A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying a trio of crew members docked automatically with the International Space Station on Thursday, some six hours after the launch, a spokesman for the Russian space agency Roscosmos said.

"Fortunately, the interference of astronauts into the work of the Kurs rendezvous and docking system was not needed. The spacecraft docked with the Russian segment of the ISS in an automatic mode," the spokesman said.

The crew members opened hatches about two hours after docking with the ISS. Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov, Oleg Artemyev and US astronaut Steve Swanson met them aboard the ISS.

A Soyuz-FG rocket carrying the Soyuz TMA-13M capsule blasted off at 11.56 p.m. Moscow time (19:56 GMT) on Wednesday from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.

The Soyuz crew consists of Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suraev, astronaut Alexander Gerst, of the European Space Agency, and NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman.

During their 167-day stay on board the ISS, the trio will carry out three spacewalks and over 31 scientific experiments, according to Roscosmos.

Source: RIA Novosti