year\'s celebration on the station.

The newly arrived astronauts are joining three other astronauts, one American, Barry Wilmore, and two Russians, Alexander Samoukutyaev and Elena Serova, already on the space station.

Since the retirement of the U.S. space shuttle fleet in 2011, Russian Soyuz spacecraft have served as the only means to ferry crew to and from the space outpost.

美国航天局说，联盟号飞船从哈萨克斯坦的一个俄罗斯宇航中心升空后，经过将近6小时飞行，运载意大利宇航员克里斯托弗雷蒂、俄罗斯宇航员施卡普列罗夫和美国宇航员弗茨飞抵国际空间站。他们将在空间站驻留到明年5月。

俄罗斯伊塔尔塔斯社说，宇航员们携带15罐鱼子酱到空间站，用来庆祝新年。

此前国际空间站上已有一名美国宇航员巴瑞·威尔默和两名俄罗斯宇航员，亚历山大·萨莫库佳耶夫和叶琳娜·谢罗娃。

自美国航天飞机2011年退役后，俄罗斯联盟号飞船独自肩负了在地球和国际空间站之间运送宇航员的任务。