Five Aboard Station as Handover Begins
The International Space Station's population swelled to five Sunday with the arrival of Expedition 11 and an Italian astronaut.
+ View launch photos Image to left: Expedition 10 and 11 crewmembers gather on the Station to talk with officials on the ground after docking. Photo Credit: NASA TV
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft delivered the new Expedition 11 crew -- Commander Sergei Krikalev and NASA ISS Science Officer John Phillips -- and European Space Agency Astronaut Roberto Vittori of Italy. Krikalev and Phillips will spend about six months aboard the Space Station. Vittori will spend eight days, returning to Earth with the Expedition 10 crew.
The Expedition 10 crewmembers -- Commander Leroy Chiao and Cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov -- have lived aboard the Station since October. During a news conference Monday, Chiao expressed satisfaction with their mission.
"All of our major objectives have been accomplished," Chiao said. "The Station is in good shape. We're ready to come home."
Chiao, Sharipov and Vittori will leave the Station April 24 in the Soyuz that brought Expedition 10 to the orbiting laboratory. Their landing is scheduled for 6:08 p.m. EDT that day in Kazakhstan.
+ Read more about Expedition 11
+ Read more about Expedition 10
Launch of an earlier Soyuz mission.
 
At 10:34 UTC (4:34 p.m. local time) Wednesday, a Russian  carrier rocket launched from  at the  in Kazakhstan, with the  spacecraft, on a  to the  (ISS). 

Aboard were three  crew members,  of the  (RSA), Belgian  of the  (ESA) and  of the  (CSA).
Crew of the  From left to right; Thirsk, Romanenko and De Winne
The launch was almost cancelled due to strong winds and the threat of swine flu carried by a journalist however, the flight was just delayed by eight hours.  "The Russians do a magnificent record of taking people to space and back. They don't have a launch window, they don't have launch date, they have a launch second," said Chris Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut.

It will be a two day journey to the ISS with the crew expecting to arrive on Friday.  Then there will be six crew members aboard the ISS who will represent all five global space agencies;  (NASA), , RSA, ESA and CSA.

Thirsk will spend six months aboard the ISS, "It's only in those situations where you are able to realize what your own weakness and strengths are and the weaknesses and strengths of your astronaut colleagues as well, and then work as a team to meet everyone's needs."

Romanenko follows his father's footsteps,  Yuri Romanenko, into space.
The rollout of Soyuz TMA-15 on May 25, 2009
DeWinne will become the ISS commander in October following .  "It is quite an achievement," said , "He represents Europe, he represents Belgium, he represents international collaboration for peaceful application of science."